Ben, lists, This is very interesting and could represent truly breakthrough work. Thanks for pointing us to it.
The matter of beta-decay and the possibility of chirality in weak interactions has been in the air since at least 1956 when Richard Feynman raised the question at a conference on nuclear physics at the University of Rochester in New York. Simply put, he asked: Is the law of parity sometimes violated? (Gardiner relates this episode and discusses beta-decay throughout Chapter 22, "The Fall of Parity," esp. 212-13, 214-218, and at 225, 228, and 279, *The New Ambidextrous Universe,* 3rd revised edition). He got responses, which he admits he didn't then understand, from two Chinese born physicists, Chen Ning Yan and Tsung Tao Lee who went on to make a study of all known studies of weak reactions. What they found was that there was no evidence for parity in any of these studies, and published their findings in a paper, "Questions of Parity in Weak Interactions." They suggested in this paper that there were experiments that could be devised "to determine if weak interactions differentiate the right from the left." An early experiment by Madam Chien-Shiung Wu, a physicist at Columbia University, involving the beta decay of cobalt 60, showed that the beta decay process in cobalt 60 evidenced chirality, The research you point to appears to extends this to the biochemistry of life. Best, Gary *Gary Richmond* *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* *Communication Studies* *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* *C 745* *718 482-5690* On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 6:04 PM, Benjamin Udell <bud...@nyc.rr.com> wrote: > Gary, lists, > > There's a new article on beta decay and biochemical chiral asymmetry: > Chirally Sensitive Electron-Induced Molecular Breakup and the > Vester-Ulbricht Hypothesis > > Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 118103 - Published 12 September 2014 > J. M. Dreiling and T. J. Gay > > Abstract > > [ http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.118103 ] > We have studied dissociative electron attachment in sub-eV collisions > between longitudinally polarized electrons and chiral bromocamphor > molecules. For a given target enantiomer, the dissociative Br anion > production depends on the helicity of the incident electrons, with an > asymmetry that depends on the electron energy and is of order 3×10-4. The > existence of chiral sensitivity in a well-defined molecular breakup > reaction demonstrates the viability of the Vester-Ulbrict hypothesis, > namely, that the longitudinal polarization of cosmic beta radiation was > responsible for the origins of biological homochirality. > > DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.118103 > > There's a perhaps over-excitingly titled article posted at Sciam from _ > Nature_ about the new paper: > Weak Nuclear Force Shown to Give Asymmetry to Biochemistry of Life > "Left-handed" > electrons have been found to destroy certain organic molecules faster than > their mirror versions > > > http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/weak-nuclear-force-shown-to-give-asymmetry-to-biochemistry-of-life/ > > Best, Ben > > On 9/30/2014 5:05 PM, Gary Richmond wrote: > > Ben, Edwina, Helmut, lists, > > I can see from your responses that these issues of chirality and genuine > (vs degenerate) triadic relations might be approached from a number of > angles. I hope I haven't opened a can of worms by broaching them taken > together, although it would appear that Peirce was attempting just that in > the passage earlier quoted. > > For now, I would say that I can't but help agree with Peirce that > *genuine* triadic relations only occur in the biologic and intellectual > realms, while I leave the possibility of degenerate semiosis occurring > before life as an open question. Gardner discusses chirality and the advent > of life in several chapters, most especially in chptr. 15, "The origin of > life." > > What I remember most from Gardner's book is his emphasis on two of the > greatest scientific advances of the century as involving chirality: namely, > physics' overthrow of parity (chptr 22, "The fall of parity") and biology's > discovery of the corkscrew nature of the molecule carrying the genetic code > chptr. 14, "Living molecules"). > > Gardner's pretty good on the philosophical history of thinking about > chirality and has some illuminating passages reflecting on Kants, > Pasteur's, Japp's, de Nouy's, and others' understandings of it, as well as > the thinking of more contemporary philosophers and, especially, scientists > from Pauli through to those working in superstring theory (btw, 4 of the 5 > current versions of superstring theory involve chirality). > > As for the matter-antimatter matter, it's discussed in Gardner's book here > and there in several chapters and especially in chptrs. 21, "Antiparticles" > and 26, "Where's the antimatter?," but I too, while I read quite a bit in > about it a decade or so ago, am hardly an expert. > > For now, I'll conclude with a brief quote from Gardner's book which may *very > tentatively* connect some of the questions your posts brought up, at > least for me In a discussion of "weak interactions" Gardner writes: > > [O]ne cannot completely rule out the possibility that whatever is > responsible for the asymmetry of weak interactions may also play a role in > the formation of primitive organic compounds. > > That thought will have me up half the night! Maybe that's enough for one > post. > > Best, > > Gary > > > > > > > *Gary Richmond Philosophy and Critical Thinking Communication Studies > LaGuardia College of the City University of New York C 745 718 482-5690 > <718%20482-5690>* > > On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Benjamin Udell wrote: > >
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