NfoLD Webinar July 2021 - Featuring Dr. David Avnir
"Chirality indicators of extraterrestrial life – strengths and pitfalls"
Presented by Dr. David Avnir (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem).
About Dr. Avnir:
David Avnir is at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received all his academic education, and where he held several positions, including Head of the Institute of Chemistry. His current scientific activities focus on materials chemistry, and on theoretical and experimental aspects of chirality and symmetry. Earlier major interests included fractals in chemistry, and far-from-equilibrium phenomena. He has co-authored over 400 papers, which are highly cited - 37,000 citations – with an h-index of 84. Recipient of various awards, including the Israel Chemical Society Excellence Award.
Abstract:
The major revolution in astronomy of recognizing the universe as teeming with exoplanets, the discovery of liquid water in solar moons and in atmospheres of exoplanets, and the continuing focus on Mars exploration, all accelerate the re-evaluation of potential biomarkers for extraterrestrial life. Based on life on planet Earth which relies heavily on chiral molecules and especially on homochiral families, the detection of molecules with these structural properties appears in all road-maps as prime indicators of extraterrestrial life. In this lecture will analyze the strengths, weaknesses and bounds of relying on chirality and on homochirality as biomarkers. Some of the main issues to be discussed include: The extent to which chirality can be expected to be a universal feature of life; evaluating whether detection of chirality is enough or do we need also to detect homochirality; evaluating how justified is it to view life on Earth as purely homochiral; analyzing the weaknesses of the left-right labeling of handedness; interpreting detected specific values of enantiomeric excess. A summary of recommendations and a brief outlook which will focus on the (amazing) excess of L-amino acids in meteorites, will close the lecture.
Also, learn more about this topic in Dr. Avnir's recent review article, "Critical review of chirality indicators of extraterrestrial life": https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
