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Systematically explores the early origins and basic definition of life.

Investigates the major theories of the origins of life in light of modern research with the aim of distinguishing between the necessary and the optional and between deterministic and random influences in the emergence of what we call ‘life.’

Treats and views life as a cosmic phenomenon whose emergence and driving force should be viewed independently from its Earth-bound natural history.

Synthesizes all the fundamental life-related developments in a comprehensive scenario, and makes the argument that understanding life in its broadest context requires a material-independent perspective that identifies its essential fingerprints

Customer Reviews (1)

An interesting book about a fundamental question
How did life originate?Well, it's a wide open question.As Popa tells us, an explanation that is missing a critical step won't do.There are plenty of clues.But Popa shows us that there are still many approaches to putting the clues together.

There are plenty of approaches that are being pursued today.Popa tells us about many of them.Still, let's remind ourselves of some of them.One is to look for fossil evidence and DNA evidence of our earliest ancestors.Say that these turn out to be hyperthermophiles.Use that information, as well as the stability properties of RNA and DNA, to deduce the environment life originated in.A second idea is to look at the way we synthesize RNA (or DNA) today.Use that information to speculate about how the first RNA and DNA evolved.A third idea is to look at the self-assembly properties of entities for clues.A fourth idea is to note the similarity of ATP and the nucleic acid adenine.Assume this is no coincidence!A fifth idea is to do all sorts of experiments with collections of monomers and see if they arrange themselves into replicating strings.A sixth idea is to concentrate on computer simulations of all this.Computer simulations of the origin of replication show that there are some dangers, such as the "selfish RNA catastrophe," the "short-circuit catastrophe," the "population collapse catastrophe," and simply the risk of too many replication errors.Draw conclusions from the fact that these hazards were successfully avoided.A seventh idea is to at least answer the question of what came first, replication, metabolism, or cellularization.And so on.It seems that there is a great deal we aren't at all sure of.

Popa starts with the issue of the issue of the development of cellularization, metabolism, and replication.He asserts that since all are needed for life, they must have evolved together, not serially.He states that the ATP coincidence probably is unimportant, with ATP's use as an energy carrier being a late development. And he takes on the mathematical modelers by stating that they generally omit first order effects by not tracing the energy flow and the degradation of the evolving entities.

The issues Popa dwells on most are the energy sources, bioinformation, chirality, and the origin of specificity (as opposed to "metabolism" or "homeostasis").Of these, the part on chirality was the most interesting to me.Popa discusses the implication that life's chirality implies the existence of some large-scale chiral driver, such as rotating vortices or asymmetries in right and left circularly polarized light.

There's also quite a bit of useful material about the definition of life.Popa is right to make the point that "life" and "living entities" are not at all synonymous.

Anyway, it is an interesting book about a tough problem: I'm glad I can just read about it and don't have to solve it! ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Astrobiology," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Astrobiology in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Astrobiology when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Astrobiology, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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Based on material delivered at several summer schools, this book is the first comprehensive textbook at the graduate level encompassing all aspects associated with the emerging field of astrobiology.

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This volume considers the role comets may have played in the origins and evolution of life. This is the only book dealing in depth with this subject. It is particularly relevant in light of recent investigations of Halley's comet, of new insights into organic synthesis in meteorites and comets, and of new results of numerical simulations of cometary orbits and impacts on Earth. The book is intended as a comprehensive review of current research.

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Comets important in the evolution of biosphere
Series of articles considering the role of comets in the evolution of Earth's biosphere. For example, A. Delsemme writes about The Origin of the Atmosphere and of the Oceans. It is argued that Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, as well as much of the carbon found in its biosphere, was brought to the Earth by comets. Although present-day impacts of comets are modest, in the first billion years, and especially first half billion years, of the Earth's existence, a large bombardment of comets occurred, as reflected by the cratering record observed on the Moon, Mars and Mercury. The cometary delivery of matter would explain the siderophile metals in the Earth's crust, and would explain how an ocean and atmosphere remained despite depletion by large body impacts. ... Read more

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This is the second of a divided two-part softcover edition of  the "Lectures in Astrobiology Volume I" containing the sections "General Introduction", "From Prebiotic Chemistry to the Origin of Life on Earth" and "Appendices" including an extensive glossary on Astrobiology.

