Chirality — the property of an object that is distinct from its mirror image — has long captivated scientists across biology, chemistry, and physics. The phenomenon is sometimes called “handedness,” because it refers to an object possessing a distinct left- or right-handed form. It is a universal quality that is found across various scales of nature, from molecules and amino acids to the famed double-helix of DNA and the spiraling patterns of snail shells. 

Now, researchers at Princeton University have uncovered a hidden chiral quantum state in a material previously thought to be non-chiral. The finding sheds light on an intense debate within the physics community and expands our understanding of what is possible in the quantum realm.