The molecule and its double
English language ed.
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Word Count
32,000 words, Guess
Page Count
128 pages
Identifiers
- Open LibraryOL1395931M
- ISBN-100070323992
- OCLC Control Number27726665
- OCLC Control Numbermoleculeitsdoubl00jacq
- Library of Congress Control Number93003309
and 2 more
- Goodreads1527952
- LibraryThing177499
Classifications
- DDC541.2/23
- LCCQD481 .M2713 1993
Description
Science is haunted by an enigma: Amino acids, which make up living matter, are able to exist, chemically speaking, in two forms, a left and a right, like our two hands, yet strangely enough they are all found to belong to the same "hand." Pasteur said that these natural molecules were "dissymmetrical." Another discovery has just reopened the question. The Universe itself, we find, is characterized by a decisive break in symmetry, one that has given matter the upper hand over antimatter. Thus, the scenarios of the astrophysicists fall in line with the findings of the molecular biologists - a line running from the cosmos to life. The practical implications of the "direction" of life are enormous. In the laboratory we can synthesize compounds in both the "left-handed" and "right-handed" forms, but the effectiveness of an insecticide or a drug, for example, as well as their side effects, depend on the "doubling" of the molecule of which they are composed: "right" and "left" are not the same thing.
Subjects
Topics
Series Statement
- The McGraw-Hill horizons of science series
Other Editions
- The molecule and its double
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