Oxygen — The Subject Of This Year’s Nobel Prize
October 28, 2019 at 10:33 p.m.
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Research is still ongoing and scientists continue to provide more information about its properties. Last week, the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to three of them. These physicians shared the prize for their studies on how cells in the human body respond to low oxygen levels.
According to cellular biologist Celeste Simon of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, “oxygen limitation is a part of virtually all diseases, not just solid tumors or stroke, but inflammation, wound healing and peripheral arterial disease. All of these involve decreased oxygen. The trio’s work revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes and promises powerful new treatments for diseases, including anemia, heart attacks, strokes and cancer.
Discovery
Before discussing the need for oxygen, it may prudent to know more about the controversies surrounding the discovery.
In 1772, Carl Wilhelm Scheele found something he called “fire air,” while independently, in 1774, Joseph Priestly allegedly discovered “dephlogisticated air” (phlogiston being a substance supposedly given off in burning—a reverse of oxygen). In 1777, Antoine Lavoisier published a new theory of combustion, which clarified the role of the new gas, he named “oxygen,” meaning (from the Greek), “acid-producer, because he mistakenly thought it to be an essential component of all acids. (It isn’t course, hydrochloric acid is one example.)
The nature of acids was not truly clarified until Sir Humphrey Davy’s work in 1812. Even Lavoisier did not understand oxygen properly; discovery is often an extended process and one that can be identified only retrospectively. In the case of oxygen, it can be said to have begun in 1772 and ended only in 1812.
Classification
Oxygen is element No. 8 in the periodic table of elements. It is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that makes up 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the most reactive of the non-metallic elements.
Earth has been oxygenated for about 2.3 billion years, and levels began to creep up at least 2.5 billion years ago, according to a 2007 NASA-funded study. No one knows quite why this gas suddenly became a significant part of the atmosphere, but it is possible that geologic changes on Earth led to oxygen produced by photosynthesizing organisms.
Oxygen defies easy classification. Ever since it was discovered, its properties and chemistry have been squabbled over by scholars and charlatans alike. The controversy persists today.
Oxygen is hailed as the elixir of life — a wonder tonic, a cure for ageing, a beauty treatment and a potent medical therapy.
Although the fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, little, however, is known about cellular response to changes in oxygen levels. This is critical to understanding how oxygen levels affect metabolism and physiological function. The recent work done to obtain the Nobel Prize will help.
Significance
As mentioned earlier everyone agrees that without oxygen there is no life, at least on this and probably every other planet. If we stop breathing it, we’ll be dead in minutes. Our bodies are beautifully designed to deliver oxygen to each of our 15 million million cells.
According to Nick Lane in his book, “Oxygen”: “All the symbolism of red blood ultimately rests in the simple chemical bonding between oxygen and hemoglobin in our red blood cells. Suffocation and drowning — the physical deprivation of oxygen — are among the darkest of human fears. If we think of a planet without oxygen, we think of a sterile place pockmarked with craters, a place like the Moon or Mars. The presence of oxygen in a planetary atmosphere is the litmus test of life: water signals the potential for life, but oxygen is the sign of its fulfilment — only life can produce free oxygen in the air in any abundance. If pressed for an unemotional reason for not cutting down the rain forests or polluting the oceans, we may argue that these great resources are the ‘lungs’ of the world, ventilating the Earth with life-giving oxygen.”
This is not true, as we shall see, but illustrates the reverence we hold for oxygen. Perhaps it is not surprising that we seek mystical or healing properties from this gas.
Final Thoughts
As Bill Bryson comments in his latest book, “Oxygen is the biggest component in the human body, filling 61% of available space. It accounts for about two-thirds of our composition.
The reason we are not light and bouncy like a balloon is that the oxygen is mostly bound up with hydrogen (which accounts for another 10% of you) to make water—and water, as you will know if you have ever tried to move a wading pool or just walked around in really wet clothes, is surprisingly heavy.”
