Accelerated Living

September 24, 2001 by Ray Kurzweil
Original link:  http://www.kurzweilai.net/accelerated-living-2

In this article written for PC Magazine, Ray Kurzweil explores how advancing technologies will impact our personal lives.

Imagine a Web, circa 2030, that will offer a panoply of virtual environments incorporating all of our senses, and in which there will be no clear distinction between real and simulated people. Consider the day when miniaturized displays on our eyeglasses will provide speech-to-speech translation so we can understand a foreign language in real time–kind of like subtitles on the world. Then, think of a time when noninvasive nanobots will work with the neurotransmitters in our brains to vastly extend our mental capabilities.

These scenarios may seem too futuristic to be plausible by 2030. They require us to consider capabilities never previously encountered, just as people in the nineteenth century had to do when confronted with the concept of the telephone–essentially auditory virtual reality. It would be the first time in history people could “be” with another person hundreds of miles away.

When most people think of the future, they underestimate the long-term power of technological advances–and the speed with which they occur. People assume that the current rate of progress will continue, as will the social repercussions that follow. I call this the intuitive linear view.

However, because the rate of change itself is accelerating, the future is more surprising than we anticipate. In fact, serious assessment of history shows that technological change is exponential. In other words, we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the twenty-first century, but rather, we’ll witness on the order of 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate of progress, that is).

Exponential growth is a feature of any evolutionary process. And we find it in all aspects of technology: miniaturization, communication, genomic scanning, brain scanning, and many other areas. Indeed, we also find double exponential growth, meaning that the rate of exponential growth itself is growing exponentially.

For example, critics of the early genome project suggested that at the rate with which we could scan DNA base pairs, it would take 10,000 years to finish the project. Yet the project was completed ahead of schedule, because DNA scanning technology grew at a double exponential rate. Another example is the Web explosion of the mid-1990s.

Over the past 25 years, I’ve created mathematical models for how technology develops. Predictions that I made using these models in the 1980s about the 1990s and the early years of this decade regarding computing power and its impact–automated medical diagnosis, the use of intelligent weapons, investment programs based on pattern recognition, and others–have been relatively accurate.

These models can provide a clear window into the future and form the foundation on which I build my own scenarios for what life will be like in the next 30 years.

Computing Gets Personal

The broad trend in computing has always moved toward making computers more intimate. The first computers were large, remote machines stored behind glass walls. The PC made computing accessible to everyone. In its next phase, computing will become profoundly personal.

By 2010, computation will be everywhere, yet it will appear to disappear as it becomes embedded in everything from our clothing and eyeglasses to our bodies and brains. And underlying it all will be always-on, very-high-bandwidth connections to the Internet.

Medical diagnosis will routinely use computerized devices that travel in our bodies. And neural implants, which are already used today to counteract tremors from neurological disorders, will be used for a much wider range of conditions, including providing vision to people who have recently lost their sight.

As for interaction with computers, very-high-resolution images will be written directly to our retinas from our eyeglasses and contact lenses. This will spur the next paradigm shift: highly realistic, 3-D, visual-auditory virtual reality. Retinal projection systems will provide full-immersion, virtual environments that can either overlay “real” reality or replace it. People will navigate these environments through manual and verbal commands, as well as with body movement. Visiting a Web site will often mean entering virtual-reality environments, such as forests, beaches, and conference rooms.

In contrast to today’s crude videoconferencing systems, virtual reality in 2010 will look and sound like being together in “real” reality. You’ll be able to establish eye contact, look around your partner, and otherwise have the sense of being together. The sensors and computers in our clothing will track all of our movements and project a 3-D image of ourselves into the virtual world. This will introduce the opportunity to be someone else. The tactile aspect will still be limited, though.

We’ll also interact with simulated people–lifelike avatars that engage in flexible, natural-language dialogs–who will be a primary interface with machine intelligence. We will use them to request information, negotiate e-commerce transactions, and make reservations.

Personal avatars will guide us to desired locations (using GPS) and even augment our visual field of view, via our eyeglass displays, with as much background information as desired.

The virtual personalities won’t pass the Turing test by 2010, though, meaning we won’t be fooled into thinking that they’re really human. But by 2030, it won’t be feasible to differentiate between real and simulated people.

Another technology that will greatly enhance the realism of virtual reality is nanobots: miniature robots the size of blood cells that travel through the capillaries of our brains and communicate with biological neurons. These nanobots might be injected or even swallowed.

Scientists at the Max Planck Institute have already demonstrated electronic-based neuron transistors that can control the movement of a live leech from a computer. They can detect the firing of a nearby neuron, cause it to fire, or suppress a neuron from firing–all of which amounts to two-way communication between neurons and neuron transistors.

Today, our brains are relatively fixed in design. Although we do add patterns of interneuronal connections and neurotransmitter concentrations as a normal part of the learning process, the capacity of the human brain is highly constrained–and restricted to a mere hundred trillion connections. But because the nanobots will communicate with each other–over a wireless LAN–they could create any set of new neural connections, break existing connections (by suppressing neural firing), or create hybrid biological/nonbiological networks.

Using nanobots as brain extenders will be a significant improvement over today’s surgically installed neural implants. And brain implants based on massively distributed intelligent nanobots will ultimately expand our memories by adding trillions of new connections, thereby vastly improving all of our sensory, pattern recognition, and cognitive abilities.

Nanobots will also incorporate all of the senses by taking up positions in close physical proximity to the interneuronal connections coming from all of our sensory inputs (eyes, ears, skin). The nanobots will be programmable through software downloaded from the Web and will be able to change their configurations. They can be directed to leave, so the process is easily reversible.

In addition, these new virtual shared environments could include emotional overlays, since the nanobots will be able to trigger the neurological correlates of emotions, sexual pleasure, and other sensory experiences and reactions.

When we want to experience “real” reality, the nanobots just stay in position (in our capillaries) and do nothing. If we want to enter virtual reality, they suppress all of the inputs coming from the real senses and replace them with signals appropriate for the virtual environment. Our brains could decide to cause our muscles and limbs to move normally, but the nanobots would intercept the inter-neuronal signals to keep our real limbs from moving and instead cause our virtual limbs to move appropriately.

Another scenario enabled by nanobots is the “experience beamer.” By 2030, people will beam their entire flow of sensory experiences and, if desired, their emotions, the same way that people broadcast their lives today using Webcams. We’ll be able to plug into a Web site and experience other people’s lives, the same way characters did in the movie Being John Malkovich. Particularly interesting experiences can be archived and relived at any time.

