Metals & Life: A Finely Tuned Alliance
Humans have successfully utilized metals for millennia, and trace amounts of metals are crucial to our survival. Is that coincidence or something more? On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid begins a two-part conversation with Dr. Eric Hedin, professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at Ball State University in Indiana.
Part 1 begins with the fascinating story of how metals arrived on Planet Earth after forming in the stars. Dr. Hedin describes what he calls a confluence of finely tuned conditions required to bring metals into our world and make them accessible and safe for human use. He also reveals details of a new “Goldilocks zone” scientists have recently discovered between Earth’s crust and mantle, a boundary layer where a consistent temperature of around 1000 degrees Celsius allows metals deeper in the earth to be transferred to shallower levels near the surface where they can be accessed through mining.
Dr. Hedin also unpacks how crucial metals are to our cellular biochemistry. Just trace amounts of these important and abundant minerals keep us alive and allow for advanced life to thrive on Planet Earth. Hedin concludes Part 1 by explaining why it’s highly unlikely we can credit a Darwinian process with the complex biochemistry required for this finely tuned relationship between metals and living things.
This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation. Look for Part 2 next!
Dig Deeper
Read the article series that inspired this conversation: