Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Nautilus

    The Classic Metal Behind the Origins of Life

    by Al Crumbliss Mar 24, 2016 4 minutes

    When we think of life, we usually think of soft, squishy, and wet things. Or we might think of the “omes”: the genome, which carries our heredity code; or the proteome, which is the collection of proteins these genes assemble; or the metabolome, small molecules that facilitate our metabolic processes. These are the classical underpinnings of modern biology.

    What we usually don’t think about is the metal counterpart, called the metallome. Where the other “omes” are full of complex structures and intricate biomachinery, the metallome is much simpler. It’s just a collection of metal atoms.

    Nevertheless, it has done some remarkable things. It has enabled the chemistry at the heart of the other omes, acted as an interface between them and

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Nautilus

    Nautilus7 min read
    A Radical Rescue for Caribbean Reefs
    It’s an all-too-familiar headline: Coral reefs are in crisis. Indeed, in the past 50 years, roughly half of Earth’s coral reefs have died. Coral ecosystems are among the most biodiverse and valuable places on Earth, supporting upward of 860,000 speci
    Nautilus8 min read
    10 Brilliant Insights from Daniel Dennett
    Daniel Dennett, who died in April at the age of 82, was a towering figure in the philosophy of mind. Known for his staunch physicalist stance, he argued that minds, like bodies, are the product of evolution. He believed that we are, in a sense, machi
    Nautilus8 min read
    What Counts as Consciousness
    Some years ago, when he was still living in southern California, neuroscientist Christof Koch drank a bottle of Barolo wine while watching The Highlander, and then, at midnight, ran up to the summit of Mount Wilson, the 5,710-foot peak that looms ove

    Related