Editorial

Editor's page by Francisco R. M. Laurindo

Duality. That is the word of order of this issue of our Newsletter. Dual roles of enzymes as anti or prooxidants, dual roles of autophagy to protect or kill cancer cells, dual roles of redox processes to signal physiological processes or to contribute to disease-promoting mechanisms, and so on. Duality is not surprising, as we see that all along nature. But it is confusing to the scientist, who for sure would love to classify processes as either beneficial or damaging, given the pattern-seeking way our minds are structured. Things become even more confusing in the redox biology/chemistry area, given the several extra levels at which a given process can bifurcate across the “light-or-dark” decisions. It is up to us to crack these nuts in an intelligent way and to contribute to unravel these apparent paradoxes. And the way to do that in science involves seeking a mechanistic state of mind, as we discuss in our Redoxcope. For mechanisms are the true Science, allowing us to incorporate the fact that “….nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” (William Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2, 239-251).

Francisco R. M. Laurindo
Editor in Chief of Redoxoma Newsletter

Heart Institute (InCor)
University of São Paulo Medical School, Brazil