For people with two hands, one is usually dominant. On a molecular level, life takes this to the extreme. All of the DNA in earthly living things twists to the right, whereas the protein building blocks favor a kind of left-handed chemistry. But in recent years, scientists have worked toward a kind of mirror version of life. The technology to make mirror life likely won't exist for at least a decade. Still, a group of concerned scientists published a 299-page technical report calling for a stop to the science. New York Times science columnist Carl Zimmer explains how a mirror microbe could wreak havoc on life on Earth in the future. Check out the full technical report and Carl's full article.Curious about other controversial research? Email us at [email protected]. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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So, I'm right-handed. Not everyone is. My whole life I've heard the woes of my left-handed friends that the world is just not made for them. And recently, I learned about a whole new level to that. Handedness affects the very building blocks of life. All of life on Earth picks a side.
The building blocks for our DNA... They're all right-handed. They could be left-handed, but they're not. And that's just a rule across all of life.
That's Carl Zimmer. He's an author of many books on science and a reporter for the New York Times.
I'd say my beat is life, basically what it is and what it could become.
This handedness of molecules and life is called chirality. It's the mirror image of a molecule, like how your face is flipped in the mirror. On Earth, all the DNA we see, aside from some transient exceptions, all the helixes turn to the right. And so far, scientists haven't seen any evidence that life is ambidextrous either.
But in the last decade, researchers have been getting closer and closer to understanding how life can be on the other side of that mirror. by creating mirror molecules, like in pharmaceutical drugs, some of which are even in clinical trials. Since enzymes in the body didn't evolve to recognize mirror molecules, the thought is that these drugs last longer.
But Carl says manufacturing these molecules can be a painstaking process. Like, say a scientist hypothetically wanted to manufacture mirror insulin in the hope it lasts longer.
Now, if you want to make mirror insulin, there's no cellular factory around that you can use to make those molecules. You have to make them by hand, basically.
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