Life in the Universe: From the Miller Experiment to the Search for Life on other Worlds

Front Matter....Pages i-xxix
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Introduction to Life in the Universe....Pages 3-5
The Abdus Salam Lecture Introduction....Pages 7-8
The Beginning of Chemical Evolution Experiments....Pages 9-16
An Overview of Cosmic Evolution....Pages 17-26
Physical Phenomena Underlying the Origin of Life....Pages 27-51
Front Matter....Pages 53-53
The Origin of Biogenic Elements....Pages 55-58
Thermochemistry of the Dark Age....Pages 59-62
Searching for Oldest Life on Earth: A Progress Report....Pages 63-66
The European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association....Pages 67-69
Front Matter....Pages 71-71
The Origin of Biomolecular Chirality....Pages 73-77
Salam Hypothesis and The Role of Phase Transition In Amino Acids....Pages 79-82
A Mechanism for the Prebiotic Emergence of Proteins....Pages 83-87
Functional, Self-Referential Genetic Coding....Pages 89-91
Importance of Biased Synthesis in Chemical Evolution Studies....Pages 93-96
When did Information First Appear in the Universe?....Pages 97-100
Front Matter....Pages 101-101
Prebiotic Organic Synthesis and the Emergence of Life: From the Miller Experiment to the Start of Biological Evolution....Pages 103-106
Origin and Evolution of Very Early Sequence Motifs in Enzymes....Pages 107-110
The Lipid World: From Catalytic and Informational Headgroups to Micelle Replication and Evolution Without Nucleic Acids....Pages 111-114
Coenzymes in Evolution of the RNA World....Pages 115-118
The Role of Heat in the Origin of Life....Pages 119-120
Front Matter....Pages 101-101
A Possible Pathway for the Transfer of Chiral Bias from Extraterrestrial C α -Tetrasubstituted α-Amino Acids to Proteinogenic Amino Acids....Pages 121-122
Prebiotic Polymerization of Amino Acids. A Markov Chain Approach....Pages 123-124
The Electrochemical Reduction of CO 2 to Formate in Hydrothermal Sulfide ore Deposit as a Novel Source of Organic Matter....Pages 125-126
Towards a Chronological Order of the Amino Acids....Pages 127-128
Origin and Evolution of Metabolic Pathways....Pages 129-132
Conserved Oligopeptides in the Rubisco Large Chains....Pages 133-134
On the Question of Convergent Evolution in Biochemistry....Pages 135-138
Diversity of Microbial Life on Earth and Beyond....Pages 139-142
Front Matter....Pages 143-143
Mineral Surfaces as a Cradle of Primordial Genetic Material....Pages 145-148
Adsorption and Self-Organization of Small Molecules on Inorganic Surfaces....Pages 149-152
Studies on Copper Chromicyanide as Prebiotic Catalyst....Pages 153-156
Phosphate Immobilization by Primitive Condensers....Pages 157-160
Adsorption and Catalysis of Nucleotide Hydrolysis by Pyrite in Media Simulating Primeval Aqueous Environments....Pages 161-164
Front Matter....Pages 165-165
Dust and Planet Formation in the Early Universe....Pages 167-168
Quasar Absorption-Line Systems and Astrobiology....Pages 169-172
A New Search for Dyson Spheres in the Milky Way....Pages 173-176
Space Weather and Space Climate....Pages 177-180
Front Matter....Pages 181-181
Spontaneous Generation of Amino Acid Structures in the Interstellar Medium....Pages 183-186
Experimental Study of the Degradation of Complex Organic Molecules. Application to the Origin of Extended Sources in Cometary Atmospheres....Pages 187-190
Fate of Glycine During Collapse of Interstellar Clouds and Star Formation....Pages 191-194
Front Matter....Pages 181-181
Formation of Simplest Bio-Molecules During Collapse of an Interstellar Cloud....Pages 195-199
Chemical Abundances of Cometary Meteoroids from Meteor Spectroscopy....Pages 201-204
Front Matter....Pages 205-205
Viable Halobacteria from Ancient Oceans—and in Outer Space?....Pages 207-210
Mars-Like Soils in the Yungay Area, the Driest Core of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile....Pages 211-216
The Discovery of Organics in Sub-Basement Fossil Soils Drilled in the North Pacific (Odp Leg 197): Their Model Formation and Implications for Astrobiology Research....Pages 217-220
Silica-Carbonate Biomorphs and the Implications for Identification Of Microfossils....Pages 221-222
Some Statistical Aspects Related to the Study of Treeline in Pico de Orizaba....Pages 223-224
Front Matter....Pages 225-225
The Beagle 2 Lander and the Search for Traces of Life on Mars....Pages 227-231
Minimal Unit of Terraforming an Alternative for Remodelling Mars....Pages 233-237
Early Archaean Life....Pages 239-244
Extraterrestrial Impacts on Earth and Extinction of Life in the Himalaya....Pages 245-248
Palaeobiology and Biosedimentology of the Stromatolitic Buxa Dolomite, Ranjit Window, Sikkim, Ne Lesser Himalaya, India....Pages 249-250
Front Matter....Pages 251-251
Searching for Extraterrestrial Life....Pages 253-256
Search for Bacterial Waste as a Possible Signature of Life on Europa....Pages 257-260
Sulfate Volumes and the Fitness of Supcrt92 for Calculating Deep Ocean Chemistry....Pages 261-264
The Case for Life Existing Outside of our Biosphere....Pages 265-267
Application of Molecular Biology Techniques to Astrobiology....Pages 269-273
Titan....Pages 275-280
Chemical Characterization of Aerosols in Simulated Planetary Atmospheres....Pages 281-285
Observation, Modeling and Experimental Simulation: Understanding Titan’S Atmospheric Chemistry Using These three Tools....Pages 287-291
Front Matter....Pages 251-251
Exobiology of Titan....Pages 293-296
Front Matter....Pages 297-297
Seti-Italia....Pages 299-302
Seti on the Moon....Pages 303-306
Proposing a United Nations Secretary General SETI International Advisory Board....Pages 307-309
Some Engineering Considerations on the Controversial Issue Of Humanoids....Pages 311-315
Front Matter....Pages 317-317
The New Universe, Destiny of Life, and The Cultural Implications....Pages 319-326
Evolution of Intelligent Behavior....Pages 327-331
Evolution of Language as Innate Mental Faculty....Pages 333-334
How Advanced is Et?....Pages 335-337
Front Matter....Pages 339-339
Chance or Design in the Origin of Living Beings....Pages 341-344
Astrobiology and Biocentrism....Pages 345-348
Analysis of the Works of the German Naturalist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) on the Origin of Life....Pages 349-352
A Reexamination of Alfonso Herrera’s Sulfocyanic Theory on the Origin of Life....Pages 353-356
Determinism and the Proteinoid Theory....Pages 357-360
Glimpses of Trieste Conferences on Chemical Evolution and Origin of Life....Pages 361-363
Back Matter....Pages 365-387