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Letter: How worried do we need to be about mirror life? (2)

Published 19 March 2025

From John Kitchen, Kettering, Northamptonshire, UK

Assuming the chirality of life on Earth was randomly selected and locked in, the opposite chirality could have happened just as easily. We are now exploring other worlds and moons looking for life. What if we discover mirror bacteria on Saturn’s moon Titan? Would it be safe to return samples to Earth? Would any hitchhiking bacteria from Earth destroy all life on Titan?

Issue no. 3535 published 22 March 2025

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