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P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 FITNESS OF THE COSMOS FOR LIFE Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning Thishighlyinterdisciplinarybookhighlightsmanyofthewaysinwhichchemistry playsacrucialroleinmakinglifeanevolutionarypossibilityintheuniverse.Cos- mologists and particle physicists have often explored how the observed laws and constants of nature lie within a narrow range that allows complexity and life to evolve and adapt. Here, these anthropic considerations are diversified in a host of newwaystoidentifythemostsensitivefeaturesofbiochemistryandastrobiology. Celebrating the classic 1913 work of Lawrence J. Henderson, The Fitness of the Environment,thisbooklooksanewatthedelicatebalancebetweenchemistryand theambientconditionsintheuniversethatpermitcomplexchemicalnetworksand structures to exist. It will appeal to scientists, academics, and others working in a rangeofdisciplines. John D. Barrow is Professor of Mathematical Sciences in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge andDirectoroftheMillenniumMathematicsProject.HeistheauthorofTheArtful UniverseExpanded(OxfordUniversityPress,2005)andTheInfiniteBook:AShort Guide to the Boundless, Timeless and Endless (Cape, 2005), as well as co-editor of Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity (CambridgeUniversityPress,2004). Simon Conway Morris is Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at the Earth Sciences Department, University of Cambridge. He is the author of Life’s Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe (Cambridge University Press, 2003). Stephen J. Freeland is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research focuses on the evolution ofthegeneticcode. Charles L. Harper, Jr.isanastrophysicistandplanetaryscientistandserves as Senior Vice President of the John Templeton Foundation. He is co-editor of Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology and Complexity (CambridgeUniversityPress,2004);VisionsofDiscovery:NewLightonPhysics, Cosmology,andConsciousness(forthcomingfromCambridgeUniversityPress). i P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 CambridgeAstrobiology SeriesEditors BruceJakosky,AlanBoss,FrancesWestall,DanielPrieurandCharlesCockell Booksintheseries 1. PlanetFormation:Theory,Observations,andExperiments EditedbyHubertKlahrandWolfgangBrandner ISBN978-0-521-86015-4 2. FitnessoftheCosmosforLife:BiochemistryandFine-Tuning EditedbyJohnD.Barrow,SimonConwayMorris,StephenJ.Freelandand CharlesL.Harper,Jr. ISBN978-0-521-87102-0 3. PlanetarySystemsandtheOriginsofLife EditedbyRalphPudritz,PaulHiggsandJonathonStone ISBN978-0-521-87548-6 ii P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 FITNESS OF THE COSMOS FOR LIFE Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning Editedby JOHN D. BARROW UniversityofCambridge SIMON CONWAY MORRIS UniversityofCambridge STEPHEN J. FREELAND UniversityofMaryland,BaltimoreCounty CHARLES L. HARPER, JR. JohnTempletonFoundation iii P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 cambridge university press Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,SaõPaulo CambridgeUniversityPress TheEdinburghBuilding,CambridgeCB28RU,UK PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork www.cambridge.org Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521871020 (cid:2)C CambridgeUniversityPress2008 Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2008 PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary ISBN 978-0-521-87102-0hardback CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofURLsforexternalor third-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuch websitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate. iv P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 Contents Listofcontributors page vii Foreword:Theimprobabilityoflife GeorgeM.Whitesides xi Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxiii PartI Thefitnessof“fitness”:Hendersonincontext 1 Locating“fitness”andL.J.Henderson 3 EverettMendelsohn 2 RevisitingTheFitnessoftheEnvironment 20 OwenGingerich 3 Isfine-tuningremarkable? 31 JohnF.Haught 4 Complexityincontext:themetaphysicalimplicationsof evolutionarytheory 49 EdwardT.Oakes 5 Tuningfine-tuning 70 ErnanMcMullin PartII Thefitnessofthecosmicenvironment 6 Fitnessandthecosmicenvironment 97 PaulC.W.Davies 7 Theinterconnectionsbetweencosmologyandlife 114 MarioLivio 8 Chemistryandsensitivity 132 JohnD.Barrow 9 Fitnessofthecosmosfortheoriginandevolutionoflife:from biochemicalfine-tuningtotheAnthropicPrinciple 151 JulianChela-Flores v P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 vi Contents PartIII Thefitnessoftheterrestrialenvironment 10 Howbiofriendlyistheuniverse? 