The ongoing acceleration of computation, communication, and miniaturization, combined with our understanding of the human brain (derived from human-brain reverse engineering), provides the basis for these nanobot-based scenarios.

A Double-Edged Sword

Technology may bring us longer and healthier lives, freedom from physical and mental drudgery, and countless creative possibilities, but it also introduces new and salient dangers. For the 21st century, we will see the same intertwined potentials–only greatly amplified.

Consider unrestrained nanobot replication, which requires billions or trillions of such intelligent devices to be useful. The most cost-effective way to scale nanobots up to that level is through self-replication–essentially the same approach seen in the biological world. But just as biological self-replication can go awry (cancer), a defect in the mechanism that curtails nanobot self-replication could also endanger all physical entities–biological or otherwise.

And who will control the nanobots? Organizations (governments or extremist groups) or just a clever individual could put trillions of undetectable nanobots in the water or food supply of an entire population. These “spy” nanobots could then monitor, influence, and even take over our thoughts and actions. Nanobots could also fall prey to software viruses and hacks.

If we described the dangers that exist today to people who lived a couple hundred years ago, they would think it mad to take such risks. But how many people living in 2001 would want to go back to the short, brutish, disease-filled, poverty-stricken, disaster-prone lives that 99 percent of the human race struggled through? We may romanticize the past, but until fairly recently, most of humanity lived extremely fragile lives. Substantial portions of our species still live in this precarious way, which is at least one reason to continue technological progress and the economic enhancement that accompanies it.

My own expectation is that the creative and constructive applications of this technology will dominate, as I believe they do now. And there will be a valuable (and increasingly vocal) role for a constructive Luddite movement.

When examining the impact of future technology, people often go through three stages: awe and wonderment at the potential; dread about the new set of grave dangers; and finally (hopefully), the realization that the only viable path is to set a careful, responsible course that realizes the promise while managing the peril.

What Is (And Isn't) Scientific About The Multiverse

Author:   Ethan Siegel, Jul 17, 2018

Original link:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2018/07/17/what-is-and-isnt-scientific-about-the-multiverse/#66a83ffa25c4

 

Astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel is the founder and primary writer of Starts With A Bang! His books, Treknology and Beyond The Galaxy, are available wherever books are sold.

Artistic impression of a Multiverse — where our Universe is only one of many. According to the research, varying amounts of dark energy have little effect on star formation. This raises the prospect of life in other universes — if the Multiverse exists.

The Universe is all there ever was, all there is, and all there will ever be. At least, that's what we're told, and that's what's implied by the word "Universe" itself. But whatever the true nature of the Universe actually is, our ability to gather information about it is fundamentally limited.

It's only been 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, and the top speed at which any information can travel — the speed of light — is finite. Even though the entire Universe itself may truly be infinite, the observable Universe is limited. According to the leading ideas of theoretical physics, however, our Universe may be just one minuscule region of a much larger multiverse, within which many Universes, perhaps even an infinite number, are contained. Some of this is actual science, but some is nothing more than speculative, wishful thinking. Here's how to tell which is which. But first, a little background.

There is a large suite of scientific evidence that supports the picture of the expanding Universe and the Big Bang. The entire mass-energy of the Universe was released in an event lasting less than 10^-30 seconds in duration; the most energetic thing ever to occur in our Universe's history.NASA / GSFC

The Universe today has a few facts about it that are relatively easy, at least with world-class scientific facilities, to observe. We know the Universe is expanding: we can measure properties about galaxies that teach us both their distance and how fast they appear to move away from us. The farther away they are, the faster they appear to recede. In the context of General Relativity, that means the Universe is expanding.

And if the Universe is expanding today, that means it was smaller and denser in the past. Extrapolate back far enough, and you'll find that things are also more uniform (because gravity takes time to make things clump together) and hotter (because smaller wavelengths for light mean higher energies/temperatures). This leads us back to the Big Bang.

An illustration of our cosmic history, from the Big Bang until the present, within the context of the expanding Universe. The first Friedmann equation describes all of these epochs, from inflation to the Big Bang to the present and far into the future, perfectly accurately, even today.

But the Big Bang wasn't the very beginning of the Universe! We can only extrapolate back to a certain epoch in time before the Big Bang's predictions break down. There are a number of things we observe in the Universe that the Big Bang can't explain, but a new theory that sets up the Big Bang — cosmic inflation — can.

The quantum fluctuations that occur during inflation get stretched across the Universe, and when inflation ends, they become density fluctuations. This leads, over time, to the large-scale structure in the Universe today, as well as the fluctuations in temperature observed in the CMB.

In the 1980s, a large number of theoretical consequences of inflation were worked out, including:

• what the seeds for large-scale structure should look like,
• that temperature and density fluctuations should exist on scales larger than the cosmic horizon,
• that all regions of space, even with fluctuations, should have constant entropy,
• and that there should be a maximum temperature achieved by the hot Big Bang.

In the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, these four predictions were observationally confirmed to great precision. Cosmic inflation is a winner.

Inflation causes space to expand exponentially, which can very quickly result in any pre-existing curved or non-smooth space appearing flat. If the Universe is curved, it has a radius of curvature that is at minimum hundreds of times larger than what we can observe.

Inflation tells us that, prior to the Big Bang, the Universe wasn't filled with particles, antiparticles and radiation. Instead, it was filled with energy inherent to space itself, and that energy caused space to expand at a rapid, relentless, and exponential rate. At some point, inflation ends, and all (or almost all) of that energy gets converted into matter and energy, giving rise to the hot Big Bang. The end of inflation, and what's known as the reheating of our Universe, marks the start of the hot Big Bang. The Big Bang still happens, but it isn't the very beginning.

Inflation predicts the existence of a huge volume of unobservable Universe beyond the part we can observe. But it gives us even more than that.

If this were the full story, all we'd have was one extremely large Universe. It would have the same properties everywhere, the same laws everywhere, and the parts that were beyond our visible horizon would be similar to where we are, but it wouldn't be justifiably called the multiverse.

Until, that is, you remember that everything that physically exists must be inherently quantum in nature. Even inflation, with all the unknowns surrounding it, must be a quantum field.

The quantum nature of inflation means that it ends in some “pockets” of the Universe and continues in others. It needs to roll down the metaphorical hill and into the valley, but if it's a quantum field, the spreading-out means it will end in some regions while continuing in others.