"Lectures in Astrobiology" is the first comprehensive textbook at graduate level encompassing all aspects of the emerging field of astrobiology. Volume I of the Lectures in Astrobiology gathers a first set of extensive lectures that cover a broad range of topics, from the formation of solar systems to the quest for the most primitive life forms that  emerged on the Early Earth.

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Devoted to exploring questions about the origin and evolution of life in our Universe, this highly interdisciplinary book brings together a broad array of scientists. Thirty chapters assembled in eight major sections convey the knowledge accumulated and the richness of the debates generated by this challenging theme. The text explores the latest research on the conditions and processes that led to the emergence of life on Earth and, by extension, perhaps on other planetary bodies. Diverse sources of knowledge are integrated, from astronomical and geophysical data, to the role of water, the origin of minimal life properties and the oldest traces of biological activity on our planet. This text will not only appeal to graduate students but to the large body of scientists interested in the challenges presented by the origin of life, its evolution, and its possible existence beyond Earth. ... Read more

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Symbiosis is the fourth volume in the series CellularOrigin and Life in Extreme Habitats (COLE). Fifty experts,from over a dozen countries, review their current studies on differentapproaches to these phenomena. The chapters present various aspects ofsymbiosis from gene transfer, morphological features, and biodiversityto individual organisms sharing mutual cellular habitats. The originof the eukaryotic phase is discussed with emphasis on cyanelles, Hsyntrophy, N2 fixation, and S-based symbiosis (as well as theorigin of mitochondrion, chloroplast, and nucleus). All members of thethree domains of life are presented for sharing symbioticassociations. This volume brings the concept of living together as`One plus One (plus One) equals One.' The purpose of this book is to introduce the teacher, researcher,scholar, and student as well as the open-minded and science-orientedreader to the global importance of this association. ... Read more

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Bioinformatics has ignited the imagination of scientists, entrepreneurs and the general public. At the meeting place of two fast growth disciplines, biology and computer science Bioinformatics is one of the cornerstones of the new biology. It is clearly pivotal to the translation of high throughput projects such the human genome project into useful knowledge. Yet despite all this attention, there is no consensus on what exactly is Bioinformatics. There are several canonical topics, such as gene structure prediction, protein functional classification or structure prediction. The present book, explores new frontiers in bioinformatics, such as Glycomics or the computational modeling of genetic processes. We also discuss confounding factors that we find crucial to the development of the field, such as the ability to protect and restrict intellectual property in the field, or the challenges involved in educating bioinformatics users. Finally, we touch upon some fundamental questions such as what is information and how it is captured in biological systems. By bringing to the readers such a broad spectrum of reviews, we hope to capture the vibrant spirit of this young science and to truly represent the fast pace with which is still developing.

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Micrometeorites played an essential role in the formation of the atmosphere of the Early Earth and also served as a significant source of activation for organic prebiotic chemistry on mineral surfaces. The present book gives a coherent account of this scenario, embedding the more specific results within a broader framework that considers the creation and evolution of the Early Earth. It thus addresses students and nonspecialist researchers in the fields of planetary atmospheres, biogeophysics and astrobiology. The experienced researcher will find this volume to be a modern and compact reference, as well as a source of material for lectures in this field.

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Astrobiology is the multi-disciplinary field devoted to the investigation of the origin; physical, chemical and environmental limitations; and the distribution in space and time of life on Earth and in the Cosmos. Astrobiology seeks an answer to one of the most fundamental of all questions: Is Life Restricted to Planet Earth or is Life a Cosmic Imperative? Understanding the characteristics, properties, habits, and diversity of living organisms on Earth is crucial to determine where and how to search for evidence of life elsewhere. New techniques and methodologies must be developed in order to determine a suitable suite of valid biomarkers that is needed to facilitate the differentiation of abiotic processes from true signatures of life. This is crucial to establish the criteria needed to properly evaluate potential biosignatures in ancient Earth rocks and in a wide variety of Astromaterials. This volume includes papers treating many of these topics. They range! from considerations of relict microbial communities of extreme environments to complex organic molecules. Other papers discuss the use of stable isotopes and their biological fractionation as a baseline for evaluating extraterrestrial evidence and the use of chirality and composition of indigenous amino acids for differentiating between terrestrial and extraterrestrial organic matter in Astromaterials. Also treated in this volume are geomorph parallels, sediment patterns, and cyclicities in permafrost sediments of Earth and Mars; the survival of bacteria in space, eclipsing binaries, and advanced DNA and protein chip technology for future robotic missions to search for life in the Solar System.

