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Amazing 'Hybrid' Solar-Powered Sea Slug Does Photosynthesis
The sea slug Elysia chlorotica is a mollusk that can grow to more than 2 inches long, and has been found in the intertidal zone between Nova Scotia, Canada, and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, as well as in Florida. Juvenile sea slugs eat the nontoxic brown alga Vaucheria litorea and become photosynthetic - or solar-powered - after stealing millions of algal plastids, which are like tiny solar panels, and storing them in their gut lining.
(Sea slug does photosynthesis)
That's a neat trick. If only humans can figure out how to do that, we could become hybrid solar-powered organisms ourselves, if we can get used to the green color.
Thankfully, Star Trek has long been a champion of green acceptance.
(Star Trek champions green acceptance)
Via PhysOrg.
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