Diverging Mineral Chemistry of Iron and Nickel Throughout Earth’s Changing Redox Conditions Reveals Foundation for Their Evolution as Protein Cofactors
Benjamin I. Jelen, Yarissa Peralta, Shaunna M. Morrison, Beth Christensen, Eli K. Moore · 2026
Read Diverging Mineral Chemistry of Iron and Nickel Throughout Earth’s Changing Redox Conditions Reveals Foundation for Their Evolution as Protein Cofactors by Benjamin I. Jelen, Yarissa Peralta, Shaunna M. Morrison, Beth Christensen, Eli K. Moore (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13208631.txt.
Description
Benjamin Jelen and co-authors trace how iron and nickel parted ways in biology in a 2026 study. Both metals fed the earliest life, yet iron now works across a vast range of jobs while nickel keeps to a narrow, old set.
Mineral maps through Earth history show iron minerals varying far more widely than nickel ones as air gained oxygen. Protein site checks mirror that split: iron sites span more builds and charge ranges. Nickel sites cluster in deep, air free paths. The team read the split as chemistry steering evolution, with iron as the all round worker.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Benjamin I. Jelen, Yarissa Peralta, Shaunna M. Morrison, Beth Christensen, Eli K. Moore |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 37 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |