Recent comments in /f/askscience

123frogman246 t1_j1cicec wrote

Reply to comment by Outside_Teacher_8532 in Can the immune system target specific elements inside the cell? by Outside_Teacher_8532

Potentially, yes. But mitochondria have been part of human cells for a long time (assuming they were originally a helpful bacteria), so the immune system shouldn't see them as foreign. I've done a very quick bit of searching and couldn't find much on mitochondrial autoimmunity but maybe someone else has a bit more time to do an in-depth search.

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gruntbuggly t1_j1ce9ue wrote

Reply to Can our bodies tolerate environments without oxygen? by purvel

As long as you have oxygen in the air supply to breathe, you would survive a no oxygen atmosphere. For example if you made an atmosphere that replaced all of the oxygen with more carbon dioxide, argon, and helium, you could walk around in that all day long, with a scuba tank and a regulator. Your skin doesn’t need the oxygen in the atmosphere, but all the metabolic processes in your body require you to be able to breathe in oxygen.

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