Designed to store energy through a dormant period that can extend across years, and then reproduce its species, a seed will respond to specific conditions to release both a root and a stem and leaves, as well as flowering and replicating seed of its own. Amazingly, these kernels already know which direction to move in, no matter how the seed was implanted – one, the root, toward the heart of the Earth; the other, stem and leaf, toward the sun. The resulting plant will breathe, transforming carbon dioxide in the air to oxygen again while building organic matter within itself. Through the emerging chlorophyll, the green wonder of our planet, photosynthesis regenerates sunlight into food, which will, in some sequence, sustain every animal as well.
The concept is mind-boggling and miraculous, yet taken for granted. Without it, though, life on Earth would not exist.
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