Scientists Sound the Alarm to Stop Research into Mirror Life
Almost 40 scientists warn against continuing research into synthesizing a type of artificial mirror cell that could wreak havoc and possibly destroy life as we know it.
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Science is the perfect example of curiosity’s complexities. On the one hand, curiosity has led us to discover everything we know about the world, the universe, and life, and is responsible for every invention we’ve ever created. On the other hand, sometimes, curiosity is unyielding in its thirst for knowledge and will lead us down paths that we perhaps shouldn’t go down.
For instance, scientists are currently trying to develop mirrored versions of cells. Continuing down this path would undoubtedly teach us an incredible amount about biology and life, while opening the door to new, unfathomable paths of knowledge. However, it could also lead to catastrophic, unimaginable consequences that could decimate the planet and everything on it.
In fact, the risk of the latter happening is so great that nearly 40 experts published a paper begging other scientists to cease their curious adventure, and to never, ever create a mirror bacterium.
What Are Mirror Cells?
A simplistic explanation of mirror cells is that they’re a type of synthetic, or artificial, organism that, on a molecular level, is the complete reversal, or mirror image, of the natural cells we know. In the not-so-distant future, if we stay on our current path, such mirror cells could form “mirror life.”
However, for a more precise explanation, think about things like DNA, proteins, and the other building blocks of life as we know them. These elements all have chirality, which comes from the Greek word for “handedness,” because chiral biomolecules come in two variations — right-handed or left-handed.
For example, DNA has a right-handed double helix, like a spiral staircase that only twists in one direction. Meanwhile, left-handed amino acids create proteins. Science writer Danielle Sedbrook explains in Smithsonian Magazine that,
“The opposite hands for both amino acids and sugars exist in the universe, but they just aren’t utilized by any known biological life form,” and that such a selection is, “one of the strangest aspects of life on Earth.”
If you hold your right hand up to a mirror, it looks like the same orientation as your left, yet your right hand won’t fit perfectly into your left-handed glove. The same is true with left and right-handed molecules; they are not interchangeable despite their similarities. And while they look alike, the distinct shapes of chiral molecules make them behave in specific ways.
Further, while scientists know such chiral molecules exist, they don’t understand why they form the handedness they do. Some, like NASA scientists, think that something in space happened that is responsible for the preference, while others believe it evolved in the shallow prebiotic pools where life itself may have begun on Earth.
Then again, it’s just as possible that the handedness of molecules may have simply been the best evolutionary choice and became fixed over time. If that’s the case, it’s plausible that other life-sustaining places in the universe might have molecules with a different handedness than what’s found in life on Earth.
Considering the possibilities, scientists are naturally curious to find out which theory is the most correct — and what better way to investigate the answer than to synthesize mirror cells and see what happens?
Exploratory Research
To investigate, scientists have already spent years creating synthetic mirrored versions of naturally existing molecules, including left-handed sugars and nucleic acids that help form DNA, and right-handed proteins — all of which are perfectly functional.