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Exceptional Measurement of Chirality

Exceptional Measurement of Chirality

4 comments

·October 25, 2025

gorgoiler

Of interest on the topic of determining chirality: How would you teach left from right to an alien civilization:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2936682

Odd that it this paradox isn’t mentioned in the RSC article but it is probably assumed that everyone with a degree in Chemistry has come across the puzzle before. How do you explain to an alien, or some person with whom you share no cultural background, what “left” and “right” are solely by talking to them over the phone? You’d better get it right — not only would a handshake be awkward if you got it wrong, they might also turn out to be made of antimatter!

https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_52.html

gavinray

Would the use for this be when you need exact enantiomer composition, versus a polarimeter which just tells you "racemic or not"?

slyrus

2019. Somebody probably has a flow-matching/diffusion/foundation model chirality determination by now.

ThrowawayTestr

Trained on data provided by this new technique