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The origins of life and the universe / Paul F. Lurquin.
LIBRA QH325 .L87 2003
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Lurquin, Paul F.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Life--Origin.
- Life.
- Cosmology.
- Physical Description:
- xii, 217 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York : Columbia University Press, [2003]
- Contents:
- The Meaning of Science 2
- What Is Life? 6
- Some Origins Models Before Science 8
- Chapter 1 Foundations of the Universe 13
- What Is in the Universe? 14
- Physics Holds One of the Clues to the Origins: Relativity 16
- The Next Clue: Quantum Physics 26
- Forces of Nature and Elementary Particles 37
- Chapter 2 Building a Universe 42
- Cosmology: The Big Bang Model 42
- The Genesis of Stars and Planets 51
- Chapter 3 Life as It Is Today 62
- The Universal Blueprint 63
- Variations in the Blueprint 72
- Metabolism and Energy Transactions 78
- Life That Depends on Simple Molecules Only 85
- The Cell's Envelope and Its Skeleton 87
- Chapter 4 Prebiotic Earth: First Organic Compounds and First Informational Molecules 92
- Organic Compounds from Earth's Putative Primitive Atmosphere 94
- Space Chemistry and the Origins of Life 99
- Ocean Floor Chemistry 102
- Proteins and Metabolism First: The Iron-Sulfur World 104
- Genetic Information First: The RNA World 112
- Chapter 5 Life on Its Way 117
- Lessons from Bacteriophages 118
- Quasispecies and Hypercycles 120
- Origin of the Genetic Code: From the RNA World to Proteins 125
- Protocells and the Emergence of the DNA World 131
- First DNA-Containing Cells and Their Evolution 134
- Paths of Fast Evolution 139
- First Eukaryotes 141
- Chapter 6 Has Life Originated Elsewhere and Will It End? 154
- Panspermia 155
- Life Elsewhere in the Solar System? 158
- Discontent with Origins Models 166
- The End of the Universe, the End of Life 170
- Appendix 1 A Graphic Representation of Special Relativity 175
- Appendix 2 More on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle 177
- Appendix 3 How Do We Know the Age of the Universe? 179
- Appendix 4 Eric Chaisson's View of Cosmic Evolution 181
- Appendix 5 Do the Universe and Life Have a Purpose and a Designer? 183.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages [201]-203) and index.
- ISBN:
- 0231126549
- 0231126557
- OCLC:
- 50803298
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