Related papers: Homochirality: a prerequisite or consequence of li…
In this paper, I tentatively put forward a new hypothesis that the emergence of a single chiral form of biomolecules in living organisms is specifically determined by the electron spin state during their enzyme-catalyzed synthesis…
In a previous paper we addressed the question "Does the Rapid Appearance of Life on Earth Suggest that Life is Common in the Universe?" The non-observability of recent biogenesis is a self-selection effect that needs to be considered if…
Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus and Sulfur (CHNOPS) play key roles in the origin and proliferation of life on Earth. Given the universality of physics and chemistry, not least the ubiquity of water as a solvent and carbon as…
The search for Life in the Universe generally assumes three basic life's needs: I) building block elements (i.e., CHNOPS), II) a solvent to life's reactions (generally, liquid water) and III) a thermodynamic disequilibrium. It is assumed…
Although it has been notoriously difficult to pin down precisely what it is that makes life so distinctive and remarkable, there is general agreement that its informational aspect is one key property, perhaps the key property. The unique…
When we examine the chirality or observed handedness of the chromospheric and coronal structures involved in the long-term build-up to eruptive events, we find that they evolve in very specific ways to form two and only two sets of…
Molecular chirality is a key concept in chemistry with implications for the origin of life and the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. Previous simulations of a chiral molecular model with an energetic bias towards homochiral interactions…
Chirality is probably the most mysterious among all symmetry transformations. Very readily broken in biological systems, it is practically absent in naturally occurring inorganic materials and is very challenging to create artificially.…
The identification of a universal biosignature that could be sensed remotely is critical to the prospects for success in the search for life elsewhere in the universe. A candidate universal biosignature is homochirality, which is likely to…
One of the chief paradoxes of molecular oxygen (O$_2$) is that it is an essential requirement for multicellular eukaryotes on Earth while simultaneously posing a threat to their survival via the formation of reactive oxygen species. In this…
The distinction of chiral and mirror symmetric objects is straightforward from a geometrical point of view. Since the biological as well as the optical activity of molecules strongly depend on their handedness, chirality has recently…
In a multiverse context, determining the probability of being in our particular universe depends on estimating its overall habitability compared to other universes with different values of the fundamental constants. One of the most…
Chirality, an inherent property of most objects of the universe, is a dynamic research topic in material science, physics, chemistry, and biology. The fundamental appeal of this extensive study is supported by the technological quest to…
According to the "hard-steps" model, the origin of humanity required "successful passage through a number of intermediate steps" (so-called "hard" or "critical" steps) that were intrinsically improbable with respect to the total time…
Chirality refers to the asymmetry of objects that cannot be superimposed on their mirror image. It is a concept that exists in various scientific fields and has profound consequences. Although these are perhaps most widely recognized within…
A hard difficulty in Astrobiology is the precise definition of what life is. All living beings have a cellular structure, so it is not possible to have a broader concept of life hence the search for extraterrestrial life is restricted to…
Parity and time reversal are obvious and plausible candidates for fundamental symmetries of nature. Hypothesising that these symmetries exist implies the existence of a new form of matter, called mirror matter. The mirror matter theory (or…
Chirality, a pervasive phenomenon in nature, is widely studied across diverse fields including the origins of life, chemical catalysis, drug discovery, and physical optoelectronics. The investigations of natural chiral materials have been…
While modern physics and biology satisfactorily explain the passage from the Big Bang to the formation of Earth and the first cells to present-day life, respectively, the origins of biochemical life still remain an open question. Since…
Chirality is a pervasive property of matter that underpins many important phenomena across physics, chemistry and biology. Given its broad significance, the development of protocols for rational control of chirality in solid state systems…