One element is the backbone of all forms of life we’ve ever discovered on Earth: carbon. Number six on the periodic table is, to the best of our knowledge, impossible to live without. In this episode of Reactions, discover what makes carbon so exceptional, its nearly infinite capabilities, and potential intergalactic implications.

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Credits:
Producer: Kirk Zameiroski
Writer: Kirk Zameiroski
Scientific Consultants: Nick Hud, PhD
Executive Producer: George Zaidan

Music:
Mako Yama – Cloud Sculpture

Sources:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2010.0247
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/advances/1/2/e1500047.full.pdf
https://palereddot.org/biosignature-gases-a-needle-in-a-haystack/
https://www.temi.com/editor/t/pYzqYVFcRntLIscmwMhnwrt4Zp7SqbpeL1desfbTFbiOgNd28KeQoBhnnq2EA6M8UQMugjrlQoa2ky5Q6qg2LPSb1gA?loadFrom=SharedLink
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qb2i0qhgqlhfp6/Limitsoflife.pdf?dl=0
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/could-silicon-be-the-basi/
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/lab-rat/shine-on-you-crazy-diamond-why-humans-are-carbon-based-lifeforms/
https://www.newsweek.com/these-exoplanets-could-have-right-chemical-reactions-life-emerge-study-finds-1054854
https://www.chemistryworld.com/feature/life-on-other-planets/3008503.article
https://www.space.com/12665-alien-life-chemical-code-amino-acids.html
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~ejchaisson/cosmic_evolution/docs/fr_1/fr_1_future5.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27885032
https://sputniknews.com/science/201903261073556291-mars-rover-photos-mushrooms/
https://previa.uclm.es/grupo/gao/pub/Cornicabra_TG_AG-FoodChem_2004.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9924/

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