جرقهٔ زندگی: داروین و سوپ اولیه

"A highly readable survey of the historical prelude to the study of the origins of life, as well as selected areas of current research, including the search for extraterrestrial life."-NatureWhere did we come from? Did life arise on earth or on some other planet? What did the earliest primitive organisms look like? Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore current theories of the source of life-from Martian meteors to hydrothermal vents-and then present their own elegant scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many believe, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus. Knowing exactly how life began on Earth will not only teach us more about ourselves, it will bring us closer to finding life elsewhere. Cover Back Cover Title Contents Acknowledgments Introduction Where Did Life on Earth Come From? Life's Beginnings Life at the Present Time 1. The Rise and Fall of Spontaneous Generation The World of the Very Small Probing the Nature of Life The Universe Is Dissymmetric! The Battle Between Pasteur and Pouchet The Battle of Tyndall's Boxes Flash! Kelvin Traps Darwin in a Prison of Time! Panspermia Brings Temporary Relief 2. Primordial Soup Adding Ingredients to the Warm Little Pond Making a Primordial Soup Malting a World out of Glass The Concentration Problem False Starts in the Move Toward Greater Complexity Working Toward the Golden Spike 3. The Earth's Apocalyptic Beginnings Genesis of Our Solar System An Infant Earth Gives Birth to a Moon! A Hellish Young Earth The Transition to a Habitable World A Boiling Scylla or a Frozen Charybdis? 4. Prebiotic Soup: The Recipe A Message from Outer Space How Many Tureens of Soup? Life's Seeds from Space? A Primordial Oil Slick Ventists Life on the Rocks 5. Sorting Out the Gemisch Enter Charles Darwin, Hesitantly Deconstructing Darwin The Buildup of Chemical Complexity An Ancient Laboratory on the Beach Winners and Losers in the Molecular World Advancing Toward the Beginning 6. The First Protobionts The RNA World Was There a Pre-RNA World? Peptide Nucleic Acids: A Glimpse of the First Genes? Self-Replicating Peptides? Life Is in the Bag, or Is It? Darwin Takes Charge 7. From Top to Toe The Origin of Energy-Utilizing Systems Peter Mitchell's Battle with Conventional Wisdom ATPase: The Core of Life The Ancestor of the Robocop Enzyme 8. Journey to the Center of the Earth Life in Unfamiliar Worlds Oat Burners and Gypsum Reducers Beyond the Familiar Far from the Sun Severing the Connection A Byronic Catastrophe Tracing the Bacterial Tree to Its Roots New Possibilities for the Origin of Life 9. Evolution by Committee The Early Days of Evolution Backbones and Insect Wings Reticulate Evolution Chinese Boxes Ancient Symbioses? The Doolittle Event Death and Resurrection Catastrophe or Replacements? Genetic Anarchy 10. Life Elsewhere Planet of Smog Listening for Life The Properties of Extraterrestrial Life Is Life Unique to Earth? Moon Men Venusian Life Martians A Habitable Early Mars? Messengers from Mars Swapping in the Solar System Habitable Moons Life Beneath the Ice Life Beyond the Solar System Life on Rogue Planets! Can We Recognize Life if We Find It? Finding Life on Planets Beyond the Solar System What Would the Ultimate Discovery Tell Us? 11. Epilogue Is It Truly Possible to Create Life in the Laboratory? Glossary Notes and References Introduction 1. The Rise and Fall of Spontaneous Generation 2. Primordial Soup 3. The Earth's Apocalyptic Beginnings 4. Prebiotic Soup: The Recipe 5. Sorting Out the Gemisch 6. The First Protobionts 7. From Top to Toe 8. Journey to the Center of the Earth 9. Evolution by Committee 10. Life Elsewhere 11. Epilogue Index "Christopher Wills and Jeffrey Bada take us on a mind-expanding journey - back in time, across the globe, and through the solar system in search of extraterrestrial life. From Swedish mine shafts to the Stygian blackness of the deep ocean, the intellectual story they trace is a fascinating one, rooted in recent advances in chemistry, molecular biology, and planetary science." "The road to understanding has not been a smooth one, however, and consensus among scientists is still difficult to achieve. Untangling a century of contentious debate, Wills and Bada explore contemporary theories of the source of life - from asteroids and Martian meteorites to hot rocks and hydrothermal vents. They then present their own elegant and compelling scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many have recently suggested, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus."--BOOK JACKET The authors take us on a mind-expanding journey - back in time, across the globe, and through the solar system in search of extraterrestrial life. From Swedish mine shafts to the Stygian blackness of the deep ocean, the intellectual story they trace is a fascinating one, rooted in advances in chemistry, molecular biology, and planetary science. The road to understanding has not been a smooth one, however, and consensus among scientists is still difficult to achieve. Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore contemporary theories of the source of life - from asteroids and Martian meteorites to hot rocks and hydrothermal vents. They then present their own elegant and compelling scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many have recently suggested, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus. -- Jacket Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore current theories of the source of life - from Martian meteors to hydrothermal vents - and then present their own elegant scenario: life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many believe, but on Earth's tumultuous surface.