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# Rataplan do Arrebol, Escoteiros vede a Luz!...

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The Cosmic Chemistry of Life: What We’ve Learned from Organic Molecules in Space Samples Story by Trizzy Orozco

 The Profound Implications for Humanity

©The Profound Implications for Humanity (image credits: flickr)

These discoveries force us to rethink our place in the universe. If organic molecules are everywhere, maybe life is too. The line between “out there” and “down here” gets blurrier with every new sample. We are, quite literally, made of stardust—connected to the cosmos in ways both poetic and scientific. The search for life’s origins is a journey that starts with a grain of cosmic dust and ends with the biggest questions we can ask: Are we alone? What else is possible?

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The Secret Battle of Metals Inside Every Living Cell
Story by Jan Otte

©Image by turek via Pexels

Hidden deep within each living cell, there is an unseen battle that ensues not among microbes or viruses, but among metal ions battling for supremacy. Zinc, copper, manganese, and other transition metals compete over binding sites within proteins, each competing for authority over life's vital chemical reactions. Scientists have long been aware that cells jealously guard carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, the components of DNA and proteins. But the metal rules, having their essential role in almost half of all enzymes, are still a mystery.

How does a cell keep more potent metals such as copper from usurping all available binding sites, leaving weaker ones such as manganese on the sidelines? And why do certain proteins only snatch zinc while others bind iron selectively? The solutions are in an old, exquisitely calibrated balancing act one that evolution has honed over billions of years.

# Do Giovani Benvenutti: 
"Que Quantos Años tengo?" - JOSE SARAMAGO