Following on from the interview with me by Marty Kurylowicz and Holly Carson in which we talked (among other things) about the sunless ecology of Eden, their ‘Science in the Fiction’ podcast has done two additional episodes about the real science of sunless ecosystems (which of course do exist on Earth – notably around thermal vents in the depths of oceans):
Ep 57: Julius Csotonyi on Dark Ecology in ‘Dark Eden’ – Part 1
Ep 58: Julius Csotonyi on Dark Ecology in ‘Dark Eden’ – Part 2
One thing I learned from these is that there are organisms that photosynthesise using infrared light alone (ie the form of light that is radiated by hot objects even when they produce no visible light, often slightly misleadingly called ‘radiant heat’). I would have used this if I’d known about it.
