Public Broadcasting for Northwest Indiana & Chicagoland since 1987
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Why Is All DNA Right Handed?

Season 11 Episode 8 | 18m 56s

The molecular basis of all life is mysteriously asymmetric, only using molecules on one side of what should be the equivalent mirrored pairs. The universe has a similar mirror asymmetry, and it may be that our very DNA inherited its twist from the underlying handedness of reality.

Aired: 07/16/25
The universe expands faster. “Dark energy” may not be constant after all.
There’s a new generation of experiments that may unlock the gravity particle.
The universe thrums with quantum fields, except something may be missing: the sterile neutrino.
Gravitons, the particle of quantum gravity, may be impossible to detect.
2025 was the international year of quantum science, but today we examine its origins.
We’ve found lots of “habitable” worlds but we don’t know what factors are needed for life.
What is the graviton, and does it even exist?
Antimatter drives sound like science fiction, but they may not be as far as you think.
Does quantum mechanics allow the future to retroactively influence the past or not?
Life on mars could result in humanity’s destruction via Fermi Paradox.