Beyond the Naked Eye: The Signature of Life

Synopsis: In 1976, the Viking II rocket travelled to Mars and brought back what was thought to be Martian soil containing evidence of life. For thirty years, scientists have been unable to tell if nutrients in the soil had been eaten by a living thing or merely something that looked like it was living.

This programme investigates the concept of chirality, or one-handedness. A chiral molecule is one that is not superimposable on its mirror image. Why are amino acids left-handed and sugars right-handed? This look at chemistry suggests that chirality may be the key to discovering life on another planet, or another life form discovering us.
Series: Molecular World, The: Course S205
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of release: 2003
Year of production: 2002
Availability: Out of distribution
Subjects: Biology; Chemistry
Keywords: chirality; molecular biology; extraterrestrial life

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