Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The number of publications on the origin of life has been doubling every decade from 1970 until today and now exceeds 70,000, illustrating the ever-growing interest of the scientific community and the public in this area. With our explosion of knowledge about the niches of extremophiles, discoveries of the vast numbers and varieties of exoplanets, and new fossil evidence for life extending nearly to Earth's beginning, many hypotheses have been put forth on the place, timing and manner for the origin of life. Old and new debates abound in the scientific community, demonstrating the lack of consensus among scholars with the emergence of champions for one point of view over another. The purpose of this book is to bring together the various arguments and points of view on the origin of life, highlighting their differences and conflicts, illustrating these various points of view in relation to concept, mechanism and plausibility for each of the theories.
In this book we include dialogue between proponents of alternative hypotheses by giving them consecutive chapters, and allowing for criticisms and response sections after each chapter. In addition, an attempt is made to elicit definitions for life that are more rigorous and consistent than currently available. The use of consistent approaches has also resulted in the logical inclusion of minimal approaches to the origin of life, both investigating the original origin, and the possibility of an impending second creation - of artificial life.
Synopsis
There is a revolution brewing in the field of Origin of Life: in the process of trying to figure how Life started, many researchers believe there is an impending second creation of life, not necessarily biological. Up-to-date understanding is needed to prepare us for the technological, and societal changes it would bring. Schrodinger's 1944 "What is life?" included the insight of an information carrier, which inspired the discovery of the structure of DNA. In "Conflicting Models of the Origin of Life" a selection of the world's experts are brought together to cover different aspects of the research: from progress towards synthetic life - artificial cells and sub-cellular components, to new definitions of life and the unexpected places life could (have) emerge(d). Chapters also cover fundamental questions of how memory could emerge from memoryless processes, and how we can tell if a molecule may have emerged from life. Similarly, cutting-edge research discusses plausible reactions for emergence of life both on Earth and on exoplanets. Additional perspectives from geologists, philosophers and even roboticists thinking about the origin of life round out this volume. The text is a state-of-the-art snapshot of the latest developments on the emergence of life, to be used both in graduate classes and by citizen scientists. With the prospect of new life emerging, it is important to engage the broadest sections of society to anticipate positive outcomes (e.g. efficient manufacturing), limit negative consequences, and potentially learn to recognize alien life.
Synopsis
Conflicting Models for the Origin of Life
Conflicting Models for the Origin of Life provides a forum to compare and contrast the many hypotheses that have been put forward to explain the origin of life.
There is a revolution brewing in the field of Origin of Life: in the process of trying to figure out how Life started, many researchers believe there is an impending second creation of life, not necessarily biological. Up-to-date understanding is needed to prepare us for the technological, and societal changes it would bring. Schrodinger's 1944 "What is life?" included the insight of an information carrier, which inspired the discovery of the structure of DNA. In "Conflicting Models of the Origin of Life" a selection of the world's experts are brought together to cover different aspects of the research: from progress towards synthetic life - artificial cells and sub-cellular components, to new definitions of life and the unexpected places life could (have) emerge(d). Chapters also cover fundamental questions of how memory could emerge from memoryless processes, and how we can tell if a molecule may have emerged from life. Similarly, cutting-edge research discusses plausible reactions for the emergence of life both on Earth and on exoplanets. Additional perspectives from geologists, philosophers and even roboticists thinking about the origin of life round out this volume. The text is a state-of-the-art snapshot of the latest developments on the emergence of life, to be used both in graduate classes and by citizen scientists.
Audience
Researchers in any area of astrobiology, as well as others interested in the origins of life, will find a modern and current review of the field and the current debates and obstacles. This book will clearly illustrate the current state-of-the-art and engage the imagination and creativity of experts across many disciplines.