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Gas Busters
Scientific American
|December 2025
An experimental protein grabs carbon monoxide before it latches on to blood cells
CARBON MONOXIDE IS a quiet assassin. Odorless and colorless, it has a uniquely efficient ability to starve the body of oxygen: It acts quickly, building up in the bloodstream and attaching to hemoglobin in oxygen's place. When that happens, red blood cells can't pick up oxygen to carry around the body, and the organs effectively suffocate.
This story is from the December 2025 edition of Scientific American.
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