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Niko_McCarty — LessWrong

Niko_McCarty

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Niko_McCarty

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I write about metascience, problems with science, and biotechnology. Accelerating science at New Science (501c3). Data+Science Writer // Prev: Caltech, Imperial, NYU.

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Niko_McCarty

I write about metascience, problems with science, and biotechnology. Accelerating science at New Science (501c3). Data+Science Writer // Prev: Caltech, Imperial, NYU.

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The Dangers of Mirrored Life

The creation of a “mirrored” organism could “trigger severe ecological disruptions,” according to a 300-page technical report released today. Its authors claim such organisms could quickly spread across the world, fatally infect humans, and “directly drive vulnerable plant and animal species to extinction.” The report accompanies an article in Science, also released today, entitled “Confronting Risks of Mirror Life.” But what, exactly, is a mirrored organism? To answer that, let’s consider how extant life works. Proteins, sugars, lipids, and nucleic acids — key molecules used by cellular life — are all “chiral,” a term derived from the Greek for “hand.” Just as our hands cannot be perfectly aligned on top of one another regardless of how they are rotated, despite being mirror images, the same is true of chiral molecules. The two mirror images of a chiral molecule are called its enantiomers; they possess the same atoms connected in the same order, but with mirrored three-dimensional arrangements. One enantiomer of a molecule might fit perfectly into a protein receptor, while the other may not fit at all. This is no mere quirk of biology, but a crucial and ubiquitous feature of it. A mirrored organism would use right-handed molecules everywhere a naturally-occurring organism uses left-handed ones, and vice versa. It could thus elude the typical chiral interactions by which microorganisms hunt their prey. A mirrored bacterium would be totally resistant to bacteria-infecting viruses, called bacteriophages (or just “phages”). It would also be undetectable by key parts of the human immune system. Such mirrored invaders could theoretically spread across the Earth while evading the biological defenses that have evolved to check such threats. Experts say that mirrored organisms are still decades away from being a reality. But out of caution, the new report signals alarm well in advance. For the article in Science, more than 30 scientists from ten countries are calling

121Dec 12, 2024

Making Eggs Without Ovaries

On Fables and Nuanced Charts

A Defense of Peer Review

What It's Like To Be A Worm (Notes on Borderline Sentience)

By Ralph Stefan Weir On 1 November 1837, Charles Darwin delivered a talk to the Geological Society of London on the role of earthworms in soil formation. The Society is said to have expected something grander from the celebrated scientist, but Darwin was already deeply fascinated by worms. Indeed, his...

The Penicillin Myth

Many know the story of Alexander Fleming’s chance discovery of penicillin. Fleming, a bit of an absent-minded professor (and a bit of a slob), left culture plates streaked with Staphylococcus on his lab bench while he went away on summer holiday. When he returned, he found that “a mould” had...

Nov 24, 2025•12

Eulogy to the Obits

By Xander Balwit With death all but obsolete, Jamie’s life felt moot and emaciated. The Obituary Desk at The Times, where he worked, had turned into a ghost town he presided over with the bearing of a man who had given everything up for the bitter disappointment of a mine...

Apr 21, 2025•5

The Dangers of Mirrored Life

The creation of a “mirrored” organism could “trigger severe ecological disruptions,” according to a 300-page technical report released today. Its authors claim such organisms could quickly spread across the world, fatally infect humans, and “directly drive vulnerable plant and animal species to extinction.” The report accompanies an article in Science,...

Dec 12, 2024•121

Levers for Biological Progress - A Response to "Machines of Loving Grace"

By Niko McCarty for Asimov Press Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, recently published an essay called “Machines of Loving Grace.” It sketches out his vision for how AI could radically transform neuroscience, economics, diplomacy, and the meaning of work. Amodei also imagines the ways AI could accelerate biological research...

Nov 1, 2024•20

A Defense of Peer Review

This article by Dan Elton (moreisdifferent.blog) was published by Asimov Press. > “I think peer review is, like democracy, bad, but better than anything else." > > — Timothy Bates, University of Edinburgh I used to see peer review as primarily good — an important gatekeeping process, essential for protecting...

Oct 22, 2024•23

To Be Born in a Bag

Written by Tom Ireland & published by Asimov Press. The womb is a remarkable organ — a muscular, pear-shaped chamber that supports the transformation of a tiny cluster of dividing cells into an entirely new person. All humans begin their lives in this sturdy chamber. At least for now. Several...

Oct 6, 2024•19

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