The Equations of Life
Page 40
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