Ideas change everything

The fantastically weird world of photosynthetic sea slugs

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Michael Middlebrooks |

TEDxPSU

• February 2022

Meet the fantastically colorful and astonishingly adaptable sea slugs that found a way to photosynthesize (or create energy from sunlight) like plants. Diving deep into these often overlooked creatures, invertebrate zoologist Michael Middlebrooks introduces the solar-powered slugs that lost their shells -- but gained the ability to directly harness the power of the sun.

Meet the fantastically colorful and astonishingly adaptable sea slugs that found a way to photosynthesize (or create energy from sunlight) like plants. Diving deep into these often overlooked creatures, invertebrate zoologist Michael Middlebrooks introduces the solar-powered slugs that lost their shells -- but gained the ability to directly harness the power of the sun.

This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPSU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Learn more about the Secret Slug Lab at the University of Tampa.

About the speaker

Michael Middlebrooks

Invertebrate zoologist

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Michael Middlebrooks is an invertebrate zoologist and an advocate for the tiny wonders of the animal kingdom.

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This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxPSU, an independent event. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Read more about TEDx.

Learn more about the Secret Slug Lab at the University of Tampa.