If you then require inflation to have the properties that all quantum fields have:

• that its properties have uncertainties inherent to them,
• that the field is described by a wavefunction,
• and the values of that field can spread out over time,

you reach a surprising conclusion.

Wherever inflation occurs (blue cubes), it gives rise to exponentially more regions of space with each step forward in time. Even if there are many cubes where inflation ends (red Xs), there are far more regions where inflation will continue on into the future. The fact that this never comes to an end is what makes inflation 'eternal' once it begins.

Inflation doesn't end everywhere at once, but rather in select, disconnected locations at any given time, while the space between those locations continues to inflate. There should be multiple, enormous regions of space where inflation ends and a hot Big Bang begins, but they can never encounter one another, as they're separated by regions of inflating space. Wherever inflation begins, it is all but guaranteed to continue for an eternity, at least in places.

Where inflation ends for us, we get a hot Big Bang. The part of the Universe we observe is just one part of this region where inflation ended, with more unobservable Universe beyond that. But there are countlessly many regions, all disconnected from one another, with the same exact story.

An illustration of multiple, independent Universes, causally disconnected from one another in an ever-expanding cosmic ocean, is one depiction of the Multiverse idea. In a region where the Big Bang begins and inflation ends, the expansion rate will drop, while inflation continues in between two such regions, forever separating them.

That's the idea of the multiverse. As you can see, it's based on two independent, well-established, and widely-accepted aspects of theoretical physics: the quantum nature of everything and the properties of cosmic inflation. There's no known way to measure it, just as there's no way to measure the unobservable part of our Universe. But the two theories that underlie it, inflation and quantum physics, have been demonstrated to be valid. If they're right, then the multiverse is an inescapable consequence of that, and we're living in it.

The multiverse idea states that there are an arbitrarily large number of Universes like our own, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's another version of us out there, and it certainly doesn't mean there's any chance of running into an alternate version of yourself... or anything from another Universe at all.

So what? That's not a whole lot, is it? There are plenty of theoretical consequences that are inevitable, but that we cannot know about for certain because we can't test them. The multiverse is one in a long line of those. It's not particularly a useful realization, just an interesting prediction that falls out of these theories.

So why do so many theoretical physicists write papers about the multiverse? About parallel Universes and their connection to our own through this multiverse? Why do they claim that the multiverse is connected to the string landscape, the cosmological constant, and even to the fact that our Universe is finely-tuned for life?

Because even though it's obviously a bad idea, they don't have any better ones.

The string landscape might be a fascinating idea that's full of theoretical potential, but it doesn't predict anything that we can observe in our Universe. This idea of beauty, motivated by solving 'unnatural' problems, is not enough on its own to rise to the level required by science.

In the context of string theory, there are a huge set of parameters that could, in principle, take on almost any value. The theory makes no predictions for them, so we have to put them in by hand: the expectation values of the string vacua. If you've heard of incredibly large numbers like the famed 10⁵⁰⁰ which appears in string theory, the possible values of the string vacua are what they're referring to. We don't know what they are, or why they have the values that they do. No one knows how to calculate them.

A representation of the different parallel "worlds" that might exist in other pockets of the multiverse.

So, instead, some people say "it's the multiverse!" The line of thinking goes like this:

• We don't know why the fundamental constants have the values they do.
• We don't know why the laws of physics are what they are.
• String theory is a framework that could give us our laws of physics with our fundamental constants, but it could give us other laws and/or other constants.
• Therefore, if we have an enormous multiverse, where lots of different regions have different laws and/or constants, one of them could be ours.

The big problem is that not only is this enormously speculative, but there's no reason, given the inflation and quantum physics we know, to presume that an inflating spacetime has different laws or constants in different regions.

Not impressed with this line of reasoning? Neither is practically anyone else.

How likely or unlikely was our Universe to produce a world like Earth? And how plausible would those odds be if the fundamental constants or laws governing our Universe were different? A Fortunate Universe, from whose cover this image was taken, is one such book that explores these issues.Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes

As I've explained before, the Multiverse is not a scientific theory on its own. Rather, it’s a theoretical consequence of the laws of physics as they’re best understood today. It’s perhaps even an inevitable consequence of those laws: if you have an inflationary Universe governed by quantum physics, this is something you’re pretty much bound to wind up with. But — much like String Theory — it has some big problems: it doesn't predict anything we either have observed and can't explain without it, and it doesn't predict anything definitive we can go and look for.

Visualization of a quantum field theory calculation showing virtual particles in the quantum vacuum. Even in empty space, this vacuum energy is non-zero. Whether it has the same, constant value in other regions of the multiverse is something we cannot know, but there is no motivation for it to be that way.

In this physical Universe, it's important to observe all that we can, and to measure every bit of knowledge we can glean. Only from the full suite of data available can we hope to ever draw valid, scientific conclusions about the nature of our Universe. Some of those conclusions will have implications that we may not be able to measure: the existence of the multiverse arises from that. But when people then contend that they can draw conclusions about fundamental constants, the laws of physics, or the values of string vacua, they're no longer doing science; they're speculating. Wishful thinking is no substitute for data, experiments, or observables. Until we have those, be aware that the multiverse is a consequence of the best science we have available today, but it doesn't make any scientific predictions we can put to the test.

