Description
Book SynopsisExplores how life can begin, taking us from cosmic clouds of stardust, to volcanoes on Earth, to the modern chemistry laboratory. This title introduces astrobiology, a scientific discipline that studies the origin and evolution of life on Earth and relates it to the birth and death of stars, planet formation, interfaces between minerals, water.
Trade Review"An authoritative voice weighs in on a sprawling debate that's been raging in the scientific community for many decades, and lays out a succinct and persuasive hypothesis for the origin of life on Earth." The Scientist "Engaging... [Deamer] gives us an enriched sense of how the universe works." -- Elof Axel Carlson The Quarterly Review Of Bio "Insightfully written" Times Higher Education "Eloquent... A preeminent leader in the field tells his personal story of discovery in a unique and absorbing way." -- Chandra Wickramasinghe, University of Buckingham Bioscience "Thought-provoking... A journey of discovery into the nature of life itself." -- George M. Eberhart C&Rl News
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. A Fireball Over Australia 2. Where Did Life Begin? 3. When Did Life Begin? 4. Carbon and the Building Blocks of Life 5. The Handedness of Life 6. Energy and Life's Origins 7. Self-Assembly and Emergence 8. How To Build a Cell 9. Achieving Complexity 10. Multiple Strands of Life 11. Catalysts: Life in the Fast Lane 12. Copying Life's Blueprints 13. How Evolution Begins 14. A Grand Simulation of Prebiotic Earth 15. Prospects for Synthetic Life Epilogue Sources and Notes Index
