Spike wrote:
>Coriolis effect would be *extremely* tiny on the
>molecular level, waaay negligible with respect
>to electrostatic forces.  I don't have the explanation
>either, but Coriolis isnt it.  

One theory which I found extremely amusing is that the 'handedness' can be affected by the local surface that the proteins are forming on. One substance in particular catalyzes only left-handedness, iron sulfide. It's somehow satisfying to imagine that the ultimate ancestor of all life came together on the surface of a hunk of fool's gold in a tidal pool somewhere...





Justin Corwin
outlawpoet@hell.com

"Around computers it is difficult to find the correct unit of time to measure progress. Some cathedrals took a century to complete. Can you imagine the grandeur and scope of a program that would take as long?"
                -- Epigrams in Programming, ACM SIGPLAN Sept. 1982