Selenium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Selenium,  ₃₄Se

General properties
Pronunciation	/sɪˈliːniəm/ ​(sə-LEE-nee-əm)
Appearance	black, red, and gray (not pictured) allotropes
Standard atomic weight (Ar, standard)	78.971(8)[1]
Selenium in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson S ↑ Se ↓ Te arsenic ← selenium → bromine
Atomic number (Z)	34
Group	group 16 (chalcogens)
Period	period 4
Element category	reactive nonmetal, sometimes considered a metalloid
Block	p-block
Electron configuration	[Ar] 3d10 4s2 4p4
Electrons per shell	2, 8, 18, 6
Physical properties
Phase at STP	solid
Melting point	494 K ​(221 °C, ​430 °F)
Boiling point	958 K ​(685 °C, ​1265 °F)
Density (near r.t.)	gray: 4.81 g/cm3 alpha: 4.39 g/cm3 vitreous: 4.28 g/cm3
when liquid (at m.p.)	3.99 g/cm3
Critical point	1766 K, 27.2 MPa
Heat of fusion	gray: 6.69 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization	95.48 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity	25.363 J/(mol·K)
Vapor pressure P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k at T (K) 500 552 617 704 813 958
Atomic properties
Oxidation states	6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,[2] −1, −2 ​(a strongly acidic oxide)
Electronegativity	Pauling scale: 2.55
Ionization energies	1st: 941.0 kJ/mol 2nd: 2045 kJ/mol 3rd: 2973.7 kJ/mol
Atomic radius	empirical: 120 pm
Covalent radius	120±4 pm
Van der Waals radius	190 pm
Spectral lines
Miscellanea
Crystal structure	​hexagonal
Speed of sound thin rod	3350 m/s (at 20 °C)
Thermal expansion	amorphous: 37 µm/(m·K) (at 25 °C)
Thermal conductivity	amorphous: 0.519 W/(m·K)
Magnetic ordering	diamagnetic[3]
Magnetic susceptibility	−25.0·10−6 cm3/mol (298 K)[4]
Young's modulus	10 GPa
Shear modulus	3.7 GPa
Bulk modulus	8.3 GPa
Poisson ratio	0.33
Mohs hardness	2.0
Brinell hardness	736 MPa
CAS Number	7782-49-2
History
Naming	after Selene, Greek goddess of the moon
Discovery and first isolation	Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Johann Gottlieb Gahn (1817)
Main isotopes of selenium
Iso­tope Abun­dance Half-life (t1/2) Decay mode Pro­duct 72Se syn 8.4 d ε 72As γ – 74Se 0.86% stable 75Se syn 119.8 d ε 75As γ – 76Se 9.23% stable 77Se 7.60% stable 78Se 23.69% stable 79Se trace 3.27×105 y β− 79Br 80Se 49.80% stable 82Se 8.82% 1.08×1020 y β−β− 82Kr

Selenium is a chemical element with symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, and also has similarities to arsenic. It rarely occurs in its elemental state or as pure ore compounds in the Earth's crust. Selenium (from Ancient Greek σελήνη (selḗnē) "Moon") was discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who noted the similarity of the new element to the previously discovered tellurium (named for the Earth).

Selenium is found in metal sulfide ores, where it partially replaces the sulfur. Commercially, selenium is produced as a byproduct in the refining of these ores, most often during production. Minerals that are pure selenide or selenate compounds are known but rare. The chief commercial uses for selenium today are glassmaking and pigments. Selenium is a semiconductor and is used in photocells. Applications in electronics, once important, have been mostly replaced with silicon semiconductor devices. Selenium is still used in a few types of DC power surge protectors and one type of fluorescent quantum dot.

Selenium salts are toxic in large amounts, but trace amounts are necessary for cellular function in many organisms, including all animals. Selenium is an ingredient in many multivitamins and other dietary supplements, including infant formula. It is a component of the antioxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase (which indirectly reduce certain oxidized molecules in animals and some plants). It is also found in three deiodinase enzymes, which convert one thyroid hormone to another. Selenium requirements in plants differ by species, with some plants requiring relatively large amounts and others apparently requiring none.^[5]

Characteristics

Physical properties

Structure of hexagonal (gray) selenium

Selenium forms several allotropes that interconvert with temperature changes, depending somewhat on the rate of temperature change. When prepared in chemical reactions, selenium is usually an amorphous, brick-red powder. When rapidly melted, it forms the black, vitreous form, usually sold commercially as beads.^[6] The structure of black selenium is irregular and complex and consists of polymeric rings with up to 1000 atoms per ring. Black Se is a brittle, lustrous solid that is slightly soluble in CS₂. Upon heating, it softens at 50 °C and converts to gray selenium at 180 °C; the transformation temperature is reduced by presence of halogens and amines.^[7]

The red α, β, and γ forms are produced from solutions of black selenium by varying the evaporation rate of the solvent (usually CS₂). They all have relatively low, monoclinic crystal symmetries and contain nearly identical puckered Se₈ rings with different arrangements, as in sulfur. The packing is most dense in the α form. In the Se₈ rings, the Se-Se distance is 233.5 pm and Se-Se-Se angle is 105.7°. Other selenium allotropes may contain Se₆ or Se₇ rings.^[7]

The most stable and dense form of selenium is gray and has a hexagonal crystal lattice consisting of helical polymeric chains, where the Se-Se distance is 237.3 pm and Se-Se-Se angle is 130.1°. The minimum distance between chains is 343.6 pm. Gray Se is formed by mild heating of other allotropes, by slow cooling of molten Se, or by condensing Se vapor just below the melting point. Whereas other Se forms are insulators, gray Se is a semiconductor showing appreciable photoconductivity. Unlike the other allotropes, it is insoluble in CS₂.^[7] It resists oxidation by air and is not attacked by nonoxidizing acids. With strong reducing agents, it forms polyselenides. Selenium does not exhibit the changes in viscosity that sulfur undergoes when gradually heated.^[6][8]

Optical properties

Owing to its use as a photoconductor in flat-panel x-ray detectors (see below), the optical properties of amorphous selenium (α-Se) thin films have been the subject of intense research.^[9][10][11]

Isotopes

Selenium has seven natural isotopes, including ⁷⁹Se, which occurs in minute quantities in uranium ores, as well as 23 other synthetic isotopes.

Selenium isotopes of greatest stability

Isotope	Nature	Origin	Half-life
74Se	Natural		Stable
76Se	Natural		Stable
77Se	Natural	Fission product	Stable
78Se	Natural	Fission product	Stable
79Se	Trace	Fission product	327000 yr[12][13]
80Se	Natural	Fission product	Stable
82Se	Natural	Fission product[14]	~1020 yr[15]

Chemical compounds

Selenium compounds commonly exist in the oxidation states −2, +2, +4, and +6.

Chalcogen compounds

Selenium forms two oxides: selenium dioxide (SeO₂) and selenium trioxide (SeO₃). Selenium dioxide is formed by the reaction of elemental selenium with oxygen:^[6]

Se₈ + 8 O₂ → 8 SeO₂

Structure of the polymer SeO₂: The (pyramidal) Se atoms are yellow.

