New Evidence That Life On Earth Was Forged in Outer Space

what da heck are they talking about. left handed amino acids?????????????????????

amino acids dont have hands!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is just a bunch of whacko.

i may have missed something, but it sounds like they're saying that asteroids have amino acids and that these amino acids make the asteroids left handed...
please tell me I missed something.

@extremechiton

Please don't bother posting on this website if you have no idea what the article is talking about. What is worse is that you admit you don't know, and yet claim that what they are saying is "a bunch of whacko". As for trolling; just go away.

For those of you that don't understand, but want to:

Left/right handedness, is a convention to describe gemoetric isomers. Isomers are two molecules, made from identical components (ie, same molecular formula, like H20, or H2SO4) but are arranged differently. They may look similar, but there is no way you can rotate one isomer to be identical to another.

Imagine you have 5 lego pieces (the little 2x2 squares) one black, two yellow, one blue, and one red.

Now, useing the black as the center, stack the two yellows on top. Then glue the red block to one side of the black block, and then glue the blue piece to the black piece 90degrees to the left of the red block.

That is now your molecule. Now make (imagine) that structure again, but this time swap the blue and the red piece, so the red is to the left of the blue

You now have two structures that look almost identical. They have the same shape, made of the same pieces. However, they are not identical.

Try as you might, no matter how you rotate one of your structures, it cannot be the same as the other.

When you're deaing with molecules, orientation doesn't mean much, because everything is free-floating. What matters are parts of the molecule RELATIVE to other parts. In my example, the blue and the red of the two isomerers will always be swapped, relative to eachother.

So, with chiral amino acids, they have two isomers; two possible arrangments of molecules with the same chemicals, and almost identical structure. We call one right-hand, and one left-hand.

As reference to real life, the artifical sweetener "Splenda" IS sugar. It has the exact molecular makeup of sugar. It is an isomer of sugar; oppositely handed. The taste remains the same (debatably), but your body cannot process it like it does sugar, and so it goes through without you absorbing any of the sugar (ie, the calories).

so if I high five my self in the right hand dimention we would blow up? >X<

The article refers to the isomers of the amino acids. When you see handedness (left vs right handed amino acids) the author is probably referring to chemical chirality (look it up on wikipedia. A left handed amino acid is essentially a mirror image of the right handed version. This handedness is in turn based on the R/S nomenclature system for denoting enantiomers. It uses atomic priority to put lower atomic numbered elements away from the viewer, then determines right (rectus) or left (sinister) based on clockwise (R) or counter-clockwise (S) decreasing priority of the remaining substituents.

Here's to hoping that clears things up.

@brian144:
Thank you for posting this explanation. I was about to ask what was meant by "left handed" and "right handed"*,but now I don't have to. Your explanation made me understand this. Interesting.

*Don't start lecturing me like you did extremechiton. I'm only a teen.

@brian144:

I want to thank you also. I was so confused about this article when they started talking about left-handedness and stuff. But you did explain it really well and it helped out a lot, Thanks!

so would left and right each have an anti matter to it?

yes anti matter is matter but with opposite charge so a regular electron has a negative charge but an antimatter electron (called a positron) would have a positive charge, in this case anti matter could take any structure including the structure of amino acids

Scientists try to use common everyday terms that help them to keep track of things but it often confuses the rest of us. Think of left-handedness and right-handedness as Tetris blocks. You know that ones I'm talking about. The ones that are the right shape but no matter how you rotate them, they won't fit like the other ones that are the same shape. For example, one is an 'L' and it's mirror image.

The molecules are like 3D Tetris and there are much more of the 'L' type then the other ones (the backwards 'L'). The scientists are discovering that this is not just on Earth but possibly also common in our galaxy. The question is why. It seems that it should be an even distribution of both, but it is not.

@BraverThought
This 'chiral' effect is only present at the molecular level, not the smaller atomic or subatomic levels.

What in gods name are they talking about? Left-handed and right-handed are different when talking about humans and amino acids. In amino acids its just a physical shift while in humans it is a shift in personality and functions of the brain. Left-handed humans use more of their right brain (the brains control of the body criss-cross). The control centers for functions are on either side resulting in different usage of the brain for left-handers. This is rediculous.

it's pretty ridiculous to think that a commenter had to clarify the article for everybody to understand. doing so in less word and in a less confusing way than the author.
making an article accessible doesn't mean you need to explain it to 10 years old... specially in a science oriented magazine, it makes thing more confusing.

While it may be confusing I feel like this is one reason why we need more chemistry to be taught in classrooms. Granted we didn't cover this till O-chem is college it should still be required. Also, I think the author approached this the right way. If he had started the article by explaining the difference in left handed and right handed amino acids he would have lost many people before he even got to the meat of the article. This way it made people think, research, and understand the topic (which is kind of the purpose for the magazine). In the end more people got the message and understand a little more about chemistry so isn't the world a better place? :)

The title of the article has nothing to do with the content.

I don't see where, "One bolsters the theory that left-handedness prevails in the cosmos, and another explains how the building blocks of life became left-handed in the first place."

Has anything to do with, "New Evidence That Life On Earth Was Forged in Outer Space"

Just shows me in simply terms more hooey with little solid facts behind it from some scientist that can't believe life started here on Earth not from Alien Asteroid Seeds.

@Hethos

Not at all. Glad I could help. I'm sorry if I come off as a hard-ass. I think it's great when people ask about something in an article they don't understand. Where better? I just don't like it when people post "I don't understand; this is stupid. Scientists are idiots."

I'm glad you're taking intrest in science as only a teen. Especially outside of the classroom. We need more kids like you.

"Further research is still needed to test this theory."

You can say that again !

For a different perspective onneutrinos exploding stars, alien life and their connection to african pidgin english try this

http://princehorus.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/me-o-rin/

amino acids: in big pharma, creating amino acids results in a 50% R & L hand versions. We cannot use the R. Pharma, in its infinite pursuit of profit, uses this R&L produce in drugs; Tholidimide, Prozac, etc. See the point?
Directly due to this pharma has lately repatented the current drug formulas using 100% L aminos.

I am not so sure about the 'outer space' claim. In 2008 science was baffled by high energy rays impacting Earth & where the source? Led to claims of Planet X etc. What is omitted is that depleted particles impacting the solar/cosmos barrier, aka the sun's heliosheath, is the strong possibility that an immense charge is picked up and sent zapping back toward the sun. Theory does not require Planet X, aliens, etc. Just the concept that the solar system is closed and these high energy particles are our sun's recharged and returned.

This circularly polarized light is a product of (again) action at close to 0 Kelvin, as demonstrated by the SunDo rocket passing through H20 in the atmosphere. Fascinating article by NASA available, is called 'halo spin.'