Chemspy chemistry news and views

UCLA life scientists unlock mystery of how 'handedness' arises - The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand. Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms. Now, UCLA chemists have reported the latest on this phenomenom of chirality or "handedness" Reference: T. G. Mason et al, 'Local chiral symmetry breaking in triatic liquid crystals,' Nature Communications, 2012; 3: 801 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1803