Also: are the most conducive
- oxygen
- hydrogen
- nitrogen
- carbon
All the radioactive ones maybe?
My question is genuine though, I’m not biophysics expert, I know there are radioactive elements in our body, but are they worthless? Probably the least meaningful to sustaining life would be least reactive elements if that makes sence, but life is more about energy of chemical reactions between molecules, not individual elements
That’s more a question of semantics (and dosage I suppose). Radioactive elements can be therapeutic if used properly in a hospital (X-ray scan, radiation treatment for cancers, etc…).
More to the point, radiation spurs mutation. Mutation 99.9% of the times is bad, but that 0.1% chance of a beneficial mutation is a major driver of evolution. So in a way radioactive elements help create new ‘forms’ of life via speciation.
Polonium is definitely near the top of the list.
Neon
Most of the heavy metals (yes, that includes the radioactive ones)
