LEADER 04471nam 22006974a 450 001 9910456009703321 005 20210622023252.0 010 $a1-280-59807-7 010 $a9786613627902 010 $a0-231-50766-6 024 7 $a10.7312/lurq12654 035 $a(CKB)111087026932538 035 $a(OCoLC)614998774 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10183418 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000216461 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11202724 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000216461 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10198255 035 $a(PQKB)10395302 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC909310 035 $a(DE-B1597)459081 035 $a(OCoLC)979776381 035 $a(OCoLC)984642278 035 $a(OCoLC)987933923 035 $a(OCoLC)992453642 035 $a(OCoLC)999360933 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231507660 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL909310 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10183418 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL362790 035 $a(OCoLC)828303856 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111087026932538 100 $a20021010d2003 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe origins of life and the universe$b[electronic resource] /$fPaul F. Lurquin 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2003 215 $a1 online resource (229 p.) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a0-231-12655-7 311 0 $a0-231-12654-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [201]-203) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tPreface --$tIntroduction --$tChapter 1. Foundations of the Universe --$tChapter 2. Building a Universe --$tChapter 3. Life as It Is Today --$tChapter 4. Prebiotic Earth: First Organic Compounds and First Informational Molecules --$tChapter 5. Life on Its Way --$tChapter 6. Has Life Originated Elsewhere and Will It End? --$tAppendix 1. A Graphic Representation of Special Relativity --$tAppendix 2. More on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle --$tAppendix 3. How Do We Know the Age of the Universe? --$tAppendix 4. Eric Chaisson's View of Cosmic Evolution --$tAppendix 5. Do the Universe and Life Have a Purpose and a Designer? --$tNotes --$tGlossary --$tNotable Scientists --$tBibliography --$tIndex 330 $aThe Origins of Life and the Universe is the culmination of a university science professor's search for understanding and is based on his experiences teaching the fundamental issues of physics, chemistry, and biology in the classroom. What is life? Where did it come from? How can understanding the origins of life on Earth help us understand the origins of the universe, and vice versa? These are questions that have occupied us all. This is a book, then, about the beginning of things-of the universe, matter, stars, and planetary systems, and finally, of life itself-topics of profound interest that are rarely considered together. After surveying prescientific accounts of the origins of life, the book examines the concepts of modern physics and cosmology, in particular the two pillars of modern physics, relativity and quantum theory, and how they can be applied to the Big Bang model of the creation of the universe. The author then considers molecular genetics and DNA, the famed building block of life. In addition to assessing various hypotheses concerning the appearance of the first bacterial cells and their evolution into more complex eukaryotic cells, this section explains how "protocells" may have started a kind of integrated metabolism and how horizontal gene transfer may have speeded up evolution. Finally, the book discusses the possibility that life did not originate on planet Earth but first appeared on other solar planets, or perhaps in other star systems. How would such a possibility affect our understanding of the meaning of life, or of its ultimate fate in the universe? The book ends as it begins, with profound questions and penetrating answers, a state-of-the-art guide to unlocking the scientific mysteries of life and matter. 606 $aLife$xOrigin 606 $aCosmology 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aLife$xOrigin. 615 0$aCosmology. 676 $a576.8/3 700 $aLurquin$b Paul F$01031451 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910456009703321 996 $aThe origins of life and the universe$92448844 997 $aUNINA