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Tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life's building blocks may have first developed a preference for one 'handed' form over another. (Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)

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Tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life's building blocks may have first developed a preference for one 'handed' form over another. (Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)

Certain materials can spontaneously form spiral-shaped structures, even when they start out without any 'handedness.' These tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life's building blocks may have first developed a preference for one 'handed' form over another. (Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)