Chirality is a fundamental, persistent, but often overlooked feature of all living organisms on the molecular level as well as on the macroscopic scale. The high degree of preference for only one of two possible mirror image forms in Nature, often called biological homochirality is a puzzling, and not yet fully understood, phenomenon.

This book covers biological homochirality from an interdisciplinary approach - contributions range from synthetic chemists, theoretical topologists and physicists, from palaeontologists and biologists to space scientists and representatives of the pharmaceutical and materials industries.
Topics covered include -
theory of biochirality,
origins of biochirality,
autocatalysis with amplification of chirality,
macroscopic (present) biochirality,
fossil records of chiral organisms - paleochirality,
extraterrestrial origin of chirality,
exceptions to the rule of biological homochirality, D-amino acids,
chemical transfer of chirality,
P effects, and
polarised radiation chemistry.

What did it mean to be an alien, and in particular an enemy alien, in the interstate conflicts that occurred over the nineteenth century and that climaxed in the First World War? In this ambitious and broad-ranging study, Daniela L. Caglioti highlights the many ways in which belligerent countries throughout the world mobilized populations along the member/non-member divide, redefined inclusion and exclusion, and refashioned notions and practices of citizenship. She examines what it meant to be an alien in wartime, how the treatment of aliens in wartime interfered with sovereignty and the rule of law, and how that treatment affected population policies, individual and human rights, and conceptions of belonging. Concentrating on the gulf between citizens and foreigners and on the dilemma of balancing rights and security in wartime, Caglioti highlights how each country, regardless of its political system, chose national security even if this meant reducing freedom, discriminating among citizens and non-citizens, and violating international law.