Re: Left-handed molecules [was Re: SOC: The Monkey God]

From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sun Jan 23 2000 - 09:49:59 MST


On Sunday, January 23, 2000 4:19 AM Robert Bradbury bradbury@genebee.msu.su
wrote:
> My impression was that the favored reason for left-handed molecules
> being dominant is the effects of polarized light in gas clouds.
> What is described above sounds much different.
>
> Does anyone know whether these theories are equivalent, different,
> opposed or both occuring in different circumstances?
>
> Some hard data pointers would be nice. I think the polarization
> theory was in Scientific American or one of the Astronomy magazines
> sometime in '99.

This might be a bit dated, but here goes. I recommend Dilip Kondepudi's
"Parity Violation and the Origin of Biomolecular Chirality" in _Entropy,
Information, and Evolution: New Perspectives on Physical and Biological
Evolution_ (MIT: 1990). I find his arguments compelling, but not 100%
convincing. Anyway, right now, I'm not losing any sleep over it.:)

Daniel Ust
http://mars.superlink.net/neptune/



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