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
Research is still ongoing and scientists continue to provide more information about its properties. Last week, the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to three of them. These physicians shared the prize for their studies on how cells in the human body respond to low oxygen levels.
According to cellular biologist Celeste Simon of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, “oxygen limitation is a part of virtually all diseases, not just solid tumors or stroke, but inflammation, wound healing and peripheral arterial disease. All of these involve decreased oxygen. The trio’s work revealed the mechanism for one of life’s most essential adaptive processes and promises powerful new treatments for diseases, including anemia, heart attacks, strokes and cancer.
Discovery
Before discussing the need for oxygen, it may prudent to know more about the controversies surrounding the discovery.
In 1772, Carl Wilhelm Scheele found something he called “fire air,” while independently, in 1774, Joseph Priestly allegedly discovered “dephlogisticated air” (phlogiston being a substance supposedly given off in burning—a reverse of oxygen). In 1777, Antoine Lavoisier published a new theory of combustion, which clarified the role of the new gas, he named “oxygen,” meaning (from the Greek), “acid-producer, because he mistakenly thought it to be an essential component of all acids. (It isn’t course, hydrochloric acid is one example.)
The nature of acids was not truly clarified until Sir Humphrey Davy’s work in 1812. Even Lavoisier did not understand oxygen properly; discovery is often an extended process and one that can be identified only retrospectively. In the case of oxygen, it can be said to have begun in 1772 and ended only in 1812.
Classification
Oxygen is element No. 8 in the periodic table of elements. It is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that makes up 21% of the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the most reactive of the non-metallic elements.
Earth has been oxygenated for about 2.3 billion years, and levels began to creep up at least 2.5 billion years ago, according to a 2007 NASA-funded study. No one knows quite why this gas suddenly became a significant part of the atmosphere, but it is possible that geologic changes on Earth led to oxygen produced by photosynthesizing organisms.
Oxygen defies easy classification. Ever since it was discovered, its properties and chemistry have been squabbled over by scholars and charlatans alike. The controversy persists today.
Oxygen is hailed as the elixir of life — a wonder tonic, a cure for ageing, a beauty treatment and a potent medical therapy.
Although the fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, little, however, is known about cellular response to changes in oxygen levels. This is critical to understanding how oxygen levels affect metabolism and physiological function. The recent work done to obtain the Nobel Prize will help.
Significance
As mentioned earlier everyone agrees that without oxygen there is no life, at least on this and probably every other planet. If we stop breathing it, we’ll be dead in minutes. Our bodies are beautifully designed to deliver oxygen to each of our 15 million million cells.
According to Nick Lane in his book, “Oxygen”: “All the symbolism of red blood ultimately rests in the simple chemical bonding between oxygen and hemoglobin in our red blood cells. Suffocation and drowning — the physical deprivation of oxygen — are among the darkest of human fears. If we think of a planet without oxygen, we think of a sterile place pockmarked with craters, a place like the Moon or Mars. The presence of oxygen in a planetary atmosphere is the litmus test of life: water signals the potential for life, but oxygen is the sign of its fulfilment — only life can produce free oxygen in the air in any abundance. If pressed for an unemotional reason for not cutting down the rain forests or polluting the oceans, we may argue that these great resources are the ‘lungs’ of the world, ventilating the Earth with life-giving oxygen.”
This is not true, as we shall see, but illustrates the reverence we hold for oxygen. Perhaps it is not surprising that we seek mystical or healing properties from this gas.
Final Thoughts
As Bill Bryson comments in his latest book, “Oxygen is the biggest component in the human body, filling 61% of available space. It accounts for about two-thirds of our composition.
The reason we are not light and bouncy like a balloon is that the oxygen is mostly bound up with hydrogen (which accounts for another 10% of you) to make water—and water, as you will know if you have ever tried to move a wading pool or just walked around in really wet clothes, is surprisingly heavy.”
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, touches on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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