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‘Unprecedented risk’ to life on Earth: Scientists call for halt on ‘mirror life’ microbe research
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
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Oh for fuck's sake, we already know that mirror molecules can have disastrously unexpected side-effects on people, so why on Earth would we make an entire mirror organism that's has the potential to do the same but way, way worse!
I don't see any mention in there of Thalidomide being a mirror molecule, do you have a source for that?
Fair. I had thought that article with the scandel would mention it, but apparently doesn't. Only the main article does.
It has two possible configurations:
The Right handed configuration had the desired effects and isn't harmful.
The Left handed mirror caused birth defects.
Oh and the best part is, if you try to make a pure mixture of the right handed version, it can convert to the left handed one in the body!
why the fuck would it be mentioned. thalidomide is synthetic, article is about wrong enantiomer of natural compounds working in a living organism that has unnatural chirality. that teratogenic effect of thalidomide was figured out and is now used in anticancer treatments. it's a tool, and if you use it right it can be useful. that thing in article is highly speculative as of now and making any component would be hideously expensive anyway
Correct. It's also a much simpler organic molecule than any of the proteins they are talking about creating.
Man, you ain't gotta be rude.
I meant the article I linked to the Thalidomide scandal. I was surprised that chirality wasn't mentioned even once in the wiki article about it causing birth defects, considering it's chirality was a key factor in that scandal.
I know it wouldn't be in the OP article because they're only minorly related instances, but my point was tjat we already know what mirroring even a simple compound can do to living things, nevermind complex proteins and entire organisms.
And IMO, using arguably the single most widely known instance of mirror chemicals gone wrong to make that point is perfectly valid.
Yes, but like any tool, if there's no safeguards, it will could do unimaginable damage (which is also why I used Thalidomide as an example, as it inspired literally tonnes of safeguards post-scandel). Like GMOs can be dangerous as is, but at least in most instances it's only the living organism itself that's dangerous. With mirroring, any part of that organism could be dangerous to normal lifeforms, so even sterilised mirror waste could be dangerous