Echoes of life [[electronic resource] ] : what fossil molecules reveal about earth history / / Susan M. Gaines, Geoffrey Eglinton, Jürgen Rullkötter ; scientific illustrations by Florian Rommerskirchen

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910782658203321
• Autore: Gaines Susan M
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Oxford ; ; New York, : Oxford University Press, 2009
• ISBN: 0-19-988418-8; 0-19-756225-6; 1-281-86823-X; 9786611868239; 0-19-972108-4
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (376 p.)
• Collana: Oxford scholarship online
• Altri autori (Persone): EglintonG (Geoffrey); RullkötterJ
• Disciplina: 572/.33
• Soggetti: Biomolecules, Fossil; Biomolecules
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Previously issued in print: 2009.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-339) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Fossil Molecules in Geologic Time; Contents; 1. Molecular Informants: A Changing Perspective of Organic Chemistry; 2. Looking to the Rocks: Molecular Clues to the Origin of Life; 3. From the Moon to Mars: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life; 4. Black Gold: An Alchemist's Guide to Petroleum; 5. Deep Sea Mud: Biomarker Clues to Ancient Climates; 6. More Molecules, More Mud, and the Isotopic Dimension: Ancient Environments Revealed; 7. Microbiologists (Finally) Climb on Board; 8. Weird Molecules, Inconceivable Microbes, and Unlikely Environmental Proxies: Marine Ecology Revised; 9. Molecular Paleontology and Biochemical Evolution10. Early Life Revisited; 11. Thinking Molecularly, Anything Goes: From Mummies to Oil Spills, Doubts to New Directions; Appendix: Biomarkers at a Glance; Glossary; Figure List; Selected Bibliography; Index; A Biomarker-centric Tree of Life
• Sommario/riassunto: In 1936 a German chemist identified certain organic molecules in ancient rocks and oils as the fossil remains of chlorophyll, presumably ; from plants that had lived millions of years in the past. Many years later this insight was revisited and the term biomarker coined to describe fossil molecules whose molecular structures could reveal the presence of otherwise elusive organisms and processesand then, the hunt was on. Echoes of Life is the story of those molecules and how they illuminate the history of the earth and its life. It is also the story of how a few maverick organic chemists and geologists defied the dictates of their disciplines and, at a time when the natural sciences were fragmenting into ever-more-specialised sub-disciplines, reunited chemistry, biology and geology in a common endeavor.