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Full Description
Always a controversial topic, the origin of life on Earth was considered taboo as an area of inquiry for science as recently as the 1950s. Since then, however, scientists working in this area have made remarkable progress, and an overall picture of how life emerged is coming more clearly into focus. We now know, for example, that the story of life's origin begins not on Earth, but in the interiors of distant stars. This book brings a summary of research and ideas of life's origin to a wide audience. The contributors, all of whom received the Oparin/Urey Gold Medal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, are luminaries in the fields of chemistry, paleobiology, and astrobiology, and in these chapters they discuss their life's work: understanding the what, when, and how of the early evolution of life on Earth. Presented in nontechnical language and including a useful glossary of scientfic terms, this book gives an encapsulation of the work being done by scientists as they begin to characterize life as a natural outcome of the evolution of cosmic matter.
Contents
Introduction: The What, When, and How of Life's Beginnings 1. Historical Understanding of Life's Beginnings --John Oro 2. From Big Bang to Primordial Planet: Setting the Stage for the Origin of Life --Alan W. Schwartz and Sherwood Chang 3. Formation of the Building Blocks of Life --Stanley L. Miller and Antonio Lazcano 4. From Building Blocks to the Polymers of Life --James P. Ferris 5. The Origin of Biological Information --Leslie E. Orgel 6. When Did Life Begin? --J. William Schopf
