Life in the Universeed

by Seckbach, Joseph; Chela-Flores, Julian; Owen, Tobias; Raulin, Francois

• ISBN13: 9781402030932
• ISBN10: 1402030932
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-09-30
• Publisher: Springer Nature

Summary

The year 2003 was the 50th anniversary of the seminal experiment of Stanley Miller. This was a unique opportunity for highlighting the current interest in this most interdisciplinary subject. The leading space agencies: the European Space Agency (ESA) as well as NASA, the American Space Agency, have planned missions that will elucidate some of the still unknown questions underlying research in the origin of life. New results are surpassing our ability to keep well informed: the reviews that we were presented at the Trieste meeting will bring the readers of this well-documented and timely book up to date in this fast-moving area.An important component of the conference was the review of the Cassini-Huygens mission due to arrive in the Saturn system just one year after the conference convened in Trieste. There was particular interest in the status of the experiments that will take place inside the atmosphere of Titan, the large satellite, which is a testing ground for the theories and experiments in the field of chemical evolution.The Jovian system is currently under study with the view of investigating the possibility of life underneath the frozen surface of the Galilean moon Europa; the ESA mission "Mars Express" and Mars Odyssey received special attention. Some of the world leaders in the field gathered in Trieste in September 2003 - that was a most timely date for reviewing recent data and discussing the prospects of future research.

Table of Contents

Dedication Biodata of editors

Preface by the editors

Acknowledgements Group photograph and List of Attendees

Opening

Introduction to Life in the Universe

The Abdus Salam Lecture

The Beginning of Chemical Evolution Experiments

An Overview of Cosmic Evolution

Physical Phenomena underlying the Origin of Life

Where did the Chemical Elements Come From and When did Life Begin?The Origin of Biogenic Elements

Thermochemistry of the Dark Age

Searching for Oldest Life on Earth: A Progress Report

The European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association

Physical Constraints on the Origin of Life

The Origin of Biomolecular Chirality Salam Hypothesis and The Role af Phase Transition in Amino Acids

A Mechanism for the Prebiotic Emergence of Proteins

Functional, Self-Referential Genetic Coding

Importance of Biased Synthesis in Chemical Evolution Studies

When Did Information First Appear in the Universe

From the Miller Experiment to Chemical and Biological Evolution

Prebiotic Organic Synthesis and the Emergence of Life

Origin and Evolution of Very Early Sequence Motifs in Enzymes

The Lipid World: From Catalytic and Informational Headgroups to Micelle Replication and Evolution without Nucleic Acids

Coenzymes in Evolution of the Rna World

The Role of Heat in the Origin of Life

A Possible Pathway for the Transfer of Chiral Bias from Extraterrestrial C_Tetrasubstituted _-Amino Acids to Proteinogenic Amino Acids

Prebiotic Polymerization of Amino Acids. A Makov Chain Approach

The Electrochemical Reduction of Co2 to Formate in Hydrothermal Sulfide Ore Deposit as a Novel Source of Organic Matter

Towards a Chronological Order of the Amino Acids

Origin and Evolution of Metabolic Pathways

Conserved Oligopeptides in the Rubisco Large Chains

On The Question of Convergent Evolution in Biochemistry

Diversity of Microbial Life on Earth and Beyond

Alternative Scenarios for the Origin and Evolution of Life

Mineral Surfaces as a Cradle of Primordial Genetic Material

Adsorption and Self-Organization of Small Molecules on Inorganic Surfaces

Phosphate Immobilization by Primitive Condensers

Adsorption and Catalysis of Nucleotide Hydrolysis by Pyrite in Media Simulating Primeval Aqueous Environments

Cosmological and Other Space Science Aspects of Astrobiology

Dust and Planet Formation in the Early Universe

Quasar Absorption-Line Systems and Astrobiology

A New Search for Dyson Spheres in the Milky Way

Space Weather and Space Climate

Planetary Explo

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