Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!alice!grigg!dmr From: dmr@grigg.UUCP Newsgroups: net.origins Subject: stereoisomers Message-ID: <1066@grigg.UUCP> Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 01:50:33 EST Article-I.D.: grigg.1066 Posted: Wed Dec 5 01:50:33 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 6-Dec-84 03:02:51 EST Lines: 17 Hmmm, and all this time I had thought that L stereoisomers rotated polarized light to the left, and D to the right. That is, the labels are not arbitrary with respect to particular chemicals, only in the original choice of sign. An article in Nature about 6 weeks ago proposed an explanation for the preponderance of L-amino acids in living forms. It calculates a small effect from the (non parity-conserving) weak force that would make the L forms more favorable energetically. I found it less than completely convincing. (The energy differential was, at most, about 1 part in 1e-17). By the way, thanks to Ray Miller for posting the SOR papers. Many people have wanted to know what creationists actually believe, and these remarkable documents certainly tell us. Dennis Ritchie