In December 2024, 38 scientists teamed up to issue a warning about a potential upcoming global catastrophe. The cause? Mirror bacteria. No, these aren't bacteria with tiny goatees from an evil Star Trek universe, but if scientists ever do manage to make them, we might find ourselves living in a disaster movie.Life made with molecules of reversed chirality reminds me of a science-fiction story I read 50 years ago, Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny. The novel includes a life form that looks like a gem made of molecules that have the opposite chirality of those in Earth and a machine that reverses and inverts objects and organisms down to the molecular level. Those interact with each other and the protagonist in interesting ways, but the only biological threat I remember Zelazny discussing was the ill health effects to the protagonist, who sent himself through the machine. He realizes that he would have problems metabolizing the normal chirality nutrients in his food. Fortunately, that got resolved before it could seriously harm him.
Running normal bacteria through the machine to create mirror bacteria didn't come up. That would be the subject of a different story, the one that Hank Green is telling. Just the same, the possible creation of mirror bacteria and other mirror life is another demonstration that we live in science-fiction times, or as my friend Nebris says, SciFi is Now.
That's a wrap for today's post. Stay tuned for another brief evergreen entry tomorrow.
That's a wrap for today's post. Stay tuned for another brief evergreen entry tomorrow.
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