Monday, May 14, 2012

A family's day with Tungsten(15)

A family's day with Tungsten
A family's day with Tungsten

After the X-ray she has to wait some time in the waiting room, where she finds some scientific journals. The dentist is obviously very interested in science and wants to give his patients a chance to read about the newest research while waiting for their treatment. Curiously enough she finds an article about the role of Tungsten in the generation of early life.

According to this article it can be assumed that Tungsten plays an important role in enzymes necessary for bacteria having lived near submarine volcanic vents at elevated temperatures. Later on in evolution, the Tungsten was substituted by Molybdenum. Today we only can find Tungsten as an essential element in anaerobic bacteria. This seems to be a leftover from ancient times, because the aforementioned cells also lived under the exclusion of Oxygen.

anaerobic bacteria cartoon

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