Genesis - In The Beginning

Produktbeschreibung

Genesis ¿ In The Beginning deals with the origin and diversity of Life and early biological evolution and discusses the question of where (hot or cold sources) and when the beginning of Life took place. Among the sections are chapters dealing with prebiotic chemical processes and considering self-replication of polymers in mineral habitats. One chapter is dedicated to the photobiological regime on early Earth and the emergence of Life. This volume covers the role of symmetry, information and order (homochrial biomolecules) in the beginning of Life. The models of protocells and the genetic code with gene transfer are important topics in this volume. Three chapters discuss the Panspermia hypothesis (to answer ¿Are we from outer Space?¿). Other chapters cover the Astrobiological aspects of Life in the Universe in extraterrestrial Planets of the Solar System and deal with cometary hydrosphere (and its connection to Earth). We conclude with the history and frontiers of Astrobiogy. 

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PRELIMINARY SECTION: Pathways to "Genesis - In the Beginning: Precursors of
Life, Chemical Models and Early Biological Evolution".- Introduction to Genesis
- In The Beginning.-Foreword.-Origins of Life - Keeping Options Open.- PART 1.
CHEMICAL EVOLUTION: The Prebiotic Chemistry of Alternative Nucleic Acids.-
Cooptive Evolution of Prebiotic Chemical Networks.- Origin and Evolution of
Self-Replicating Polymers on Mineral Habitats.- Mathematical Models of Prebiotic
Replication: A Primer for Experimentalists.- Life without Carbon; Rob
Hengeveld.- [GADV]-Protein World Hypothesis on the Origin of Life.- Reality of
the Emergence of Life-Like Systems from Simple Prebiotic Polymers on Primitive
Earth.- The Photobiological Regime in the Very Early Earth and the Emergence of
Life.- Prebiotic Formation of Peptides: A Markov Chain Approach.- Atomic
Structural Templates of the Earliest Life on Earth: Vibration and Lightning
Experiments with Quartz and Amino Acids.- Chemical Evolution in Open Space: A
Link to the Origin of Life.- The Prebiotic Chemistry of Nitrogen and the Origin
of Life.- PART 2. THE ROLE OF PHYSICS AND GEOPHYSICS IN THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION
OF LIFE: Moving 'Far from Equilibrium' in a Prebiotic Environment: The Role of
Maxwell's Demon in Life Origin.- Life from Interface.- Breaking the Paradigm:
The Pattern of Life.- Cyberbiogenesis and the EvoGrid: a 21st Century Grand
Challenge.- Constructive Approaches for the Origin of Life.- Origin of Life by
Thermodynamic Inversion: A Universal Process.- Life Explained by Heat Engines.-
Computational Simulations of Prebiotic Processes.- The Cometary Hydrosphere.- In
Situ, High Spatial Resolution Techniques in the Search for the Origin of Life.-
PART 3. THE ROLE OF SYMMETRY, INFORMATION AND ORDER IN THE ORIGIN OF LIFE:
Disorder to Order, Non-Life to Life. In the Beginning There Was a Mistake.- The
Role of Information and Order in the Origin of Life.- The Origin of First
Peptides on Earth - From AminoAcids to Homochiral Biomolecules.- Chemical Models
for the Origin of Biological Homochirality.- Absolute Asymmetric Reactions and
the Origin of Biological Chirality.- Energy-Driven Evolution of Prebiotic Chiral
Order (Lessons from Dynamic Systems Modelling).- PART 4. PANSPERMIA: Recurrent
Dreams of Life in Meteorites.- Are We from Outer Space? A Critical Review of the
Panspermia Hypothesis.- Origin of Life and Panspermia.- PART 5. THE FIRST STEPS
OF CELLULAR EVOLUTION: The Dimeric Proto-Ribosome Within the Modern Ribosome.-
Oceanic Arginine Translator: The Origin of Life and Early Evolution of the
Genetic Code.- Tidal Cycling and the Origin of the Genetic Code: Implications
for Cellular Life.- Heterotrophic Model Protocells.- A Symbiogenic Way in the
Origin of Life.- Horizontal Gene Transfer and the Tree of Life.- On the
Vesicular Origin of the Cell Cycle.- Hypothesized Micro-Environments for the
Origin of Microbial Life on Earth.- PART 6. THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE IN THE
SOLAR SYSTEM AND ELSEWHERE IN THE COSMOS: What can Life on Earth Tell Us about
Life in the Universe?.- Potential for Life in the Saturn System.- Energy Sources
for, and Detectability of, Life on Extrasolar Planets.- Environments Habitable
by Extremophiles on Earth, the Solar System and Elsewhere.- PART 7. HISTORY AND
FRONTIERS OF ASTROBIOLOGY AND THE HUMANITIES: Cultural Implications of the
Search and Eventual Discovery of a Second Genesis.- The Concept of Chemical
Evolution before Oparin.- A History of Origin of Life Ideas from Darwin to NASA.