Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxi

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2. General Overview

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Abdus Salam from Fundamental Interactions to the Origin of Life

      1. Abdus Salam from Fundamental Interactions to the Origin of Life

         • Julian Chela-Flores

         Pages 5-8

   3. The Abdus Salam Lecture

      1. Cosmochemical Evolution

         • J. Oro

         Pages 11-32

   4. Opening Lecture

      1. The Theory of Common Descent

         • Richard D. Keynes

         Pages 35-49

   5. The Cyril Ponnamperuma Lecture

      1. The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe

         • Frank Drake

         Pages 53-57

   6. Public Lecture

      1. Are We Alone?

         • Paul Davies

         Pages 61-68

3. Matter in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 69-69

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   2. The Concept of Matter and Materialism in the Origin and Evolution of Life

      • George V. Coyne

      Pages 71-80

   3. Re-Appraisal of the Age of the Oldest Water-Lain Sediments, West Greenland

      • Stephen Moorbath, Balz Samuel Kamber

      Pages 81-86

   4. The Origin of Mind and Life

      • Sidney W. Fox, Aristotel Pappelis, Randall Grubbs

      Pages 87-92

4. Energy from Inert to Living Matter

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93

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   2. Energy for the Origin of Life

      • Herrick Baltscheffsky, Anders Schultz, Margareta Baltscheffsky

      Pages 95-102

   3. Visually Retracing the Emergence of the Evolvable Protocell

      • Randall Grubbs, Sidney W. Fox, Aristotel Pappelis, John Bozzola, Peter R. Bahn

      Pages 103-106

   4. Radicals, Ions and Molecules in Chemical Evolution

      • Mohindra S. Chadha

      Pages 107-112

   5. Some Aspects of the Irradiation of HCN and Related Compounds and Their Role in Prebiotic Chemistry

      • A. Negrón-Mendoza, S. Ramos-Bernal

      Pages 113-116

   6. The Role Played by Solid State Surfaces in Prebiotic Chemistry

      • S. Ramos-Bernal, A. Negron-Mendoza

      Pages 117-121

   7. Mutually Catalytic Amphiphiles: Simulated Chemical Evolution and Implications to Exobiology

      • Daniel Segré, Doron Lancet

      Pages 123-131

   8. Salam Phase Transition and the Causal Origin of Homochirality

      • Wenqing Wang, Fang Yi

      Pages 133-136

   9. Physical Studies of Adsorbed Bio-Organic Substances in Na-Montmorillonite

      • A. Negrón-Mendoza, S. Ramos-Bernal, Dwight Acosta, Isabel Gamboa de Buen

      Pages 137-142

Leading researchers in the area of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe contributed to Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe. This volume provides a review of this interdisciplinary field. In 50 chapters many aspects that contribute to exobiology are reviewed by 90 authors. These include: historical perspective of biological evolution; cultural aspects of exobiology, cosmic, chemical and biological evolution, molecular biology, geochronology, biogeochemistry, biogeology, and planetology. Some of the current missions are discussed. Other subjects in the frontier of exobiology are reviewed, such as the search for planets outside the solar system, and the possible manifestation of intelligence in those new potential environments. The SETI research effort is well represented in this general overview of exobiology. This book is the proceedings of the Fifth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution that took place in September 1997. The volume is dedicated to the memory of Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam who suggested the initiation of the Trieste conferences on chemical evolution and the origin of life.
Audience: Graduate students and researchers in the many areas of basic, earth, and life sciences that contribute to the study of chemical evolution and the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

• Evolution
• biology
• extraterrestrial intelligence
• geochronology
• life sciences
• origin of life
• the origin

• The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy

  Julian Chela-Flores

• Instituto Internacional de Estudios Avanzados, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela

  Julian Chela-Flores

• LISA, Universités Paris VII and Parix XII, Creteil, France

  François Raulin

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