Betül Kaçar

No offense to nitrogen either.

Well, it's actually a very important element.

It's one of the most abundant elements on our planet that is used by biology.

It's in ATP.

It's in chlorophyll that relies on nitrogen.

So it's a very important enzyme for a lot of cell functions.

So far we know there's only one nitrogen fixation pathway, as opposed to, say, carbon.

You can find up to seven or eight different carbon-based microbes invented to fix carbon.

That's not the case for nitrogen.

It's a singularity across geologic time.

We think it evolved around 2.7, maybe 2.

roughly three, probably less than three billion years ago.

And that's the only way that nature invented to fix the nitrogen in the atmosphere for the subsequent use.

I cannot think of it, no.

It's essential to life as we know.

You and I are having this conversation because life found a way to fix nitrogen.

Well, we think of this as the cocktail, you may hear.

What's in the cocktail?

It's the schnapps, right?

Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur.