Cradle of Life

by Schopf, J. William

• ISBN13: 9780691002309
• ISBN10: 0691002304
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

One of the greatest mysteries in reconstructing the history of life on Earth has been the apparent absence of fossils dating back more than 550 million years. We have long known that fossils of sophisticated marine life-forms existed at the dawn of the Cambrian Period, but until recently scientists had found no traces of Precambrian fossils. The quest to find such traces began in earnest in the mid-1960s and culminated in one dramatic moment in 1993 when William Schopf identified fossilized microorganisms three and a half billion years old. This startling find opened up a vast period of time--some eighty-five percent of Earth's history--to new research and new ideas about life's beginnings. In this book, William Schopf, a pioneer of modern paleobiology, tells for the first time the exciting and fascinating story of the origins and earliest evolution of life and how that story has been unearthed.Gracefully blending his personal story of discovery with the basics needed to understand the astonishing science he describes, Schopf has produced an introduction to paleobiology for the interested reader as well as a primer for beginning students in the field. He considers such questions as how did primitive bacteria, pond scum, evolve into the complex life-forms found at the beginning of the Cambrian Period? How do scientists identify ancient microbes and what do these tiny creatures tell us about the environment of the early Earth? (And, in a related chapter, Schopf discusses his role in the controversy that swirls around recent claims of fossils in the famed meteorite from Mars.) Like all great teachers, Schopf teaches the non-specialist enough about his subject along the way that we can easily follow his descriptions of the geology, biology, and chemistry behind these discoveries. Anyone interested in the intriguing questions of the origins of life on Earth and how those origins have been discovered will find this story the best place to start.

Author Biography

J. William Schopf, a member of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the University of California, Los Angeles, is Professor of Paleobiology and Director of the IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. A Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the recipient of medals from the National Science Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life. He has also been awarded national book prizes for two edited volumes on life's earliest evolution, an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Prize, and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

Table of Contents

Prologue	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Darwin's Dilemma	3	(32)
Breakthrough to the Ancient Past	3	(1)
The Nature of Geologic Time	4	(6)
The ``Schoolbook'' History of Life	10	(3)
Darwin's Dilemma	13	(21)
Denouement	34	(1)
Birth of a New Field of Science	35	(36)
The Floodgates Crack Open	35	(13)
Famous Figures Enter the Field	48	(4)
A Youngster Joins the Fray	52	(9)
The Floodgates Open Full Bore	61	(10)
The Oldest Fossils and What They Mean	71	(30)
``Trust but Verify''	71	(1)
``Real World Problems'' in the Search for early Life	71	(4)
Questions and Answers about the Oldest Records of Life	75	(24)
The Oldest Fossils Known	99	(2)
How Did Life Begin?	101	(38)
The Basics of Biology	101	(6)
The Universals of Life	107	(1)
How Did Monomers of CHON Arise on the Lifeless Earth?	108	(23)
Organic Monomers beyond the Earth	131	(3)
How Did Monomers Become Linked into Polymers?	134	(4)
From Monomers to Polymers toward Life	138	(1)
Metabolic Memories of the Earliest Cells	139	(25)
How Did Cells Begin?	139	(4)
The Essentials of Life	143	(7)
Life's Earliest Way to Make a Living	150	(5)
Air and Light: A New Source of Glucose	155	(3)
Why Do We Breathe Oxygen?	158	(3)
The Four-Stage Development of Modern Metabolism	161	(3)
So Far, So Fast, So Early?	164	(19)
How Old Is the Modern Ecosystem?	164	(2)
When Did Life Begin?	166	(2)
How Did Evolution Proceed So Far, So Fast, So Early?	168	(1)
Paleobiology: Fossils, Geology, and Geochemistry	169	(4)
Isotopic Evidence of Ancient Metabolisms	173	(8)
Paleobiology: Direct Evidence of Early Evolution	181	(2)
Stromatolites: Earth's First High-Rise Condos	183	(26)
Nature Is Not Compartmentalized	183	(1)
Stromatolites: Earth's First High-Rise Condos	184	(11)
Stromatolites of the Geologic Past	195	(6)
What Are Stromatolites Good For?	201	(8)
Cyanobacteria: Earth's Oldest ``Living Fossils''	209	(27)
Modes and Tempos in the Evolution of Life	209	(6)
The Status Quo Evolution of Cyanobacteria	215	(16)
Evolution's Most Successful Ecologic Generalists	231	(5)
Cells Like Ours Arise at Last	236	(28)
Life Like Us Has Cells Like Ours	236	(1)
DNA and Development: Keys to Eukaryotic Success	237	(3)
How Old Are the Eukaryotes?	240	(3)
Eukaryotes Perfect the Art of Cloning	243	(3)
Sex: A New Lifestyle Brings Major Change	246	(6)
The Wax and Wane of Precambrian Acritarchs	252	(7)
Prelude to the Phanerozoic	259	(5)
Solution to Darwin's Dilemma	264	(15)
The Adventure of Science	264	(5)
Take-Home Lessons	269	(1)
Solution to Darwin's Dilemma	269	(10)
EPILOGUE EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS! EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE?	279	(48)
Fossils, Foibles, and Frauds	281	(23)
The Goal Is to ``Get It Right''	281	(1)
``Man, a Witness of the Deluge''	282	(9)
Beringer's Lying Stones	291	(8)
Theories on the Nature of Fossils	299	(4)
Unearthing a Rosetta Stone	303	(1)
The Hunt for Life on Mars	304	(23)
Hints of Ancient Martian Life?	304	(2)
NASA Stages a Press Conference	306	(4)
Meteorites from Mars	310	(3)
Search for the Smoking Gun	313	(11)
Lessons from the Hunt	324	(3)
Glossary	327	(22)
Further Reading	349	(8)
Index of Geologic Units and Genera and Species	357	(4)
Subject Index	361