this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2025
12 points (92.9% liked)

Science

3648 readers
170 users here now

General discussions about "science" itself

Be sure to also check out these other Fediverse science communities:

https://lemmy.ml/c/science

https://beehaw.org/c/science

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Existing biology cannot feed on mirror biochemistry :

... would “sniff” it with their receptors and move on because these cells can’t bind.

Conversely, we can suppose mirror life couldn't feed on existing organic matter. Of course, we should never take such a dangerous gamble.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

It's not about whether they'd eat complex proteins.

It's whether mirror bacteria and microorganisms could out-compete existing bacteria and MOs for the basic un-mirrored building blocks of life, e.g. sugars such as glucose.

Without mirror predators, the mass of mirror bacteria and MOs would increase and increase, while there would be less existing life.

Existing higher-order organisms such as plants, fungi, and your digestive system, that depend on the existing bacteria and their existing products, would have less consumable food in the midst of indigestible mirror crud.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I want a novel about this

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)