22 Oct 2022

Dr Matt Baker: life on ancient Mars and Rubisco

From Saturday Morning, 9:30 am on 22 October 2022
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Photo: Supplied

Sydney-based New Zealander Dr Matt Baker returns for a chat about some of the latest science news.

This week: there are reports that ancient Mars may have had an environment capable of harbouring an underground world teeming with microscopic organisms and, what is probably the most abundant enzyme back on Earth: Rubisco. This enzyme is key in taking carbon out of CO2 and turning it into carbons that become biomass. And yet it’s only now we are discovering how it has developed after emerging billions of years ago. 

Dr Baker is Scientia Associate Professor in the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of New South Wales.

Cryo-electron microscope image of two Rubisco complexes interacting

Cryo-electron microscope image of two Rubisco complexes interacting Photo: Max Planck Institute, Terrestrial Microbiology / L Schulz