Life as We Know It PDF
Preview Life as We Know It
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology VVVolume 10 Series Editor: Joseph Seckbach The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume. Life as We Know It Edited by J.Seckbach TTThe HHHebrew UUUniversitty oof JJJerusalllem, Israel AC.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN-10 1-4020-4394-5 (HB) ISBN-10 1-4020-4403-8 (e-book) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4394-9 (HB) ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4403-8 (e-book) Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AADordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com LEGEND FOR THE COVER PICTURE Title: “Let everything that has breath praise God, Halleluyah” (Psalm 150). This picture was designed and produced by the artists Baruch and Issac Nachshon (info@ nachshonart.com, and: www.nachshonart.com). They contributed this illustration which was specially produced for our volume of “Life As we Know It” following the request of the editor. The Editor in Chief (Joseph Seckbach) would like to thank both of the artists for their contribution to the cover of this volume. Printed on acid-free paper All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. TABLE OF CONTENTS1 Preface / Christian de Duve.............................................................................. xiii Foreword / David J. Chapman.......................................................................... xv Brief Introduction / Joseph Seckbach .............................................................. xvii Acknowledgements / Joseph Seckbach............................................................ xix List of Authors and their Addresses.................................................................... xxi PART 1: LIFE AS WE KNOW IT Biodiversity and Extremophiles The Extremophiles: Diversity of Life Environments [Seckbach, J.]................ 3 Prokaryotic Life [Oren A.]................................................................................. 21 The Algae–Diverse Life Forms and Global Importance [Chapman R.L. and Waters, D.A]............................................................ 37 Fungal Lives [Ross, I. K.]................................................................................... 53 Life in Saline and Hypersaline Environments [Oren, A.] ................................ 75 Thermophilic Communities as Autonomous Ecosystems [Bonch-Osmolovskaya, E.]........................................................................ 89 Life in Ice [Gunde-Cimerman, N.]................................................................... 107 Life under Pressure: Deep-Sea Microbial Ecology [Tamburini, Ch.]............. 125 PART 2: LIFE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE NEW SCIENCE OF ASTROBIOLOGY The Origin of Life on Earth and in the Universe Early Precursors of Life in the Solar Nebula [Llorca, J.]................................. 147 Is Life on Earth Accidental? Natural Selection and the Second Law of Thermodynamics [Schrader, M. E.]...................................................... 163 From the Minimal Genome to the Minimal Cell: Theoretical and Experimental Investigations [Stano, P. et al.]..................................... 179 The Evolution of Life on Earth and in the Universe Numerical Analysis offBiocomplexity [Deamer, D. and Evans, J.]................ 199 Hepatitis B Virus Conjectures on Human Interactions and Origin of Life [Blumberg, B.S.]......................................................................................... 213 1 I thank Professor Julian Chela-Flores for practical and constructive advice in sorting this Table vi TABLE OF CONTENTS The Record of Early Life: In Search of Biosignatures [Carnerup, A.M. et al.] 237 Ground Truth: The Epistemology of Searching for the Earliest Life on Earth [Rose, E.C. et al.]........................................................................................ 259 Eukaryogenesis: The Origin of the Eukaryotes [Bell, P. J .L.]......................... 287 Symbiotic: Forms of Life [Lee, J. J.]................................................................ 307 Symbiosis: The Way of All Life [Saffo, M. B.]................................................. 325 Can There be a Limit on the Complexity of Life? [Shah, K.T.]....................... 341 Evolution of Intelligence [Maccone, C.] ........................................................... 359 The Distribution of Life in the Universe Searching Other Worlds for Life as We Know It [McKay, Ch. P.]................. 373 The Role of Comets and Meteorites in the Origin of Life [Trigo-Rodríguez, J. M.]........................................................................... 383 Astronomical Constraints for Life on Terrestrial Planets[Ehrenfreund P. and Martin E. L.] ...................................................................................... 399 Prerequisites for the Evolution of Life on Exoplanets [Lammer, H. et al.]..... 413 Life as an Unfolding Biocosmos [Svoboda, J.] ................................................ 431 We Have Not Detected Extraterrestrial Life, Or Have We? [Lineweaver, C. H.] ................................................................................... 445 The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence [Shostak, S.]................................. 459 Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence [Krupi(cid:254)ka, J.]...................................... 473 An Alternative Method for the Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life: The “Local SETI” [Teodorani, M.]