It is a polymeric solid that forms monomeric SeO₂ molecules in the gas phase. It dissolves in water to form selenous acid, H₂SeO₃. Selenous acid can also be made directly by oxidizing elemental selenium with nitric acid:^[16]

3 Se + 4 HNO₃ + H₂O → 3 H₂SeO₃ + 4 NO

Unlike sulfur, which forms a stable trioxide, selenium trioxide is thermodynamically unstable and decomposes to the dioxide above 185 °C:^[6][16]

2 SeO₃ → 2 SeO₂ + O₂ (ΔH = −54 kJ/mol)

Selenium trioxide is produced in the laboratory by the reaction of anhydrous potassium selenate (K₂SeO₄) and sulfur trioxide (SO₃).^[17]

Salts of selenous acid are called selenites. These include silver selenite (Ag₂SeO₃) and sodium selenite (Na₂SeO₃).

Hydrogen sulfide reacts with aqueous selenous acid to produce selenium disulfide:

H₂SeO₃ + 2 H₂S → SeS₂ + 3 H₂O

Selenium disulfide consists of 8-membered rings. It has an approximate composition of SeS₂, with individual rings varying in composition, such as Se₄S₄ and Se₂S₆. Selenium disulfide has been used in shampoo as an antidandruff agent, an inhibitor in polymer chemistry, a glass dye, and a reducing agent in fireworks.^[16]

Selenium trioxide may be synthesized by dehydrating selenic acid, H₂SeO₄, which is itself produced by the oxidation of selenium dioxide with hydrogen peroxide:^[18]

SeO₂ + H₂O₂ → H₂SeO₄

Hot, concentrated selenic acid can react with gold to form gold(III) selenate.^[19]

Halogen compounds

Iodides of selenium are not well known. The only stable chloride is selenium monochloride (Se₂Cl₂), which might be better known as selenium(I) chloride; the corresponding bromide is also known. These species are structurally analogous to the corresponding disulfur dichloride. Selenium dichloride is an important reagent in the preparation of selenium compounds (e.g. the preparation of Se₇). It is prepared by treating selenium with sulfuryl chloride (SO₂Cl₂).^[20] Selenium reacts with fluorine to form selenium hexafluoride:

Se₈ + 24 F₂ → 8 SeF₆

In comparison with its sulfur counterpart (sulfur hexafluoride), selenium hexafluoride (SeF₆) is more reactive and is a toxic pulmonary irritant.^[21] Some of the selenium oxyhalides, such as selenium oxyfluoride (SeOF₂) and selenium oxychloride (SeOCl₂) have been used as specialty solvents.^[6]

Selenides

Analogous to the behavior of other chalcogens, selenium forms hydrogen selenide, H₂Se. It is a strongly odiferous, toxic, and colorless gas. It is more acidic than H₂S. In solution it ionizes to HSe⁻. The selenide dianion Se²⁻ forms a variety of compounds, including the minerals from which selenium is obtained commercially. Illustrative selenides include mercury selenide (HgSe), lead selenide (PbSe), zinc selenide (ZnSe), and copper indium gallium diselenide (Cu(Ga,In)Se₂). These materials are semiconductors. With highly electropositive metals, such as aluminium, these selenides are prone to hydrolysis:^[6]

Al₂Se₃ + 3 H₂O → Al₂O₃ + 3 H₂Se

Alkali metal selenides react with selenium to form polyselenides, Se²⁻
_n, which exist as chains.

Other compounds

Tetraselenium tetranitride, Se₄N₄, is an explosive orange compound analogous to tetrasulfur tetranitride (S₄N₄).^[6][22][23] It can be synthesized by the reaction of selenium tetrachloride (SeCl₄) with [((CH
₃)
₃Si)
₂N]
₂Se.^[24]

Selenium reacts with cyanides to yield selenocyanates:^[6]

8 KCN + Se₈ → 8 KSeCN

Organoselenium compounds

Selenium, especially in the II oxidation state, forms stable bonds to carbon, which are structurally analogous to the corresponding organosulfur compounds. Especially common are selenides (R₂Se, analogues of thioethers), diselenides (R₂Se₂, analogues of disulfides), and selenols (RSeH, analogues of thiols). Representatives of selenides, diselenides, and selenols include respectively selenomethionine, diphenyldiselenide, and benzeneselenol. The sulfoxide in sulfur chemistry is represented in selenium chemistry by the selenoxides (formula RSe(O)R), which are intermediates in organic synthesis, as illustrated by the selenoxide elimination reaction. Consistent with trends indicated by the double bond rule, selenoketones, R(C=Se)R, and selenaldehydes, R(C=Se)H, are rarely observed.^[25]

History

Selenium (Greek σελήνη selene meaning "Moon") was discovered in 1817 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius and Johan Gottlieb Gahn.^[26] Both chemists owned a chemistry plant near Gripsholm, Sweden, producing sulfuric acid by the lead chamber process. The pyrite from the Falun mine created a red precipitate in the lead chambers which was presumed to be an arsenic compound, so the pyrite's use to make acid was discontinued. Berzelius and Gahn wanted to use the pyrite and they also observed that the red precipitate gave off a smell like horseradish when burned. This smell was not typical of arsenic, but a similar odor was known from tellurium compounds. Hence, Berzelius's first letter to Alexander Marcet stated that this was a tellurium compound. However, the lack of tellurium compounds in the Falun mine minerals eventually led Berzelius to reanalyze the red precipitate, and in 1818 he wrote a second letter to Marcet describing a newly found element similar to sulfur and tellurium. Because of its similarity to tellurium, named for the Earth, Berzelius named the new element after the Moon.^[27][28]

In 1873, Willoughby Smith found that the electrical resistance of grey selenium was dependent on the ambient light.^[29] This led to its use as a cell for sensing light. The first commercial products using selenium were developed by Werner Siemens in the mid-1870s. The selenium cell was used in the photophone developed by Alexander Graham Bell in 1879. Selenium transmits an electric current proportional to the amount of light falling on its surface. This phenomenon was used in the design of light meters and similar devices. Selenium's semiconductor properties found numerous other applications in electronics.^[30][31][32] The development of selenium rectifiers began during the early 1930s, and these replaced copper oxide rectifiers because they were more efficient.^[33][34][35] These lasted in commercial applications until the 1970s, following which they were replaced with less expensive and even more efficient silicon rectifiers.

