The Equations of Life

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The Equations of Life Page 40

by Charles S. Cockell


  atoms in cells influenced by, 109–110

  at Earth center, 109

  Earth tolerance of, 111–113, 115–116, 121–123

  elements behavior at certain, 214

  equations for ladybugs control of, 47–50, 57

  life limit of, 111–112, 177

  reaction rate and, 175–176

  as rising underground, 109–110

  thereabouts of, 201

  See also freezing-point-depression constant; zero kelvin

  test tubes, 105, 107

  tetrapods, 75

  thereabouts, of temperature, 201

  thermal inertia, 39

  thermodynamics, 143–144, 154–156, 160, 244

  altering plausibility of, 230

  basic laws of, 221

  rules for, 13, 57

  as universal, 218

  See also second law of thermodynamics

  thermophiles, 110, 116

  See also hyperthermophiles

  thermostability, 110–111

  Thompson, D’Arcy Wentworth, 69–71, 77

  thymine (T), 126–128, 132

  tidal-flat-dwelling animals, 77

  time spans, 168

  Titan (Saturn moon), 15, 172–173, 178–180, 183, 204, 222, 235

  to-and-fro

  of exchanges, 24

  of tides, 90

  tool kit

  of amino acids, 141

  of life, 69

  of limb units, 73

  of periodic table, 230

  as versatile and flexible, 139

  tracheoles, 51

  trade-off, 54–55, 117

  transfer RNAs, 131–132

  Transformer (Hollywood movie character), 73

  transit method, 226–229

  trehalose, 117

  Trekkies, 185

  trigonotarbids, 4

  trillionfold, 177

  triosephosphate isomerase, 143

  Triton (Neptune moon), 193

  tubulin (protein), 37

  tufas, 121

  Turing, Alan, 46–47

  Turing patterns, 47

  2πr, 63

  tyrosine, 79

  U. See uracil

  ultraviolet radiation (UV), 15, 55, 78–80, 198, 204, 245

  unicellular autonomy, 103

  universal biology, 16–17, 217–218

  University of Brandeis, Massachusetts, 37

  University of California, Santa Cruz, 88

  University of Edinburgh, 10, 91, 157

  University of Florida, 80

  unpredictability, 239, 244–245

  upwash, 34

  uracil (U), 128, 132

  Uranus, 224

  Urey, Harold, 203–204

  UV. See ultraviolet radiation

  UV-screening compounds, 80

  vacuum, 1, 194–196

  van der Waals forces, 7, 43

  van Helmont, Jan Baptista, 240

  van Leeuwenhoek, Antonie, 84–85, 241

  van ’t Hoff factor, 117

  veinlike, cells as, 103

  Venus, 16, 174, 225

  Vicsek, Tamás, 24–25

  Victoria, Australia, 89

  Victorian stonework, 19

  Victorian towns, 105

  viruses, 86

  viscosity, 96

  vitalism, 70–71, 239, 249

  volcanic cones, 3–4

  Wallace Line, ix–x

  water, 78, 167, 179, 255

  availability of, 108, 122

  biochemistry, role of, 180–181

  carbon dioxide gas and, 147

  caviating of, 67

  collected in test tubes, 107

  DNA binding to, 171

  energy gathered by, 171–172

  flexibility of, 170

  forces in, 74–75

  in frozen state, 168–169

  as majority of planet mass, 225

  melting curve of, 7

  pH of, 120–121

  schizophrenic molecules added to, 87

  as solvent for life, 118, 120, 168–172, 183, 214–215

  sucked from cells, 116–117

  universality of, 229

  water activity, 118–120

  waterless, 138

  Water-Seekers, 15–16

  Watson, James, 125, 127

  watts (1.c), 45, 156

  weather phenomena, 5

  Weber State University (Utah), 230

  Weimerskirch, Henri, 33–34

  Wells, H. G., 15, 229, 231

  weta (Deinacrida heteracantha), 52–53

  What is Life? (Schrödinger), 12

  wheel-like contraptions, 65–66

  wheels, equation for overcoming obstacles for, 64–65

  Whitby, 105

  wildebeest, 37

  Wilson, E. O., 20

  wing anatomy, 8, 34, 44–46, 57

  wing flapping, 34

  wing tips, 33

  wingspan, 45, 235

  wing-suits, 235

  Wonderful Life (Gould), 250

  wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus), 169–170

  World War II, 233

  wormlike entities, 221

  wrench, 224

  xanthosine, 129–130

  y = kxn, 22

  Yellowstone National Park, 110, 152

  Young’s modulus, 41, 56

  YouTube, 235

  zebra fish, 75

  Zechstein Sea, 106

  zero kelvin, 113

 

 

 


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