You’ve heard of the thalidomide tragedy, the morning sickness medication that caused serious birth defects, but the actual chemistry behind why it was so devastating? That’s a mind-blowing story most people don’t know. Thalidomide revealed two game-changing discoveries that transformed medicine forever: First, that a drug taken by mouth could actually cross through to the baby and cause harm – something doctors didn’t know before. Second, she exposed the huge importance of something called chira

Do you know what caused the Thalidomide tragedy? Prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness, Thalidomide was soon revealed to be deadly, causing infant deaths and severe birth defects worldwide. Scientists later discovered this was because Thalidomide is a chiral molecule: while the left-handed molecule was effective, the right-handed one was toxic. In this lecture, Prof Alain Goriely explores how chirality, a mystery of nature, impacts all sciences. 👉 https://gres.hm/shape-hands Oxford