169 ChristiandeDuve 11 Tuningintothefrequenciesoflife:aroarofstaticora precisesignal? 197 SimonConwayMorris 12 Lifeonearth:theroleofproteins 225 JayanthR.BanavarandAmosMaritan 13 Protein-basedlifeasanemergentpropertyofmatter:thenatureand biologicalfitnessoftheproteinfolds 256 MichaelJ.Denton 14 Couldanintelligentalienpredictearth’sbiochemistry? 280 StephenJ.Freeland 15 WouldVenusevolveonMars?Bioenergeticconstraints,allometric trends,andtheevolutionoflife-historyinvariants 318 JeffreyP.Schloss PartIV Thefitnessofthechemicalenvironment 16 Creatingaperspectiveforcomparing 349 AlbertEschenmoser 17 Fine-tuningandinterstellarchemistry 366 WilliamKlemperer 18 Framingthequestionoffine-tuningforintermediarymetabolism 384 EricSmithandHaroldJ.Morowitz 19 Coarse-tuningintheoriginoflife? 421 GuyOurisson 20 Plausiblelipid-likepeptides:prebioticmolecularself-assembly inwater 440 ShuguangZhang 21 Evolutionrevisitedbyinorganicchemists 456 R.J.P.WilliamsandJ.J.R.Frau´stodaSilva Index 491 P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 Contributors JayanthR.Banavar Box262,104DaveyLaboratory,PennsylvaniaStateUniversity,UniversityPark, PA16802-6300,USA JohnD.Barrow DepartmentofMathematicalSciences,UniversityofCambridge,Wilberforce Road,CambridgeCB30WA,UK JulianChela-Flores TheAbdusSalamInternationalCentreforTheoreticalPhysics,StradaCostiera 11,34104Trieste,Italy InstitutodeEstudiosAvanzados,ApartadoPostal17606,ParqueCentral, Caracas1015-A,Venezuela SchoolofTheoreticalPhysics,DublinInstituteforAdvancedStudies, 10BurlingtonRoad,Dublin4,Ireland SimonConwayMorris DepartmentofEarthSciences,UniversityofCambridge,DowningStreet, CambridgeCB23EQ,UK PaulC.W.Davies CollegeofLiberalArtsandSciences,ArizonaStateUniversity,300E. University/POBox876505,FoundationBldg,Suite2470,Tempe,AZ 85287-6505,USA ChristiandeDuve deDuveInstituteandLouvainMedicalSchool,CatholicUniversityofLouvain, AvenueHippocrate75-B.7550,B-1200Brussels,Belgium TheRockefellerUniversity,1230YorkAvenue,Box282,NewYork,NY 10021,USA vii P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 viii Listofcontributors MichaelJ.Denton DepartmentofZoology,UniversityofSindh,Jamshoro,Sindh,Pakistan AlbertEschenmoser Laboratoriumfu¨rOrganischeChemie,ETHHo¨nggerberg,HCIH309,CH-8093 Zu¨rich,Switzerland J.J.R.Frau´stodaSilva FundaçaõOriente,RuadoSalitre,66/68,1269-065Lisboa,Portugal CentrodeQu´ımicaEstrutual,InstitutoSuperiorTećnico,Av.RoviscoPais, 1049-01,Lisboa,Portugal StephenJ.Freeland DepartmentofBiologicalSciences,UniversityofMaryland,BaltimoreCounty, 1000HilltopCircle,Room115,Baltimore,MD21250,USA OwenGingerich Harvard-SmithsonianCenterforAstrophysics,60GardenStreet,Cambridge,MA 02138,USA JohnF.Haught DepartmentofTheology,GeorgetownUniversity,Washington,D.C.20057,USA WilliamKlemperer DepartmentofChemistryandChemicalBiology,HarvardUniversity,12Oxford Street,Cambridge,MA02138,USA MarioLivio SpaceTelescopeScienceInstitute,3700SanMartinDrive,Baltimore,MD21218, USA AmosMaritan InstitutoNazionaleperlaFisicadellaMateria,DipartimentodaFisicaG.Galilei, UniversitadiPadova,ViaMarzolo8,35131Padova,Italy ErnanMcMullin PrograminHistoryandPhilosophyofScience,UniversityofNotreDame, Box1066,NotreDame,IN46556,USA EverettMendelsohn HarvardUniversity,ScienceCenter371,Cambridge,MA02138,USA HaroldJ.Morowitz KrasnowInstituteforAdvancedStudy,EastBuilding207(MS1D6),George MasonUniversity,Fairfax,VA22030,USA P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 Listofcontributors ix EdwardT.Oakes UniversityofSt.MaryoftheLake/MundeleinSeminary,1000EastMaple Avenue,Mundelein,IL60060,USA GuyOurisson CentredeNeurochimie,Universite´ LouisPasteur,5rueBlaisePascal,F-67084 ∗ StrasbourgCedex9,France JeffreyP.Schloss DepartmentofBiology,WestmontCollege,955LaPazRoad,SantaBarbara,CA 93108,USA D.EricSmith SantaFeInstitute,1399HydeParkRoad,SantaFe,NM87501,USA GeorgeM.Whitesides DepartmentofChemistry,HarvardUniversity,12OxfordStreet,Cambridge,MA 02138,USA R.J.P.Williams InorganicChemistryLaboratory,UniversityofOxford,SouthParksRoad, OxfordOX13QR,UK ShuguangZhang CenterforBiomedicalEngineeringandtheCenterforBitsandAtoms, MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,500TechnologySquare,NE47-379, Cambridge,MA02139-4307,USA ∗ ProfessorOurissonpassedawaywhilethisbookwasinproduction. P1:FQF/FGC P2:FQF 9780521871020agg.xml CUUK916-BARROW September8,2007 19:10 x