The New Science of Astrobiology: From Genesis of the Living Cell to Evolution of Intelligent Behaviour in the Universe

268 Pages·2001·7.83 MB·English

by  Julian Chela-Flores (auth.)

THE NEW SCIENCE OF ASTROBIOLOGY
Cellular Origin and Life in Extreme Habitats
Volume 3
The New Science of
Astrobiology
From Genesis of the Living Cell to Evolution of
Intelligent Behaviour in the Universe
by
Julian Chela-Flores
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
IS B N 978-1-4020-2229-6 I S B N 978-94-010-0822-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-010-0822-8
COVER: The cupola in the West Atrium of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice representing the
biblical interpretation of Genesis, cf., also Chapter 1, p. 14. (With kind permission of the
Procuratoria of St. Mark's Basilica.)
Printed on acid-free paper
A l l Rights Reserved
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2001
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 2001
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
For Sarah Catherine
Contents
Foreword by Joseph Seckbach,
Editor of the COLE Book Series XVII
Preface xxi
BOOK 1:
ORIGIN OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
INTRODUCTION: What is astrobiology?
The three strategies in the search for extraterrestrial life 5
Putting biology back into the space sciences 6
A role for physics in the birth of modem biology 8
The role of the earth sciences in the study of the origin 8
of life
Organized studies and meetings on the origin of life 9
viii THE NEW SCIENCE OF ASTROBIOLOGY
PART I
CHEMICAL EVOLUTION: FOUNDATrONS FOR THE STUDY OF
THE ORIGIN OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
CHAPTER 1. From cosmic to chemical evolution
Some cultural questions 13
Cosmological models 15
The cosmic microwave background 17
Further views on the cosmos 18
The unexpected repulsive cosmic force 18
The birth of studies on the origin of life 19
The growth of studies on the origin of life 20
Origin of the elements: from the big bang to the
interior of stars 22
Supernovae: the source of biogenic dust 23
Molecular clouds and circumstellar disks 24
Stellar evolution 26
Implications of stellar and biological evolution 26
CHAPTER 2: From chemical to prebiotic evolution
Organic cosmochemistry 29
Precursor biomolecules in interplanetary dust 30
Cosmic dust and comets : their role in astrobiology 32
Origin of the solar system: the Rosetta mission 32
Origin of the terrestrial planets 35
Origin of the jovian planets 35
Origin of the satellites of the jovian planets 36
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER 3: Sources for life's orrgms:
A search for biogenic elements
Biogenic elements on the Moon 37
Biogenic elements on asteroids 39
Biogenic elements on comets 40
Biogenic elements on meteorites 42
Biogenic elements in extreme terrestrial environments 47
Perennially ice-covered lakes in Antarctica 50
Lake Vostok 51
PART II
PREBIOTIC EVOLUTION: THE BIRTH OF BIOMOLECULES
CHAPTER 4: From prebiotic evolution to single cells
Which are the macromolecules of life? 55
The primitive Earth 56
The origin of the first cell 57
A biochemical relic of the earliest stages of life 58
The origin of the macromolecules of life 59
Extraordinary symmetry of cell membrane molecules 59
Are there extraterrestrial sources of molecular
asymmetry? 60
Was there an asymmetric influence in chemical
evolution? 60
The handedness of biomolecules are useful biomarkers 61
An analogy with languages: the genetic code 61
The origin of cellular organelles 62
From chemical to cellular evolution 63
x THE NEW SCIENCE OF ASTROBIOLOGY
Was there liquid water on the early Earth 4,400 64
million years ago?
The dawn of unicellular organisms 65
BOOK 2:
EVOLUTION OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE
CHAPTER 5: From the age of prokaryotes to the
origin of eukaryotes
A unique event lost somewhere deep in the Archean 69
Role of oxygen and iron in eukaryogenesis 70
Signs of evolution in Archean rock formations 7 I
First appearance of multicellular organisms 72
The origin of chromosomes 73
On DNA folding 74
The Molecular Clock hypothesis 74
A transition in the pathway towards intelligence 75
In which environments can extremophiles survive? 76
Mechanisms of evolution beyond natural selection 76
Constraints on chance 77
Chance, contingency and convergence 78
CHAPTER 6: Eukaryogenesis and evolution of
intelligent behavior
Modern taxonomy emphasizes single-celled organisms 79
The phenomenon of the eukaryotic cell 79
The phenomenon of multicellularity 80
CONTENTS xi
Evolution of the hominoids 81
Evolution of intelligent behavior in the hominids 82
Does eukaryogenesis lie in the pathway towards
universal communication? 83
The origin of language in the universe 85
The co-evolution of brain and language 86
BOOK 3:
DISTRIBUTION AND DESTINY OF LIFE IN THE
UNIVERSE
PART I
EXOBIOLOGY OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM: SCIENTIFIC BASES FOR
THE STUDY OF THE LIFE OF OTHER WORLDS
CHAPTER 7: On the possibility of biological evolution
on Mars
Could there have been chemical evolution on Mars? 91
Possible relevance of quartz in chemical evolution 92
The question of the origin, evolution and distribution
of Martian life 96
Has there been single-celled eukaryotes on Mars? 97
Was there liquid water on Mars? 98
Mars Express 101
The future of humans on Mars 102