the.com/hemoglobin
the four-armed iron taxi that hauls oxygen and gives blood its bragging-rights red
means The iron-containing protein in red blood cells that binds oxygen in the lungs and ferries it to the body's tissues, carrying some carbon dioxide back the other way.
from A 19th-century scientific compound, originally 'haematoglobulin,' later trimmed to 'haemoglobin.' It stitches together Greek 'haima' (blood) — the same root behind 'hemorrhage' and 'anemia' — and Latin 'globus' (ball, globe), via 'globulin,' the name for a class of round-ish proteins. So the word literally reads as 'blood globule,' a tidy nod to its rounded protein shape and its single, vital job.
- oxygen capacity
- one molecule carries four oxygen passengers at once
- color trick
- red oxygenated, dark blue-purple when spent
- daily output
- body builds millions of red cells per second
- carbon monoxide
- binds it 200 times tighter than oxygen
- ancient cousin
- plant root nodules carry a green relative, leghemoglobin
hemoglobin s — mutated hemoglobin causing sickle cell disease, affects ~100 million people worldwide
hemoglobin f — fetal hemoglobin present in newborns, gradually replaced by hemoglobin a after birth
hemoglobin h disease — rare disorder from deletion of 3 alpha-globin genes, found mainly in southeast asian populations