| Description |
1 online resource (99 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
What everyone needs to know |
|
What everyone needs to know.
|
| Contents |
Introduction -- SECTION 1: HOW TO ASSEMBLE A HABITABLE PLANET -- The elements of life on Earth are billions of years old -- Atoms heavier than hydrogen are synthesized in stars -- Six biogenic elements compose all forms of life -- "Interstellar dust provided the atomic and molecular seeds of -- Molecular clouds are the birthplace of stars and planets -- "The solar system assembled from a disk of dust -- Radioactive elements keep the Earth's core molten -- Radioactive decay tells us the age of the Earth -- Life could not begin until there was an ocean -- Earth's water was delivered by planetesimals and comets -- SECTION 2: FROM NOT ALIVE TO ALMOST ALIVE -- Different proposals for how life began on the Earth -- All life is cellular, and probably the first forms of life as well -- Life requires liquid water -- Life needs monomers -- Life is composed of polymers -- Organic compounds were available to support the origin of life -- In order to react, organic compounds must be concentrated -- Energy and life's beginning -- Self-assembly and encapsulation are the first steps toward life -- The origin of life required a source of energy -- Catalysts are essential to all life today, and also were for earliest life -- Cycling conditions were essential for life to begin -- Some chemical reactions increase molecular complexity, others decompose complex molecules -- Life depends on cycles of information transfer between nucleic acids and proteins -- The oldest known fossil evidence of life is around 3.5 billion years old -- SECTION 3: WHAT WE STILL NEED TO DISCOVER -- Is the RNA World real, or just conjecture? -- What is metabolism and how did it begin? -- What were the first catalysts? -- How did regulatory feedback loops begin to function? -- How did life become homochiral? -- What is photosynthesis, and how did it begin? -- What was the first ribosome? -- How did the genetic code emerge? -- Where did viruses come from? -- How did encapsulated polymer systems begin to evolve? -- What are progenotes and LUCA, the last universal common ancestor? -- How did prokaryotic life become eukaryotic life? -- Is there a Tree of Life? -- Can we synthesize life in the laboratory? -- Could life begin again on the Earth today? -- Could conditions on other planets allow life to begin? -- Will we ever know how life can begin? -- Further reading -- Index |
| Summary |
"I'll begin with a challenging question: Why should anyone want to know about the origin of life? The answers will vary from one person to the next, but the simplest answer is curiosity. Anyone reading this introduction is curious because they wonder how life could have begun on the Earth, but there is more to it than that. My friend Stuart Kauffman wrote a book with the title At Home in the Universe. The title refers to a deep sense of satisfaction that comes when we begin to understand how our lives on Earth are connected to the rest of the universe. There are surprises and revelations as we discover those connections"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 31, 2020) |
| Subject |
Life -- Origin.
|
|
Life -- Origin
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2020003143 |
| ISBN |
019009902X |
|
9780190099015 |
|
0190099011 |
|
9780190099022 |
|