IOS Press is an international science, technical and medical publisher of high-quality books for academics, scientists, and professionals in all fields.

Some of the areas we publish in:

-Biomedicine
-Oncology
-Artificial intelligence
-Databases and information systems
-Maritime engineering
-Nanotechnology
-Geoengineering
-All aspects of physics
-E-governance
-E-commerce
-The knowledge economy
-Urban studies
-Arms control
-Understanding and responding to terrorism
-Medical informatics
-Computer Sciences ... Read more

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With the accelerating pace of genomic analysis and space exploration, the field of prebiotic evolution and astrobiology is poised for a century of unprecedented advances ahead, and there is a need for textbooks for students. The authors of this book, aware of the difficulty of covering the multifaceted subject by any single author, have decided to combine their efforts to provide a suitable book for beginning students from varied disciplines. The book stemmed from a meeting on Basic Questions about the Origin of Life at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture in Erice, Sicily in October 2006, where Pier Luigi Luisi laid out a balanced program to approach the subject. The present book basically follows that program. The many authors have produced most thoughtful, authoritative and readable chapters on their areas so that the student may grasp the background, objective and progress of the major research foci in the field. ... Read more

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Global warming is accelerating faster than the ability for natural repair, and environmental stresses are damaging ecosystems, all affecting physical and biological systems on Earth. A new Nasa-led study shows that human activity has caused climate changes resulting in permafrost thawing, acid rain, and lower productivity in lakes as well as increased emissions of greenhouse gases, including CO₂, N₂0, CH₄, CF_3, and CFC. Marine plants play a vital role in maintaining the balance of marine environments, while serving as a source of food for humankind and important chemical compounds. Microalgae and seaweed have enormous potential for reducing global warming and climate change. During photosynthesis algae grow, draw CO₂ from the atmosphere, release oxygen, and produce solar biofuel. Experts in the life of marine plant ecosystems in globally changing environments contributed chapters to this book. The target readers are phycologists, ecologists, atmospheric scholars, conservationists, environmentalists, and ecologically aware laymen.

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"How did life originate and why were left-handed molecules selected for its architecture?" This question of high public and interdisciplinary scientific interest is the central theme of this book. It is widely known that in processes triggering the origin of life on Earth, the equal occurrence, the parity between left-handed amino acids and their right-handed mirror images, was violated. The balance was inevitably tipped to the left – as a result of which life's proteins today exclusively implement the left form of amino acids.

Written in an engaging style, this book describes how the basic building blocks of life, the amino acids, formed. After a comprehensible introduction to stereochemistry, the author addresses the inherent property of amino acids in living organisms, namely the preference for left-handedness. What was the cause for the violation of parity of amino acids in the emergence of life on Earth? All the fascinating models proposed by physicists, chemists and biologist are vividly presented including the scientific conflicts. The author describes the attempt to verify any of those models with the chirality module of the ROSETTA mission, a probe built and launched with the mission to land on a comet and analyse whether there are chiral organic compounds that could have been brought to the Earth by cometary impacts.

A truly interdisciplinary astrobiology book, "Amino Acids and the Asymmetry of Life" will fascinate students, researchers and all readers with backgrounds in natural sciences.

With a foreword by Henri B. Kagan.

Customer Reviews (1)

Highly Recommended
Richard B. Hoover is one of the true revolutionaries and pioneers in the field of astrobiology. His edited volumes are an excellent sourcebook and are deserving of a place on the shelf of any serious scholar or student of astrobiology. --Rhawn Joseph, Ph.D. author of: Astrobiology, the Origin of Life, and the Death of Darwinism ... Read more