Longer light, brighter outcomes: a photochemistry dogma is overturned

A decade of collaborative work overturns a 200-year-old rule in photochemistry by showing that many light-driven reactions perform better under longer, red-shifted wavelengths rather than at the absorption maximum. After extensive cross-lab validation and a microenvironment–based explanation, independent researchers are starting to confirm the effect, opening avenues for energy-efficient chemistry and new biomedical and 3D-printing applications.