Aliens would need an oxidizer to metabolize as well, even if that oxidizer isn’t oxygen. If they want to actually efficiently get energy out of things, it’ll need to be a strong one. Even fermentation is a oxidation-reduction reaction that just doesn’t use oxygen.
If we ever found a species that was made of alcohol we would absolutely dominate, err domestic them as quickly as possible.
We’re also reliant on water and are mostly made out of it. water is such a “universal solvent”, it’s quite OP. It dissolves so much, that we don’t even think about it
We’re death breathers, but also basically have acid blood like xenomorphs
Everybody in this thread needs to read Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
And also go in without knowing anything about it
That’s what I did. Right after reading Artemis. PHM is way better.
For those who haven’t read it:
Jazz hands, bitches!
That’s all you get.
Came here for this comment. Also the great oxidation event.
In Becky Chambers’ Wayfarer series, there is a species who actually breathes methane. The focus though is less on how that actually happens and more on how they navigate as the only species for whom oxygen is toxic. It’s a great series, btw. It’s a not-quite-as-optimistic as star trek future, but still optimistic and with a vast range of species who are all intermingling as learning how to get along.
Added this to my reading list, looks good. Thanks!
Powerful oxidizers are dangerous stuff!
One I’ve learned about recently (and used) is potassium permanganate. One of its uses is for improving water quality in fish ponds. It oxidizes basically all organic matter. It can simultaneously knock out algae, bacteria, parasites, hormones, and other excess organic waste. And the pathogens it kills can’t build up resistance to it like they would an antibiotic or poison, so it can be used preventively without creating stronger bugs. You can’t really build resistance to BURNING outside video games.
But that also means that if you add too much, you can just as easily sterilize all life in a body of water, including fish and anything else you want to keep.
AND it means you need to be careful when handling it. If you burn your eyes or your lungs, it makes them stop working!
If you burn your eyes or your lungs, it makes them stop working!
Top tip right here.
The more you know! 💫
It feels like a loading screen tip, and I’m scraping my head as to for what kind of game it would be the tip.
Minecraft
does lemmy have an equivalent to/r/hfy ? This has big /r/hfy energy.
New loyalist chapter name
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Cellular respiration is sugar + oxygen -> water + CO2
Combustion reactions are often characterized as anything that is something + oxygen -> water + optionally something else.
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‘claim’
Lmao that’s a strong word for an off-the-cuff conversational riff you saw on social media.
There’s always someone that takes things way too literally
Oxygen is so crazy that once microbiology in the ancient oceans started producing it, all life on earth nearly died. Like very nearly sterilized the earth.
At high concentrations, its still fucking awful for us. Easy to forget that the atmosphere is still only 21% Oxygen and 78% Nitrogen. Even setting aside the risks of fire and explosion at higher concentrations, this highly reactive substance degrades the nervous and musculature system.
You wouldn’t want to wander around in a fully oxygenated environment for the same reason you wouldn’t want to drive your car through a lake of gasoline.
I’m just going to ask because I think this is true but I’m not certain and nobody’s talking about it. Antioxidants are BS right?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxidative_stress#Diseases
Antioxidants may help with some of those conditions, but others are based on such underlying dysfunction that it would be like trying to bailing out a boat with big hole in the side. They’re just not gonna do anything for you.
A bit Overblown, but not really bs, from what I researched a bit ago
So you’re telling me if I stop breathing I’ll never get older? I’m in!
Technically true, yes
will I still have to work?
Probably.
once they figure out an altered carbon-esque way of backing up our consciousness, then absolutely.
I wonder if you could something like a magnesium atomosphere where if a human it got a hole in their suit it would cause them to burst into flames as the outside pressure forced it’s way in then reacted with the oxygen and water in our suit and body
This reminds me of an excellent short story over on r/writingprompts. It’s about how humans evolved in the harshest conditions as a forgotten experiment. They emerge and are basically gods.
Rusting your insides
