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Back|Also a starting point for exploration of asteroids and Mars: A journey to explore the origin of life - the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the "Soai reaction"
Also a starting point for exploration of asteroids and Mars: A journey to explore the origin of life - the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the "Soai reaction"
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時事通信·21 hours ago·Science·3 min read·🇯🇵Japan·

Also a starting point for exploration of asteroids and Mars: A journey to explore the origin of life - the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the "Soai reaction"

Quick Look

  • Professor Emeritus Kenzo Soai (76) of Tokyo University of Science discovered ``asymmetric autocatalytic reactions'' and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
  • This discovery will lead to elucidation of why life on Earth uses only left-handed molecules, and will serve as a starting point for research on the origin of life on asteroids and in the Martian sphere, including the Hayabusa2 exploration of Ryugu and the future MMX mission.

AI-generated summary

Why It Matters

Organic molecules such as amino acids that make up life have ``enantiomers'' that form pairs like left and right hands. Life on Earth uses only one or the other, and the mechanism by which this ``bias'' is created has been a mystery for many years.

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Why does life on Earth use only one of the two types of molecules with three-dimensional structures, left and right? The discovery by Professor Emeritus Kenzo Soai (76) of the Tokyo University of Science, which provided a clue to this mystery and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has also become the starting point for the exploration of the origin and traces of life on asteroids, such as the Hayabusa 2 probe.

Kenzo Soai ``I will continue my research'' The day after the decision was made, I realized the Nobel Prize - Saitama

Organic molecules such as amino acids that make up life have ``enantiomers'' that form pairs like left and right hands. Life on Earth uses only one or the other, and the mechanism by which this ``bias'' is created has been a mystery for many years. Soai discovered an ``asymmetric autocatalytic reaction'' in which a very small difference between the left and right sides multiplies and becomes biased towards one side. It was shown that this kind of reaction can occur in nature, and it came to be called the ``Soai reaction''.

So where did it happen? Yoshiki Takano, head of the Materials and Earth Science Research Division at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, which studies amino acids detected in the sand of Ryugu, the asteroid brought back by Hayabusa2, says, ``We hypothesized that the answer might lie in Ryugu, so we took on the mission.''

However, no bias was found in samples brought back from Ryugu or the asteroid Bennu by the US spacecraft. Takano points out, ``The current situation is that its origins are still shrouded in mystery.'' Japan's Mars satellite exploration mission, MMX, which is scheduled to be launched this month, is also scheduled to bring back samples, and he hopes that ``we will be able to find out the answer to what happens to the left and right in the Martian sphere near the Earth.''

Takano said, ``Life on Earth exists because a reaction occurred somewhere in the natural world.Our role is to search for that location.''

What to Watch

AI outlook — possibilities, not facts

  • Molecular bias may be detected in samples from Mars satellite after MMX launch this month

    Possible · Within months

  • Additional research on the sore reaction will be carried out mainly at Tokyo University of Science.

    Likely · Within months

Open Questions

  • ?Why did life on Earth choose only left-handed molecules?
  • ?What are the conditions for asymmetric autocatalytic reactions to occur in space?
  • ?What is the reason why no bias was found in the samples from Ryugu and Bennu?
  • ?What is the molecular balance between right and left in the Mars sphere?

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This article was originally published by 時事通信.

Quick Look

  • Professor Emeritus Kenzo Soai (76) of Tokyo University of Science discovered ``asymmetric autocatalytic reactions'' and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
  • This discovery will lead to elucidation of why life on Earth uses only left-handed molecules, and will serve as a starting point for research on the origin of life on asteroids and in the Martian sphere, including the Hayabusa2 exploration of Ryugu and the future MMX mission.

AI-generated summary

Story signals

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Positive
Emotional intensity
High
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Moderate
Global impact
Global
Urgency
Developing
Follow-up likelihood
Very likely
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Years

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時事通信
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Published
21 hours ago
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Kenzo Soai
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Asymmetric autocatalytic reaction
Kenzo Soai
Yoshiki Takano
Tokyo University of Science
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Hayabusa 2
MMX
Ryugu
benne
mars
Saitama
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Asymmetric autocatalytic reaction
Hayabusa 2
Ryugu
benne
MMX

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