All life relies on a hidden molecular preference: chirality. Though many molecules come in mirror-image forms, biology consistently chooses just one. This universal “handedness” is key to how proteins, DNA, and cells function. However, why life chose one form over another remains one of the greatest mysteries in science and the search for life beyond Earth.
- alien life chirality
- biosecurity and chirality
- Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity
- chiral molecules
- chirality in biology
- chirality in drug design
- CISS effect
- early Earth chemistry
- enantiomers
- handedness in proteins
- handedness of DNA
- homochirality
- left-handed amino acids
- Louis Pasteur chirality
- magnetic influence on molecules
- mirror life
- molecular asymmetry
- molecular handedness
- origin of life
- prebiotic molecular evolution
- quanta magazine
- right-handed sugars
- smell and enantiomers
- stereochemistry in pharmaceuticals
- symmetry-breaking in biology
- synthetic enantiomers
- thalidomide birth defects
- youtube
