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Origin of life : what everyone needs to know / David W. Deamer.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Deamer, David W., 1939- author.
- Series:
- What everyone needs to know
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Life--Origin.
- Life.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (99 pages) : illustrations.
- polychrome
- Place of Publication:
- New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]
- System Details:
- text file
- Contents:
- Section 1 How to Assemble a Habitable Planet p. 8
- The elements of life on Earth are billions of years old p. 8
- Atoms heavier than hydrogen are synthesized in stars p. 10
- Six biogenic elements compose all forms of life p. 11
- Interstellar dust provided the atomic and molecular seeds of life for the solar system p. 13
- Molecular clouds are the birthplace of stars and planets p. 14
- The solar system assembled from a disk of dust and gas circling the sun p. 15
- Radioactive elements keep the Earth's core molten p. 16
- Radioactive decay tells us the age of the Earth p. 18
- Life could not begin until there was an ocean p. 20
- Earth's water was delivered by planetesimals and comets p. 22
- Section 2 From Not Alive to Almost Alive p. 24
- Different proposals for how life began on the Earth p. 25
- All life is cellular, and probably the first forms of life as well p. 32
- Life requires liquid water p. 33
- Life probably began in freshwater on volcanic islands p. 36
- Life needs monomers p. 37
- Life is composed of polymers p. 39
- Organic compounds were available to support the origin of life p. 42
- In order to react, organic compounds must be concentrated p. 44
- Energy and life's beginning p. 44
- Self-assembly and encapsulation are the first steps toward life p. 47
- The origin of life required a source of energy p. 49
- Catalysts are essential to all life today, and also were for earliest life p. 52
- Cycling conditions were essential for life to begin p. 54
- Some chemical reactions increase molecular complexity, others decompose complex molecules p. 56
- Life depends on cycles of information transfer between nucleic acids and proteins p. 57
- The oldest known fossil evidence of life is around 3.5 billion years old p. 59
- Section 3 What We Still Need to Discover p. 61
- Is the RNA World real, or just conjecture? p. 61
- What is metabolism and how did it begin? p. 63
- What were the first catalysts? p. 64
- How did regulatory feedback loops begin to function? p. 66
- How did life become homochiral? p. 68
- What is photosynthesis, and how did it begin? p. 71
- What was the first ribosome? p. 73
- How did the genetic code emerge? p. 74
- Where did viruses come from? p. 76
- How did encapsulated polymer systems begin to evolve? p. 77
- What are progenotes and LUCA, the last universal common ancestor? p. 79
- How did prokaryotic life become eukaryotic life? p. 81
- Is there a Tree of Life? p. 83
- Can we synthesize life in the laboratory? p. 85
- Could life begin again on the Earth today? p. 89
- Could conditions on other planets allow life to begin? p. 90
- Will we ever know how life can begin? p. 92.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI Available via World Wide Web.
- Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 31, 2020).
- Other Format:
- Print version: Deamer, David W., 1939- Origin of life
- ISBN:
- 9780190099022
- 019009902X
- 9780190099015
- 0190099011
- Publisher Number:
- 99985134957
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license.
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