Selenium came to medical notice later because of its toxicity to human beings working in industries. Selenium was also recognized as an important veterinary toxin, which is seen in animals that have eaten high-selenium plants. In 1954, the first hints of specific biological functions of selenium were discovered in microorganisms by biochemist, Jane Pinsent.^[36][37] It was discovered to be essential for mammalian life in 1957.^[38][39] In the 1970s, it was shown to be present in two independent sets of enzymes. This was followed by the discovery of selenocysteine in proteins. During the 1980s, selenocysteine was shown to be encoded by the codon UGA. The recoding mechanism was worked out first in bacteria and then in mammals (see SECIS element).^[40]

Occurrence

Native selenium in sandstone, from a uranium mine near Grants, New Mexico

Native (i.e., elemental) selenium is a rare mineral, which does not usually form good crystals, but, when it does, they are steep rhombohedra or tiny acicular (hair-like) crystals.^[41] Isolation of selenium is often complicated by the presence of other compounds and elements.

Selenium occurs naturally in a number of inorganic forms, including selenide, selenate, and selenite, but these minerals are rare. The common mineral selenite is not a selenium mineral, and contains no selenite ion, but is rather a type of gypsum (calcium sulfate hydrate) named like selenium for the moon well before the discovery of selenium. Selenium is most commonly found as an impurity, replacing a small part of the sulfur in sulfide ores of many metals.^[42][43]

In living systems, selenium is found in the amino acids selenomethionine, selenocysteine, and methylselenocysteine. In these compounds, selenium plays a role analogous to that of sulfur. Another naturally occurring organoselenium compound is dimethyl selenide.^[44][45]

Certain solids are selenium-rich, and selenium can be bioconcentrated by some plants. In soils, selenium most often occurs in soluble forms such as selenate (analogous to sulfate), which are leached into rivers very easily by runoff.^[42][43] Ocean water contains significant amounts of selenium.^[46][47]

Anthropogenic sources of selenium include coal burning, and the mining and smelting of sulfide ores.^[48]

Production

Selenium is most commonly produced from selenide in many sulfide ores, such as those of copper, nickel, or lead. Electrolytic metal refining is particularly productive of selenium as a byproduct, obtained from the anode mud of copper refineries. Another source was the mud from the lead chambers of sulfuric acid plants, a process that is no longer used. Selenium can be refined from these muds by a number of methods. However, most elemental selenium comes as a byproduct of refining copper or producing sulfuric acid.^[49][50] Since its invention, solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX/EW) production of copper produces an increasing share of the worldwide copper supply.^[51] This changes the availability of selenium because only a comparably small part of the selenium in the ore is leached with the copper.^[52]

Industrial production of selenium usually involves the extraction of selenium dioxide from residues obtained during the purification of copper. Common production from the residue then begins by oxidation with sodium carbonate to produce selenium dioxide, which is mixed with water and acidified to form selenous acid (oxidation step). Selenous acid is bubbled with sulfur dioxide (reduction step) to give elemental selenium.^[53][54]

About 2,000 tonnes of selenium were produced in 2011 worldwide, mostly in Germany (650 t), Japan (630 t), Belgium (200 t), and Russia (140 t), and the total reserves were estimated at 93,000 tonnes. These data exclude two major producers, the United States and China. A previous sharp increase was observed in 2004 from 4–5 to $27/lb. The price was relatively stable during 2004–2010 at about US$30 per pound (in 100-pound lots) but increased to $65 /lb in 2011. The consumption in 2010 was divided as follows: metallurgy – 30%, glass manufacturing – 30%, agriculture – 10%, chemicals and pigments – 10%, and electronics – 10%. China is the dominant consumer of selenium at 1,500–2,000 tonnes/year.^[55]

Applications

Manganese electrolysis

During the electro winning of manganese, the addition of selenium dioxide decreases the power necessary to operate the electrolysis cells. China is the largest consumer of selenium dioxide for this purpose. For every tonne of manganese, an average 2 kg selenium oxide is used.^[55][56]

Glass production

The largest commercial use of Se, accounting for about 50% of consumption, is for the production of glass. Se compounds confer a red color to glass. This color cancels out the green or yellow tints that arise from iron impurities typical for most glass. For this purpose, various selenite and selenate salts are added. For other applications, a red color may be desired, produced by mixtures of CdSe and CdS.^[57]

Alloys

Selenium is used with bismuth in brasses to replace more toxic lead. The regulation of lead in drinking water applications with the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 made a reduction of lead in brass necessary. The new brass is marketed under the name EnviroBrass.^[58] Like lead and sulfur, selenium improves the machinability of steel at concentrations around 0.15%.^[59][60] Selenium produces the same machinability improvement in copper alloys.^[61]

Lithium–selenium batteries

Lithium–selenium (Li–Se) battery is one of the most promising system for energy storage in the family of lithium batteries.^[62] Li–Se battery is an alternative to Lithium–sulfur battery with an advantage of high electrical conductivity.

Solar cells

Copper indium gallium selenide is a material used in solar cells.^[63]

Photoconductors

Amorphous selenium (α-Se) thin films have found application as photoconductors in flat panel x-ray detectors.^[64] These detectors utilize the amorphous selenium to capture and convert incident x-ray photons directly into electric charge.^[65]

Other uses

Small amounts of organoselenium compounds have been used to modify the catalysts used for the vulcanization for the production of rubber.^[52]

The demand for selenium by the electronics industry is declining.^[55] Its photovoltaic and photoconductive properties are still useful in photocopying,^{[66][67][68][69]} photocells, light meters and solar cells. Its use as a photoconductor in plain-paper copiers once was a leading application, but in the 1980s, the photoconductor application declined (although it was still a large end-use) as more and more copiers switched to organic photoconductors. Though once widely used, selenium rectifiers have mostly been replaced (or are being replaced) by silicon-based devices. The most notable exception is in power DC surge protection, where the superior energy capabilities of selenium suppressors make them more desirable than metal oxide varistors.

Zinc selenide was the first material for blue LEDs, but gallium nitride dominates that market.^[70] Cadmium selenide was an important component in quantum dots. Sheets of amorphous selenium convert X-ray images to patterns of charge in xeroradiography and in solid-state, flat-panel X-ray cameras.^[71] Ionized selenium (Se+24) is one of the active mediums used in X-ray lasers.^[72]

Selenium is a catalyst in some chemical reactions, but it is not widely used because of issues with toxicity. In X-ray crystallography, incorporation of one or more selenium atoms in place of sulfur helps with multiple-wavelength anomalous dispersion and single wavelength anomalous dispersion phasing.^[73]

Selenium is used in the toning of photographic prints, and it is sold as a toner by numerous photographic manufacturers. Selenium intensifies and extends the tonal range of black-and-white photographic images and improves the permanence of prints.<sup>[74][75][76]

75</sup>Se is used as a gamma source in industrial radiography.^[77]

Biological role

NFPA 704 fire diamond
0 2 0
Fire diamond for elemental selenium

Although it is toxic in large doses, selenium is an essential micronutrient for animals. In plants, it occurs as a bystander mineral, sometimes in toxic proportions in forage (some plants may accumulate selenium as a defense against being eaten by animals, but other plants, such as locoweed, require selenium, and their growth indicates the presence of selenium in soil).^[5] See more on plant nutrition below.

