Ellen Levy
Turning Spiral Jetty Clockwise : The Biological Innovation of Handedness and its Cultural Adaptations
About the Research
My project concerns the nature and consequences of chemical/molecular handedness (also know as chirality). Molecules that are not identical to their mirror images are chiral. Handedness presents us with challenges not only with respect to its prebiotic origins but with respect to its propagation from biology to emerge as a cultural trait. Chirality is a main source of asymmetry that can have profound consequences. We know, for example, that the chemical properties of many organic molecules are very different in L or R forms (enantiomers). According to Lyn Margulis, life can be defined as “a chemical system requiring material and energy to persist far from thermodynamic equilibrium.” The breaking of symmetry by chiral forms has been regarded by some scientists as potentially marking an important development from simple to complex systems.
My aims are to visualize some of the chemical, biological, and social complexities of asymmetries stemming from handedness. To accomplish this, I propose to visualize the consequences of only one enantiomer (L or R) existing throughout the universe. My expectation is that strange lifeforms and constructions might result from a single change.
About the Researcher
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