questions surrounding, 219–220
reproduction of, 220
structure of, 132–133
study of, 144
as subject to change, 245
versatility in, 76
genetics, 47, 57–58, 71
George Street, 27
germanium, 192–193
Geronticus eremita (northern bald ibis), 34
giant molecular clouds, 198–199
gigapascals, 168
gluconeogenesis, 91
glutathione reductases, 211
glycolaldehyde, 201
Godzillas, 53
Goldilocks zone, 128, 225
Gothic abbey, 105
Gould, Stephen Jay, 250–253
Gram, Christian, 97
Gram-positive bacteria, 97–98
gravity, 4, 43, 69
common center of, 227
Earth beginning from law of, 81–82
on exoplanets, 231–233
possible alterations to, 235–236
role of, in equation for fish land transition, 74–75
gray intersection, with inanimate objects, 239–240
Great Oxidation Event, 156–157
great white pelicans (Pelecanus onocrotalus), 33–34
guanine (G), 126–128, 130, 132
Guerrero Negro, 116
H2SO4 (sulfuric acid), 174–175, 183, 196, 199
Hades-like underworld, 107
Halomonas, 154
halophiles, 116, 118
handmade, cheesecakes as, 26
Harvard University, 130
HAT-P-1b (puffy planet), 224
Head Injury Criterion (HIC), 46
heart-rate monitors, on birds, 33
Heisenberg, Werner Karl, 8, 243
Heisenberg uncertainty principle, 243, 244–245
Heller, René, 230
hemolymph, 55
hexopyranoses, 130
HF. See hydrogen fluoride
HIC. See Head Injury Criterion
Hokkaidō, Japan, 21
Hollywood, 30, 73
See also Transformer
homebox genes. See Hox genes
honeyeaters, x
Hooke, Robert, 83–85
hookup, nucleic acids as, 206
Horn River, Canada, 34–35
Horta (Star Trek), 185–186, 188–189, 193
hot Jupiters, 223
hot Neptunes, 224
hovercraft, 35
Hox genes, 72, 75, 80
Huygens, 178
hydrodynamics, 9, 69–70, 95, 96, 251, 256
hydroelectric power, 150
hydrogen fluoride (HF), 174–175, 180, 183
hydrolysis reactions, 170, 178
hydrophobicity, 138
hydrothermal vents, 90, 110, 158–159
hyperthermophiles, 110
Iberian Peninsula, 120
ice cream truck, 228
ideal gas law, 243–244
individuality, 35, 187
inertia, 45
information-of-life toolbox, 132
inquiry, lines of, 255
interconnectedness, 24
internet, 91
ionizing radiation, 123, 162, 165, 245
Iron Mountain (California), 121
Irwin, Louis, 163–164
isocytosine, 129–130
isoguanine, 129–130
Janus VI (Star Trek), 185
joules, 176
Joyce, Gerald, 11
Jupiter, 172–173, 223, 224
See also Europa
Kepler, Johannes, 227
Kepler 452, 225
keratin, 45
kilograys, 123
kinetic energy, 162
Kleiber, Max, 23
Kleiber’s law, 23–24
Koch, Robert, 84
Koepcke, Juliane, 233
Kuiper Belt, 181, 202
ladybugs, 2, 6, 14, 95, 232
adhesion equations of, 40–42
behavior of fluids of, 40
chitinous covering of, 48
collisions of, 44–46, 56
equations for eyes of, 54
equations for oxygen acquiring of, 51–52
flexibility of wings of, 44
forces shaping universe of, 43
genetic code of, 56
legs of, 40, 43–44
physics of, 39, 55, 58, 59
reproduction of, 55
simulating populations of, 56–57
temperature control equations of, 47–50, 57
wing anatomy of, 44–45, 57
land, transition to, 74–75, 80, 252–254
land dwellers, 79
landmasses, view of, 236
Laplace pressure, 41
last universal common ancestor, 219
leaped, molecules, 144
legs, 69
footholds navigated with, 65
of ladybugs, 40, 43–44
life, 158
basic monomers constructing, 200–201
carbon as element of, 111, 186, 203, 218, 229
cells as fundamental unit of, 85, 99
commonalities of all, on Earth, 217
conditions for production of, on Earth, 204–205
delicate nature of, 19–20
equations channeling evolution in, 58
evo-devo showing environmental movement of, 81
on exoplanets, 231
flexibility in, 140
forms of, in Solar System, 15
as human categorization, 11–12
laws of, 71
limits of, 103–104, 109, 221, 237, 249–250, 255
nonliving difference from, 247–249
oxygen as not necessary for, 151–152
pathways of, 90–92
radiation powering, 161–162
temperature limit for, 111–112, 177
tool kit of, 69
toxic effects of elements removed by forms of, 210
universality of, 17, 213, 220, 222, 238
water as solvent for, 118, 120, 168–172, 183, 214–215
worlds containing conditions for, 225
life spans, 24, 194, 219
lifelike, simulations as, 30, 33
lift equation, 233–235
light-years, 198, 200, 222–223, 224, 228
linchpin, of peptide bond, 206
Lithobates sylvaticus (wood frog), 169–170
