5 hours ago
(This post was last modified: 5 hours ago by C C.)
Qualifies for the doomsday clock?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026.../106780618
EXCERPT: Mirror life is the name scientists have given to a theoretical type of synthetic bacteria that, if made, could grow with almost no hindrance. It would do this by being chemically identical, but geometrically different, to naturally occurring bacteria.
Many of the molecules that make up life, including proteins and DNA, can be formed in two separate ways, with one the mirror image of the other. Chemists call this property "chirality", which comes from the ancient Greek word for "hand". Hands, in fact, share the same mirror geometry: your left hand is the same shape as your right, but it still won't fit into a right-handed glove.
Two computer models of molecules, made of identical parts, with one the mirror image of the other, over a pair of hands. All life on Earth has just one type of chiral DNA and proteins. DNA is always "right-handed", while most protein components are "left-handed".
Researchers can make DNA and proteins with the opposite handedness in labs, but they do not occur naturally. In recent years, mirror proteins with unnatural handedness have shown promise as potential medical treatments. The immune system does not recognise them, so they do not prompt immune reactions and could work in the body for much longer.
But, for the same reason that individual proteins could be helpful, an entire cell constructed from wrong-handed proteins and DNA could be dangerous. A mirror bacterium could use the environment's nutrients to multiply, and it would not face immune resistance from humans, plants, or any other life form it infected.
"This thing would grow, but it wouldn't be constrained," Professor Relman says. "The result of that would be death or displacement of many, many species of life on the planet, and even potential disruption of the basic geochemical cycles that maintain the environment."
Nor could mirror life reliably be contained in a laboratory, according to Professor Relman... (MORE - missing details)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026.../106780618
EXCERPT: Mirror life is the name scientists have given to a theoretical type of synthetic bacteria that, if made, could grow with almost no hindrance. It would do this by being chemically identical, but geometrically different, to naturally occurring bacteria.
Many of the molecules that make up life, including proteins and DNA, can be formed in two separate ways, with one the mirror image of the other. Chemists call this property "chirality", which comes from the ancient Greek word for "hand". Hands, in fact, share the same mirror geometry: your left hand is the same shape as your right, but it still won't fit into a right-handed glove.
Two computer models of molecules, made of identical parts, with one the mirror image of the other, over a pair of hands. All life on Earth has just one type of chiral DNA and proteins. DNA is always "right-handed", while most protein components are "left-handed".
Researchers can make DNA and proteins with the opposite handedness in labs, but they do not occur naturally. In recent years, mirror proteins with unnatural handedness have shown promise as potential medical treatments. The immune system does not recognise them, so they do not prompt immune reactions and could work in the body for much longer.
But, for the same reason that individual proteins could be helpful, an entire cell constructed from wrong-handed proteins and DNA could be dangerous. A mirror bacterium could use the environment's nutrients to multiply, and it would not face immune resistance from humans, plants, or any other life form it infected.
"This thing would grow, but it wouldn't be constrained," Professor Relman says. "The result of that would be death or displacement of many, many species of life on the planet, and even potential disruption of the basic geochemical cycles that maintain the environment."
Nor could mirror life reliably be contained in a laboratory, according to Professor Relman... (MORE - missing details)