{"id":191471,"date":"2025-06-17T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/191471\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T10:50:11","slug":"scientists-issue-end-of-world-warning-over-extreme-mirror-microbe-threat-science-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/191471\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists issue ‘end of world’ warning over extreme ‘mirror microbe’ threat | Science | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Top scientists have called for international action to stop research that could pose an \u201cextreme, potentially existential, threat\u201d to life on Earth. Experts sounded the alarm at an event in Paris<\/a> over the creation of manufactured \u201cmirror microbes\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many of the molecules that are the building blocks of life exist in two forms, each the mirror image of the other. DNA is living organisms is made from \u201cright-handed\u201d nucleotides, while proteins are made from \u201cleft-handed amino acids\u201d. Scientists have been exploring what might happen if you create mirror molecules that subvert this natural order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But some are concerned that such experiments could pose serious risks with devastating consequences for humanity.<\/p>\n

In December, more than three dozen scientists \u2014 including two Nobel Prize winners \u2014 warned that mirror life should never be created.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a gathering at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, David Relman, a microbiologist and immunologist<\/a> at Stanford University told the Financial Times we should be \u201cconcerned about the possibility of an extreme, potentially existential, threat\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere is a scenario in which a future mirror organism becomes a widely pervasive invasive species and displaces and disrupts many critical ecosystems across the planet \u2014 including our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts predict that manufactured mirror life is at least a decade away from creation.<\/p>\n

Proponents of mirror molecules hope they could provide treatments for chronic and hard-to-treat diseases. But others fear such microbes would be hard to keep contained.<\/p>\n

David Bikard, the Pasteur Institute\u2019s head of synthetic biology, said mirror microbes may not turn out be apocalyptic and may have once existed before dying out.<\/p>\n

But he added: \u201cThe unknowns are large. And I agree that there\u2019s also a scenario where this is a catastrophic event.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top scientists have called for international action to stop research that could pose an \u201cextreme, potentially existential, threat\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[78402,78401,78400,1411,70,12288,49793,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-191471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-david-relman","9":"tag-existential-threat","10":"tag-mirror-microbes","11":"tag-paris","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-science-section","14":"tag-synthetic-biology","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114698323554603481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}