lizard-man, 157
Lombok, ix–x
Lombok Strait, 1
Löwdin, Per-Olov, 246
mad cow disease, 86
Magadi Lake, 121
magnetic field, 109, 113, 164
Mariana Trench, 122
Marinobacter, 154
Mars, 177
Martian terrains, 15, 222
mathematical models, 13, 69–71, 94, 96
McMaster University (Canada), 230
McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 119
Meadows (Edinburgh), 2, 3, 6, 39, 49, 157
meager, collection of ions as, 197
Mediterranean, 119
Meganeura, 53
mélange, of physics, 39
menagerie of life, 3
Mendeleev, Dmitri, 186
messenger RNA, 131
Messor sancta. See ants
metabolic pathways, 90–92, 135, 177–178, 198, 254, 255
metabolic rate, 23–24, 219
meteorites, 88–89, 201–203
See also carbonaceous chondrites; Murchison meteorite
methane, 142, 152–153, 178–180, 189–190, 204
methanogens, 152–153
Methanopyrus kandleri, 110
metric tons, of salt, 116
microfilaments, 36
Micrographia (Hooke), 84
microlight, 34
microscopes, 84
Milky Way, 65–66, 225
Miller, Stanley, 203–204
millipede (Arthropleura), 53
minimalism, 91
minuscule
amount of energy, 148
cells as, 92–93, 99
turbine as, 150
Mitchell, Peter, 145–146, 150–151, 165
mitochondria, 101–103
molasses, as analogy, 68
mole-like, 63, 256
moleness, 61, 63
moles, 60–63, 67, 95, 242
Mono Lake, 121, 209
Monod, Jacques, 248
mopper-up, 205
mudskippers, 77
multeity, of silicon, 192
multicellular aggregates, 99–101
multicellularity, 103, 254
multigeneration, missions as, 222
Murchison meteorite, 89, 138–140
mutations
caused by quantum effects, 246
equation solutions altered by, 56
experiments driven by, 50
lack of, in inanimate objects, 70
of metabolic pathways, 92
of moles, 63
reproductive age reached through, 96
as small, 75, 248
mutton-gravy experiment, 241
myosin (protein), 36
N=1 problem, 217–218
Na+ (sodium ions), 151
naive, 112
Naknar 3 (fictitious planet), 157–158
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 15
National Geographic Society, 15
natural selection, 5, 12, 256
Needham, John Tuberville, 241
negative feedback effect, 21–22, 25
See also positive feedback effect
Neptune, 224
See also Triton
New Horizon mission, 15
Newton’s laws of motion, 24
NH3 (ammonia), 154–155, 172–174, 180, 183
nitpicking, 225
nitrogen-fixing bacteria, 206
Noah’s Ark, 187
Nobel Prize winners, 146, 175
noble gases, 188
nonbiological, 137, 206
non-deleterious, error level as, 135
nonexistent, Earth as, 179
nonlinear behavior, 26
nonliving, 25, 70, 247–249
nonrandomness, 129, 136, 139, 142
non-water solvents, 172, 179
North Sea, 84, 106
northern bald ibis (Geronticus eremita), 34
nuclear fusion, 162–163
Occam’s razor, 180
oganesson, 187
ommatidia, 55
On Growth and Form (Thompson), 69–71
onion-like structures, 2, 199
Oort Cloud, 202
organic chemistry, 11, 181, 200–204
Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Darwin), 17, 81–82, 231
ornithologists, 32
osmosis, 55, 116–117, 148, 150
osmotic pressure, 116–118
Oucher-pouchers, 15–16
oversynthesis, 79
oxygen, 2, 101, 158
as attacking, 113–114
as damaging, 108
energy accessed through, 160
fish use of, 51
ladybug capacity to get, 51–52
as not necessary for life, 151–152
rise in levels of, 53, 102, 156–157, 159–160
role of, 206–207
P = F/A, 60, 62–63, 73, 221, 247, 256–257
paddleboats, 67
paddle-like, mole feet as, 67
pangolin-style, of moles, 63
Pasteur, Louis, 84, 241
Pauli, Wolfgang, 187
Pauli exclusion principle, 187–188, 193, 205, 212–214
Pederpes, 4
Pegasi 51b, 223–224
Pelagibacter ubique, 93
Pelecanus onocrotalus (great white pelicans), 33–34
pentopyranosyl-(2’→4’) systems, 130
peptide bond, 206
peptidoglycan, 95
periodic table, 16, 187–188, 195
elements of, 205–214
group 14 of, 186, 192–193
tool kit of, 230
universality of, 229–230
Permian period, 106
pheromones, 21
Philip, Gayle, 137–141
phosphorus, 207–210
photosynthesis, 102, 165, 190
phytoliths, 191–192
pigments, 46–47, 162
pink frogmouth (Chaunax pictus), 77
Planck’s constant (h), 79
planetary scientists, 16–17
plate tectonics, 13, 90, 158
Plato, 4
Pluto, 15
Plutonian Zistles, 15–16
polar regions, 114
populations, 5, x
of ants, 22, 24
behavior of, 17
complexity of, 24
expansion of, 13
fashioning future, 50
of ladybugs, simulating, 56–57
