• dingus@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It’s not totally off base though. Wait until you hear about reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. Oxygen does cause damage to our bodies. Our bodies have protective measures against that and we need oxygen to live, but our utilization of it does cause damage.

    • EssentialNPC@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Aerobic respiration - the evolutionary moment where our ancestors traded immortality for complexity

      That was the phrasing used in a biology of death class I took many years ago. It lives rent free in my mind because ruminating on it so perfectly summarizes the “choices” made by natural selection and the way they echo throughout the history of life on Earth.

  • BakerBagel@midwest.social
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    7 months ago

    Oxidation really will fuck you up though. Oxygen is super corrosive and toxic. It’s useful for cellular metabolism, but if it isn’t carefully controlled it starts to mess with your tissues through oxidation chains and free radicals. That’s why people push antioxidants so hard.