Japanese scientist Kenso Soai was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday along with France’s Henri B. Kagan “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”
The two chemists were credited for discoveries that drove homochirality — a state in which only one of two nonidentical mirror-image forms of molecules is formed — the Nobel Committee said.
Two such mirrored variants, like left and right hands, occur in chemical reactions, but in life’s chemistry, only one of them is found in the proteins in the body’s cells.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.