Murchison’s Two-Handed Amino Acids

In 1969, the Murchison meteorite fell in Australia, and scientists found it loaded with organic compounds, including amino acids. The rock is a CM2 carbonaceous chondrite, which means water-rich fluids altered it on its parent body, so liquid water once played a role in its chemistry. Early studies reported many of its amino acids as racemic, with left- and right-handed forms in roughly equal amounts, which points to abiotic formation rather than Earth life that strongly favors the L-form.

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