Chemistry Nobel awarded for solving mystery of life's asymmetry

French scientist Henri B. Kagan and Japanese chemist Kenso Soai have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for unveiling the reason why life favors one mirror‑image form of chiral molecules.

The Nobel Committee announced that molecules such as the amino acids that build proteins are chiral, meaning they exist in two mirror‑image versions.

Despite the structural mirror symmetry, biological systems use only one of the two forms, a long‑standing enigma that Kagan and Soai addressed by demonstrating how asymmetry can arise spontaneously from achiral starting materials.

The award highlights the importance of chirality in biochemistry and offers new insight into the origins of life.

By Victoria Gill, Science correspondent

Published 19 minutes ago