Selenium is a component of the unusual amino acids selenocysteine and selenomethionine. In humans, selenium is a trace element nutrient that functions as cofactor for reduction of antioxidant enzymes, such as glutathione peroxidases^[78] and certain forms of thioredoxin reductase found in animals and some plants (this enzyme occurs in all living organisms, but not all forms of it in plants require selenium).

The glutathione peroxidase family of enzymes (GSH-Px) catalyze certain reactions that remove reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide and organic hydroperoxides:

2 GSH + H₂O₂----GSH-Px → GSSG + 2 H₂O

The thyroid gland and every cell that uses thyroid hormone use selenium, which is a cofactor for the three of the four known types of thyroid hormone deiodinases, which activate and then deactivate various thyroid hormones and their metabolites; the iodothyronine deiodinases are the subfamily of deiodinase enzymes that use selenium as the otherwise rare amino acid selenocysteine. (Only the deiodinase, iodotyrosine deiodinase, which works on the last breakdown products of thyroid hormone, does not use selenium.)^[79]

Selenium may inhibit Hashimoto's disease, in which the body's own thyroid cells are attacked as alien. A reduction of 21% on TPO antibodies is reported with the dietary intake of 0.2 mg of selenium.^[80]

Increased dietary selenium reduces the effects of mercury toxicity,^[81][82][83] although it is effective only at low to modest doses of mercury.^[84] Evidence suggests that the molecular mechanisms of mercury toxicity includes the irreversible inhibition of selenoenzymes that are required to prevent and reverse oxidative damage in brain and endocrine tissues.^[85][86] An antioxidant, selenoneine, which is derived from selenium and has been found to be present in the blood of bluefin tuna, is the subject of scientific research regarding its possible roles in inflammatory and chronic diseases, methylmercury detoxification, and oxidative damages.^[87][88]

Evolution in biology

From about three billion years ago, prokaryotic selenoprotein families drive the evolution of selenocysteine, an amino acid. Selenium is incorporated into several prokaryotic selenoprotein families in bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes as selenocysteine,^[89] where selenoprotein peroxiredoxins protect bacterial and eukaryotic cells against oxidative damage. Selenoprotein families of GSH-Px and the deiodinases of eukaryotic cells seem to have a bacterial phylogenetic origin. The selenocysteine-containing form occurs in species as diverse as green algae, diatoms, sea urchin, fish, and chicken. Selenium enzymes are involved in the small reducing molecules glutathione and thioredoxin. One family of selenium-bearing molecules (the glutathione peroxidases) destroys peroxide and repairs damaged peroxidized cell membranes, using glutathione. Another selenium-bearing enzyme in some plants and in animals (thioredoxin reductase) generates reduced thioredoxin, a dithiol that serves as an electron source for peroxidases and also the important reducing enzyme ribonucleotide reductase that makes DNA precursors from RNA precursors.^[90]

Trace elements involved in GSH-Px and superoxide dismutase enzymes activities, i.e. selenium, vanadium, magnesium, copper, and zinc, may have been lacking in some terrestrial mineral-deficient areas.^[89] Marine organisms retained and sometimes expanded their selenoproteomes, whereas the selenoproteomes of some terrestrial organisms were reduced or completely lost. These findings suggest that, with the exception of vertebrates, aquatic life supports selenium use, whereas terrestrial habitats lead to reduced use of this trace element.^[91] Marine fishes and vertebrate thyroid glands have the highest concentration of selenium and iodine. From about 500 million years ago, freshwater and terrestrial plants slowly optimized the production of "new" endogenous antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), polyphenols (including flavonoids), tocopherols, etc. A few of these appeared more recently, in the last 50–200 million years, in fruits and flowers of angiosperm plants. In fact, the angiosperms (the dominant type of plant today) and most of their antioxidant pigments evolved during the late Jurassic period.^{[citation needed]}

The deiodinase isoenzymes constitute another family of eukaryotic selenoproteins with identified enzyme function. Deiodinases are able to extract electrons from iodides, and iodides from iodothyronines. They are, thus, involved in thyroid-hormone regulation, participating in the protection of thyrocytes from damage by H₂O₂ produced for thyroid-hormone biosynthesis.^[92] About 200 million years ago, new selenoproteins were developed as mammalian GSH-Px enzymes.

Nutritional sources of selenium

Dietary selenium comes from nuts, cereals and mushrooms. Brazil nuts are the richest dietary source (though this is soil-dependent, since the Brazil nut does not require high levels of the element for its own needs).^[97][98]

The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for teenagers and adults is 55 µg/day. Selenium as a dietary supplement is available in many forms, including multi-vitamins/mineral supplements, which typically contain 55 or 70 µg/serving. Selenium-specific supplements typically contain either 100 or 200 µg/serving.

In June 2015 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published its final rule establishing the requirement of minimum and maximum levels of selenium in infant formula.^[99]

The selenium content in the human body is believed to be in the 13–20 milligram range.^[100]

Indicator plant species

Certain species of plants are considered indicators of high selenium content of the soil because they require high levels of selenium to thrive. The main selenium indicator plants are Astragalus species (including some locoweeds), prince's plume (Stanleya sp.), woody asters (Xylorhiza sp.), and false goldenweed (Oonopsis sp.)^[101]

Detection in biological fluids

Selenium may be measured in blood, plasma, serum, or urine to monitor excessive environmental or occupational exposure, to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in hospitalized victims, or investigate a suspected case of fatal overdose. Some analytical techniques are capable of distinguishing organic from inorganic forms of the element. Both organic and inorganic forms of selenium are largely converted to monosaccharide conjugates (selenosugars) in the body prior elimination in the urine. Cancer patients receiving daily oral doses of selenothionine may achieve very high plasma and urine selenium concentrations.^[102]