................................. 487 The Destiny of Life in the Universe Destinies of the Universe and Life: The Final Frontiers of Cosmology and Astrobiology [Chela-Flores, J.]........................................................... 505 Destiny of Life and Religious Attitudes [Coyne, G.V.].................................... 519 PART 3: DEEPER ISSUES OF THE PHENOMENON OF LIFE Philosophical and Theological Aspects of Life Life in the Universe: Philosophical and Theological Issues [Russell, R. J.]... 539 Consciousness [Aumann, R. J.]......................................................................... 553 Afterlife in Moshe Maimondes’ s thought [Laras, R. G.]................................. 565 Science and Religion: Some Suggestions for Conceptual Harmonizing Constraints [Ne’eman, Y.].......................................................................... 577 Understanding the Nature of Life: A Matter of Definition or Theory? [Cleland, C. E.]........................................................................................... 589 “And You Shall Choose Life” [Riskin, S.]........................................................ 601 When Form Outlasts Its Medium: A Definition of Life Integrating Platonism and Thermodynamics [Elitzur, A.C.]......................................................... 607 TABLE OF CONTENTS vii Epistemological Pluralism: Realities as Species-Specific Interpretations of the Material World [Shah, K.T.]....................................................................... 621 Temperature Gradients as a Major Impetus: Driving Prebiotic Evolution [Matsuno, K.].............................................................................................. 641 Human Life as a Social Phenomenon Life during Clinical Death: The “Near Death Experience” Phenomenon [Gadoth, N.]................................................................................................ 655 Beauty in Nature [Gunde-Cimerman, N. and Zalar, P.] ............................... 663 All Things Bright and Beautiful: The Hidden Cosmos of Microscopic Planktonic Algae [Beakes, G. W.].............................................................. 685 Life and Sports:Musings of a Pro Athlete [Funderburke, L.] .............. ........... 701 Artificial Life Artificial Life: From Life-As-We-Know-It to Life-As It-Could Be [Sipper, M.]................................................................................................. 707 Life-Cycles of Life [Umiel, N.].......................................................................... 719 PART 4: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS What Do We Call Life? A Brief Outlook on Life [Seckbach, J., Raulin, F., Oren, A., Kolb, V. and Chela-Flores, J.].............................. 737 Organism Index................................................................................................. 745 Subject Index..................................................................................................... 749 Author Index ..................................................................................................... 763 DEDICATION This volume is dedicated to the prominent late scientist Professor Joan Oró (1923– 2004). Born in Lleida, Spain and from 1960’s he worked with NASA on the Viking missions which explored the planet Mars. His work was essential in the analysis of samples of Martian soil, and suggested that no life was detected on Mars. Dr. Joan Oró was a biochemist; he received his PhD from Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX in 1956. His scientific research has been centered on the experimental study of the prebiotic chemical reactions that took place on the primitive earth. Dr. Oró discovered the prebiotic synthesis of adenine from hydrogen cyanide. He proposed the theory on the key role of comets on the synthesis of biomolecules on the primitive earth. Dr. Oró is the author or co-author of more than thirty books and some three hundred publications related to the originof Life (ISSOL) and organized its first meeting (ICOL) in Barcelona, Spain. In addition, he organized some thirty other International meetings in related fields of science. He participated in the Apollo mission to the Moon and the Viking project to the planet Mars. He enlightened us with his oral presentations in many conferences on chemical evolution and Astrobiology. Dr. Oró was a member of many NASA committees and a Holder of the Oparin Gold Medal Award and many other scientific recognitions and distinctions in the USA and Spain. Doctor Honoris Causa of the Universities of Granada, Houston and Lleida. The late Professor J. Oro with Joseph Seckbach, editor of this volume and the Cellular Origins, Life in ExtremeHabitats and Astrobiologyy series. x DEDICATION DEDICATION xi Legends for the Oró photos’ Page Fig. 1 and 4 courtesy of Jordi Llorca (Barcelona, Spain); Fig. 2, 3, 5, 9. from Joseph Seckbach photo collections. At fig. 5, Oró (center) behind him are Stanley Miller (left) and Julien Chela-Flores (right). Fig. 6 courtesy of photo archive of Julian Chela-Flores, 1998; from left to right; F. Drake, Christian de Duve, and J. Oró. Fig. 7, courtesy by Karen Meech (Honolulu, Hawaii, 2000). Fig. 8, courtesy of ICTP photo archives (2000) from left to right: T. Owen, J. Chela-Flores, S. Miller, J. Oró, F. Drake, and Bill Schopf. Fig. 10, courtesy of ICTP photo archives (1995) from left to right: J. Oró, J. Chela-Flores, S. Fox, and F. Raulin.
The list of books you might like
