3 ms·

> "If all the earth's crust was converted into bio-mass, what would be the limiting element?" I think selenium would run out long before phosphorus. The crust

> "If all the earth's crust was converted into bio-mass, what would be the limiting element?" I think selenium would run out long before phosphorus. The crust contains selenium at 0.05-0.09 ppm, but most plants require around 0.1-1 ppm. It's also one of the hardest nutrients to remediate because you can't just dump a bunch of selenium on the surface when 5-10 ppm starts to become toxic to lots of other organisms.

AStonesThrow 2y ago
I was supplementing with selenium for various reasons, and it seemed clear that it's one of the minerals that used to be supplied via our diet, but is quite deficient now, due to exhaustion in the soil. Selenium, along with taurine, is one of the supplements which genuinely drove my physicians vehemently crazy, so I doubled up, and ensured that they were the focal point of my daily regimen.
- waldothedog 2y ago
  When you say it drove your physicians crazy, what do you mean?
  - schmidtleonard 2y ago
    They wanted social validation for their fad diet from the doctor and didn't get it.
    - AStonesThrow 2y ago
      No, they get pissed because the supplements can actually heal illnesses and support better health, which means they wouldn't be able to push drugs on me. Psychiatrist's parting shot was, "they're all bio-active!" Micronutrients are no fad, because guess what, they used to come in our fruits, vegetables, and meats.
- teruakohatu 2y ago
  > Selenium, along with taurine, is one of the supplements which genuinely drove my physicians vehemently crazy, so I doubled up, and ensured that they were the focal point of my daily regimen. Selenium is commonly recommended by doctors in New Zealand.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
adrian_b 2y ago
While all animals need selenium and many plants contain some variable amounts of selenium, because they take it from the soil instead of sulfur, all the sources that I have read say that it has not been proven that selenium is required by any plant. Selenium is one chemical element that, like nickel and cobalt, has been needed by all living beings already some billions of years ago, but nowadays there are many living beings which have lost their dependency of selenium, which has been a beneficial trait for them, due to the scarcity of selenium. The terrestrial plants, because of their environment which frequently lacks many minerals, have lost their dependencies of several chemical elements, e.g. of cobalt, of sodium, for most of them also of nickel, which is optional even in those which can use it, and apparently also of selenium. If you have seen any source which says that it has been discovered that some plant needs selenium, please indicate it. As I have said, many plants happen to contain selenium only because they are not selective enough in their sulfur intake, not because they need selenium for anything, unlike the animals, which would die without selenium.
psd1 2y ago
The clue is in the name. We'll mine it on the moon!

AStonesThrow 2y ago

I was supplementing with selenium for various reasons, and it seemed clear that it's one of the minerals that used to be supplied via our diet, but is quite deficient now, due to exhaustion in the soil. Selenium, along with taurine, is one of the supplements which genuinely drove my physicians vehemently crazy, so I doubled up, and ensured that they were the focal point of my daily regimen.

waldothedog 2y ago
When you say it drove your physicians crazy, what do you mean?
- schmidtleonard 2y ago
  They wanted social validation for their fad diet from the doctor and didn't get it.
  - AStonesThrow 2y ago
    No, they get pissed because the supplements can actually heal illnesses and support better health, which means they wouldn't be able to push drugs on me. Psychiatrist's parting shot was, "they're all bio-active!" Micronutrients are no fad, because guess what, they used to come in our fruits, vegetables, and meats.
teruakohatu 2y ago
> Selenium, along with taurine, is one of the supplements which genuinely drove my physicians vehemently crazy, so I doubled up, and ensured that they were the focal point of my daily regimen. Selenium is commonly recommended by doctors in New Zealand.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

adrian_b 2y ago

While all animals need selenium and many plants contain some variable amounts of selenium, because they take it from the soil instead of sulfur, all the sources that I have read say that it has not been proven that selenium is required by any plant. Selenium is one chemical element that, like nickel and cobalt, has been needed by all living beings already some billions of years ago, but nowadays there are many living beings which have lost their dependency of selenium, which has been a beneficial trait for them, due to the scarcity of selenium. The terrestrial plants, because of their environment which frequently lacks many minerals, have lost their dependencies of several chemical elements, e.g. of cobalt, of sodium, for most of them also of nickel, which is optional even in those which can use it, and apparently also of selenium. If you have seen any source which says that it has been discovered that some plant needs selenium, please indicate it. As I have said, many plants happen to contain selenium only because they are not selective enough in their sulfur intake, not because they need selenium for anything, unlike the animals, which would die without selenium.

psd1 2y ago

The clue is in the name. We'll mine it on the moon!