Weizmann, Hebrew University Find 30% Chiral Gap Supporting Life-Origin Theory
Updated
Updated · wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il · May 19
Weizmann, Hebrew University Find 30% Chiral Gap Supporting Life-Origin Theory
2 articles · Updated · wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il · May 19
Researchers reported that electrons moving through mirror-image chiral molecules feel different magnetic-field strengths, with the gap reaching about 30% in chiral gold.
Experiments on chiral gold, silver and biological molecules showed the asymmetry appears only in motion: each molecular form orients the field differently, so electrons experience a different fraction of it.
That mechanism helps explain why life uses one handedness—right-handed sugars, DNA and RNA, and left-handed proteins—despite mirror-image molecules being expected to have identical energy.
The findings also bolster a Harvard proposal that magnetic magnetite surfaces in ancient lakes selectively attracted one primordial molecular form, with the effective temperature range of 60-80°C matching those environments.
Researchers said the effect could be harnessed on magnetic surfaces to crystallize only the desired chiral form in drugs, fertilizers and pesticides.
Can we now use magnets to create safer drugs, solving the deadly problem of toxic mirror-image molecules?
If magnetic fields selected life's building blocks, should we now search for magnetized planets to find alien life?
Since motion reveals a molecule's true nature, what other fundamental symmetries in physics might be deceptive illusions?
Cracking Life’s Handedness: How the Chiral-Induced Spin Selectivity (CISS) Effect Explains Biological Homochirality and Powers Next-Gen Technologies
Overview
Chirality means molecules can exist as mirror images, but living things consistently use only one handedness—proteins are left-handed, while sugars, DNA, and RNA are right-handed. This puzzling biological asymmetry has challenged scientists for over 150 years, since chemistry and physics suggest both forms should have identical energy. Understanding how this preference arose is crucial, as it could reveal how the first biological molecules formed and shed light on the origin of life. Solving this mystery remains a central scientific goal, promising insights into both fundamental biology and the processes that made life possible.