Mirror microbial life and the dual use dilemma
Michael J. Imperiale, Arturo Casadevall · 2026
Read Mirror microbial life and the dual use dilemma by Michael J. Imperiale, Arturo Casadevall (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13317228.txt.
Description
Imperiale and Casadevall present a 2026 essay on the risks of mirror life. Living things on Earth build sugars and amino acids in only one of their two mirror forms. Some researchers want to make cells from the flipped forms, which could help medicine. A self-copying mirror microbe, though, might escape normal immune and ecological checks.
The authors apply a risk framework they built earlier for gain-of-function virus work. They judge mirror molecules worth pursuing for their benefits. Mirror organisms, by contrast, carry risks that far outweigh gains at present. The essay is a policy argument, urging care before anyone builds such life.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Michael J. Imperiale, Arturo Casadevall |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 13 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |