by Charles Baum
Spiegelman, Sol, 235–236
RNA-containing vesicles, 158, 242
Spiral galaxies, 12, 19, 251
seawater minerals and, 150
Spontaneous generation, theory of, 83–
spontaneous, x, xi, 144, 149, 156,
85, 144–145, 260
202
Squalene, 63–64
into surface life, 142
Stanford University, 152
vesicles, 144, 149
Steele, Andrew, 72–73, 75, 116, 259
Self-replication
Sterols, 63–64, 65, 68, 70, 75
autocatalytic molecules, 29, 193–194
Stewart, Potter, 25, 252
biomolecules, 86, 169, 172
Strecker synthesis, 91
citric acid cycle, 212
Strelley Pool Chert, 55–59
clay life, 162–163, 165
Sucrose, 135
competition and, 234–235
Sugar phosphates, 160, 171, 222
cross-catalytic systems, 196–197
Sugars, 96, 131, 135, 136, 156, 167, 176,
DNA strands, 194–196
210, 263, 273
338
INDEX
Sulfur, 274. See also Iron–Sulfur World
Undersea volcanic vents, ecosystems, 1–
Summons, Roger, 58–59, 65–67
2. See also Hydrothermal-origins
Surface origin of life
hypothesis
flat life, 28, 191
ammonia source, 115
mineral surfaces, 142, 157, 158
black smokers, 119, 263
at ocean–atmosphere interface, 86–
ecosystems, 96–99
90, 91, 93, 109, 142, 156–157,
mineral-rich environment, 111, 114,
274–276
118, 119, 206, 211, 212, 234
on rocks, 157
sulfide pillars, 119
Sweden
Uniformitarians, 28, 253
Museum of Natural History, 60
Université Louis Pasteur, 259
State Power Board, 104
University of Bristol, 90, 257
Synthetic life, 238–240, 290
University of California
Szostak, Jack, 158, 230, 237, 238, 240,
Davis, 146
248, 249, 252, 253, 255, 276, 285,
Los Angeles, 37, 39, 59
287, 289–291
San Diego, 22, 92
Santa Barbara, 256
Santa Cruz, 149, 232
T
University of Chicago, 81, 86–87, 156
University of Colorado, 30, 59, 216
Tartaric acid, 170–171
University of Florida, 261
Termite colonies, 19
University of Houston, 91
Thalidomide, 168
University of Illinois, 138, 235
Thermodynamics, laws of, 11, 12, 13
University of Karlsruhe, 247
Thin layer hromatographic analysis,
University of Miami, 200
177–179, 231
University of Montana, 73
Thioester World, 201–203, 269, 281
University of Newcastle, 268
Thioesters, 119, 201–202, 269, 281
University of Regensburg, 207
Thiols, 119, 269
University of Washington, 115
Threose, 221, 290
Updike, John, 155
Thymine, 195, 217
Uracil, 217
Titan (moon), 31–32, 106
Urea, 64, 134
TNA, 221, 287, 290
Urey, Harold, 81, 86–90, 92, 200, 261
Toporski, Jan, 73
U.S. Geological Survey, 116
Tree of life, 138–141, 264, 273
Tricarboxylic acid cycle, 274, 283
V
U
van Kranendonk, Martin, 41
“Ventists,” 109–110, 112, 266. See also Ultracold vacuum experiments, 92,
Hydrothermal-origins
122–123, 146, 148–149, 262
hypothesis
Ultraviolet radiation, 81, 85, 86, 91, 93,
Vesicles, 144–145, 146, 149, 150, 189,
95, 96, 105, 112, 122–123, 127,
276
148, 152, 155, 156, 157, 224, 234
Violarite, 284
INDEX
339
Viruses, 27, 235–236, 238
Whitehead Institute, 238
Vitalism, 83, 84–85, 133
Whitehouse, Martin, 60
Volcanic eruptions, x, 262–263. See also
Wills, Christopher, 87, 109–110
Undersea volcanic vents
Wilson, E. O., xi, xii
von Kiedrowski, Guenter, 196
Woese, Carl, 138–140, 264, 273, 274
Wöhler, Frederich, 134, 272
Wolfram, Stephen, 15–16
W
Women, in origins research, 187–188
Wächtershäuser, Günter, 2, 107, 111–
115, 118–119, 130, 192, 203, 205,
X
206–208, 210, 212, 213, 215, 216,
260, 261, 263, 266–268, 281, 282,
X-ray spectrometry, 52
283
Xylose, 136
Walters, Malcolm, 55–56, 58
Washington University, 125, 282
Water, 85
Y
biomolecular assembly in, 3, 110–
Yale University, 3, 216, 218
111, 153, 205, 210
Ycas, Martynas, 113–114, 267
dielectric constant, 1, 247–248
Yeast chromosomes, 237
at extreme pressure-cooker
Yoder, Hatten S. (Hat), 4, 9, 107, 109,
conditions, 2, 108, 247–248
184, 211
pyruvate experiments, 4–5
Watson, James, 194, 196
Werner, Brad, 22
Z
Western Australian
chert, 54
Zeolites, 160
shale, 66
Zinc sulfides, 118
Whale, evolution, 77–80, 259–260
Plate 1
Harold Morowitz, standing next to his simplified metabolic chart. (Courtesy of H. Morowitz)
George Cody calibrates his gas chromatography mass
Hatten S. Yoder Jr. with his high-pressure
spectrometer, or GCMS, prior to an experiment.
“bomb.” (Carnegie Institution of
(R. Hazen)
Washington)
Plate 2
Circles of stones form spontaneously in Arctic regions due to the action of freeze-thaw cycles. (Kessler and Werner 2003; © AAAS)
The disputed 3.45-billion-year-old Apex Chert fossils of J. William Schopf. (Schopf 1993; © AAAS)
Plate 3
Bill Schopf (right) peering at Martin Brasier (at the lectern) during their April 2002 debate at the NASA Astrobiology Institute meeting at Moffett Field, California. (O. Green) Chris Hadidiacos at the Geophysical
Electron microprobe image of cellular structures
Laboratory’s electron microprobe. (R. Hazen)
from a 400-million-year-old fossil wood
(width = 0.3 mm). (R. Hazen)
Plate 4
Marilyn Fogel in the isotope lab. (R. Hazen)
Andrew Steele at the laser Raman spectrometer. Jake Maule in the astrobiology lab. (R. Hazen) (R. Hazen)
Plate 5
Stanley Miller and his electric spark apparatus.
A black smoker with associated fauna.
(J.E. Strick and S.L. Miller)
(NOAA)
Louis Allamandola at the NASA Ames Research Center with his cryo-vacuum chamber.
(Volker Steger/Science Photo Library)
Plate 6
Dave Deamer and Nick Platts in the Santa Cruz lab. (D. Deamer)
A
B
&
nbsp; TLC plate of (A) Murchison organics and (B) pyruvate products. Fluorescent patterns on these plates are strikingly similar. (D. Deamer)
Plate 7
These fluorescent vesicles form spontaneously from products of pyruvate at high temperature and pressure (width = 0.55 mm). (D. Deamer)
A
B
Weathered feldspar features numerous microscopic pores (A). Microbes can occupy some of these cavities (B). (J. Smith)
Plate 8
Glenn Goodfriend (left) and Stephen Jay Gould in Glenn’s lab at George Washington University, March 2002. (R. Hazen)
Günter Wächtershäuser, who proposed the elaborate
Iron–Sulfur World hypothesis for life’s origins.
(A. Neves, Munich)
Jack Szostak in his Harvard University lab.
(J. Szostak)
Document Outline
FrontMatter
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Prologue
Part I Emergence and the Origin of Life 1 The Missing Law
2 What Is Life?
3 Looking for Life
4 Earth’s Smallest Fossils
5 Idiosyncrasies
Interlude—God in the Gaps
Part II The Emergence of Biomolecules 6 Stanley Miller’s Spark of Genius
7 Heaven or Hell?
8 Under Pressure
9 Productive Environments
Interlude—Mythos Versus Logos
Part III The Emergence of Macromolecules 10 The Macromolecules of Life
11 Isolation
12 Minerals to the Rescue
13 Left and Right
Interlude—Where Are the Women?
Part IV The Emergence of Self-Replicating Systems 14 Wheels Within Wheels
15 The Iron–Sulfur World
16 The RNA World
17 The Pre-RNA World
18 The Emergence of Competition
19 Three Scenarios for the Origin of Life
Epilogue—The Journey Ahead
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Plates