Toxicity

Although selenium is an essential trace element, it is toxic if taken in excess. Exceeding the Tolerable Upper Intake Level of 400 micrograms per day can lead to selenosis.^[103] This 400 µg Tolerable Upper Intake Level is based primarily on a 1986 study of five Chinese patients who exhibited overt signs of selenosis and a follow up study on the same five people in 1992.^[104] The 1992 study actually found the maximum safe dietary Se intake to be approximately 800 micrograms per day (15 micrograms per kilogram body weight), but suggested 400 micrograms per day to avoid creating an imbalance of nutrients in the diet and to accord with data from other countries.^[105] In China, people who ingested corn grown in extremely selenium-rich stony coal (carbonaceous shale) have suffered from selenium toxicity. This coal was shown to have selenium content as high as 9.1%, the highest concentration in coal ever recorded.^[106]

Signs and symptoms of selenosis include a garlic odor on the breath, gastrointestinal disorders, hair loss, sloughing of nails, fatigue, irritability, and neurological damage. Extreme cases of selenosis can exhibit cirrhosis of the liver, pulmonary edema, or death.^[107] Elemental selenium and most metallic selenides have relatively low toxicities because of low bioavailability. By contrast, selenates and selenites have an oxidant mode of action similar to that of arsenic trioxide and are very toxic. The chronic toxic dose of selenite for humans is about 2400 to 3000 micrograms of selenium per day.^[108]

Hydrogen selenide is an extremely toxic, corrosive gas.^[109] Selenium also occurs in organic compounds, such as dimethyl selenide, selenomethionine, selenocysteine and methylselenocysteine, all of which have high bioavailability and are toxic in large doses.

On 19 April 2009, 21 polo ponies died shortly before a match in the United States Polo Open. Three days later, a pharmacy released a statement explaining that the horses had received an incorrect dose of one of the ingredients used in a vitamin/mineral supplement compound that had been incorrectly prepared by a compounding pharmacy. Analysis of blood levels of inorganic compounds in the supplement indicated the selenium concentrations were ten to fifteen times higher than normal in the blood samples, and 15 to 20 times higher than normal in the liver samples. Selenium was later confirmed to be the toxic factor.^[110]

Selenium poisoning of water systems may result whenever new agricultural runoff courses through normally dry, undeveloped lands. This process leaches natural soluble selenium compounds (such as selenates) into the water, which may then be concentrated in new "wetlands" as the water evaporates. Selenium pollution of waterways also occurs when selenium is leached from coal flue ash, mining and metal smelting, crude oil processing, and landfill.^[111] The resultant high selenium levels in waterways were found to cause congenital disorders in oviparous species, including wetland birds^[112] and fish.^[113] Elevated dietary methylmercury levels can amplify the harm of selenium toxicity in oviparous species.^[114][115]

Relationship between survival of juvenile salmon and concentration of selenium in their tissues after 90 days (Chinook salmon^[116]) or 45 days (Atlantic salmon^[117]) exposure to dietary selenium. The 10% lethality level (LC10=1.84 µg/g) was derived by applying the biphasic model of Brain and Cousens^[118] to only the Chinook salmon data. The Chinook salmon data comprise two series of dietary treatments, combined here because the effects on survival are indistinguishable.

In fish and other wildlife, selenium is necessary for life, but toxic in high doses. For salmon, the optimal concentration of selenium is about 1 microgram selenium per gram of whole body weight. Much below that level, young salmon die from deficiency;^[117] much above, they die from toxic excess.^[116]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the legal limit (Permissible exposure limit) for selenium in the workplace at 0.2 mg/m³ over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a Recommended exposure limit (REL) of 0.2 mg/m³ over an 8-hour workday. At levels of 1 mg/m³, selenium is immediately dangerous to life and health.^[119]

Deficiency

Selenium deficiency can occur in patients with severely compromised intestinal function, those undergoing total parenteral nutrition, and^[120] in those of advanced age (over 90). Also, people dependent on food grown from selenium-deficient soil are at risk. Although New Zealand soil has low levels of selenium, adverse health effects have not been detected in the residents.^[121]
Selenium deficiency, defined by low (<60 a="" activity="" additional="" an="" and="" as="" brain="" class="reference" endocrine="" exposures="" high="" id="cite_ref-122" in="" is="" level="" levels="" linked="" low="" mercury="" normal="" occurs="" of="" only="" selenium="" selenoenzyme="" stress="" such="" sup="" tissues="" to="" when="" with="">[122] or increased oxidant stress from vitamin E  deficiency.^[123]


Selenium interacts with other nutrients, such as iodine and vitamin E. The effect of selenium deficiency on health remains uncertain, particularly in relation to Kashin-Beck disease.^[124] Also, selenium interacts with other minerals, such as zinc and copper. High doses of Se supplements in pregnant animals might disturb the Zn:Cu ratio and lead to Zn reduction; in such treatment cases, Zn levels should be monitored. Further studies are needed to confirm these interactions.^[125]

In the regions (e.g. various regions within North America) where low selenium soil levels lead to low concentrations in the plants, some animal species may be deficient unless selenium is supplemented with diet or injection.^[126] Ruminants are particularly susceptible. In general, absorption of dietary selenium is lower in ruminants than other animals, and is lower from forages than from grain.^[127] Ruminants grazing certain forages, e.g., some white clover varieties containing cyanogenic glycosides, may have higher selenium requirements,^[127] presumably because cyanide is released from the aglycone by glucosidase activity in the rumen^[128] and glutathione peroxidases is deactivated by the cyanide acting on the glutathione moiety.^[129] Neonate ruminants at risk of white muscle disease may be administered both selenium and vitamin E by injection; some of the WMD myopathies respond only to selenium, some only to vitamin E, and some to either.^[130]

Controversial health effects

A number of correlative epidemiological studies have implicated selenium deficiency (measured by blood levels) in a number of serious or chronic diseases, such as cancer,^[131][132] diabetes,^[131] HIV/AIDS,^[133] and tuberculosis. In addition, selenium supplementation has been found to be a chemopreventive for some types of cancer in some types of rodents. One study of 118 exocrine pancreatic cancer (EPC) patients and 399 hospital controls in eastern Spain found high selenium concentrations to be inversely associated with the risk of EPC.^[134] In randomized, blinded, controlled prospective trials in humans, selenium supplementation has not succeeded in reducing the incidence of any disease, nor has a meta-analysis of such selenium supplementation studies detected a decrease in overall mortality.^[135] However, selenium supplementation may be beneficial in cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.