positive feedback effect, 21–22, 25, 27
See also negative feedback effect
postwar, 208
power laws, 22–24
powerboats, 33
predators, 5, 31, 32, 46, 61–62
predictability, 14, 244, 255–257
of best energy sources, 230
in cellular development, 95
of cellular world, 83
from equations, 27
genetic code and, 136
of living things, 36
physical laws allowing, 96–97
symmetry and, 70
See also unpredictability
predictive capability, 57
preexisting, cells as, 85
preordained order, 144
prokaryotic cells, 101–102
propellers, 66–69
Properties of Matter, 6–8
protein folding, 4, 86, 117, 171–172, 249
proton motive force, 148–149
psychrophiles, 114
puffy planet (HAT-P-1b), 224
push-ups, 74
pyrrolysine, 132, 142
pyruvic acid, 89
pythons, 80
quantum biology, 243, 246
quantum tunneling, 247
quinones, 153
radial velocity method, 228–229
radiation, 109, 196–197
absorbing, 48
blocking of, 107
damage from, 79
DNA intersection with, 113
evolution confronted with excesses of, 123
on insect surface, 57
life powered by, 161–162
See also background radiation; ionizing radiation; ultraviolet radiation
radioactive decay, 113
rain forest, 232
Redi, Francesco, 240
reductionism, 256–257
reestablished, journeys as, 34
reexpressing capacities, 80
reproduction, 3, 85
of birds, 32
capacity for, 11
chemical reactions required for, 206
enhancing chances for, 50–51, 96
of genetic code, 220
of ladybugs, 55
universality of, 14
of viruses, 86
reran, analysis as, 139
rerun, of evolution, 99, 140–141, 234
resilin, 41, 45
Reynolds numbers, 68–69
ribonucleic acid (RNA), 88, 127–128, 130, 132, 134
See also messenger RNA; transfer RNAs
Riftia pachyptila, 158–159
rigmarole, 160
Rio Tinto (Spain), 78, 120–121
RNA. See ribonucleic acid
RNA polymerase, 131
RNA world, 127–128, 131
road-like thoroughfares, 66
rocklike, silicon as, 192
Roddenberry, Gene, 185
Rosetta spacecraft, 203
Rosetta stone, 133
Rotorua (New Zealand), 78
Royal Society, 84<
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Royal Veterinary College, 34
Salmonella, 97
salt-in microbes, 107–108, 117
Sanchez, Tim, 37
sand eel, 63
Saturday Review, 15
Saturn, 223
See also Enceladus; Titan
sauropsids, 107
savannas, of Africa, 10
scaling laws, 77, 219
Schaller, Volker, 36
schizophrenic molecules, 87, 90
Schleiden, Matthias Jakob, 84–85
Schrödinger, Erwin, 12
Schrödinger’s cat, 8
Schulze-Makuch, Dirk, 163–164
Schwann, Theodor, 84–85
Scripps Institute for Chemical Biology, 130
seawater, 116–117, 167
second law of thermodynamics, 12–13, 143, 146, 239
selenocysteine, 132, 141
self-organization
of ants, 35
of birds, 29, 31, 35
diversity shown through, 38
emergence of, 100
in living and nonliving systems, 25
patterns of, 37
sensilla, 55
serpentinization, 152
setae, 42
Seville, Spain, 120
Shatner, William, 185
shear-stress equation, 95
sheetlike arrangements, 143
SHH gene (Sonic hedgehog), 80
shopping cart, 64–65
shovellike, feet as, 63
SiC. See silicon carbide
silane (SiH4), 190, 193
silanols, 193
silicon, 188–194, 202, 205, 215
silicon carbide (SiC), 191
silicon-based life, 185, 191, 193, 202
silsesquioxanes, 192
sizable mammals, 52
slime mold, 103
soccer-ball-like compounds, 199
sociobiology, 20, 249
Solar System, 14
clouds of gas forming, 109
conditions of early, 201
exceptionalism of, 242
life forms in, 15
meteorites in, 88–89
orbits in, 224
water in, 181
Sonic hedgehog (SHH gene), 80
soufflé, 27
spaceflight, 236
Spallanzani, Lazzaro, 241
spectroscopy, 197
speed of light, 79
spontaneous generation, 240, 242
staphylococci, 97
Star Trek, 185
sterilization, 241
Stoker, Bram, 105
Stovebellies, 15
straitjacket, molecular, 135
subatomic scale, 221
subcompartment, 101
sulfuric acid (H2SO4), 174–175, 183, 196, 199
Sun, 6, 13, 56
Earth circling, 14
Earth receiving energy from, 146
energy production in, 162–163
particles streaming from, 107, 113
super-Earths, 225, 233
superhabitable, 230
supernovas, 2, 194
surface tension, 43
surface-area-to-volume ratio, 94, 102
surgeonfish, 94
synthetic biology, 131, 135–137, 140, 141, 220, 250
T. See thymine
Talpidae (moles), 60–63, 67, 95, 242
Technical University in Munich, 36
temperature, 124
adaptations to, 110, 114–115
The Equations of Life Page 39