origins of life
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Origin of life: Hypothesis traces first protocells back to emergence of cell membrane bioenergetics
Dec. 20, 2012 — A coherent pathway -- which starts from no more than rocks, water and carbon dioxide and leads to the emergence of the strange bio-energetic properties of living cells -- has been traced for the first time in a major hypothesis paper in Cell this week. At the origin of life the first protocells must have needed a vast amount of energy to drive their metabolism and replication, as enzymes that catalyse very specific reactions were yet to evolve. Most energy flux must have simply dissipated without use. So where did it all that energy come from on the early Earth, and how did it get focused into driving the organic chemistry required for life? The answer lies in the chemistry of deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
The Origin of Life Challenge
Author: Marlene Rosen Source: ETVOL Guest Contributor With the recent release of Prometheus, the media has asked again, what is the origin of life?Strange life found in underwater caves - Biologists finding new microbes totally unknown elsewhere on Earth
Clues to how life evolved, not only on this planet but also possibly on alien worlds, might be found in underwater caves in the Bahamas, researchers say. The caves in question are called "blue holes," so-named because from the air, their entrances appear circular in shape, with different shades of blue water in and around them. There are estimated to be more than 1,000 such caves in the Bahamas, the greatest concentration of blue holes in the world.
Strange Life Found in Underwater Caves | How Life Evolved on Earth, Alien Life Evolution | Extreme Life on Earth, Strangest Life on Earth
Clues to how life evolved, not only on this planet but also possibly on alien worlds, might be found in underwater caves in the Bahamas, researchers say.
Strange Life Found in Underwater Caves
The Bahamas have more than 1,000 underwater caves, how many of them have their own unique ecosystem? Microbiologists examined neighboring blue holes and were surprised to find a different set of microbes in each. Less than 5 percent of Earth's underwater cave systems have been scientifically investigated. Clues to how life evolved, not only on this planet but also possibly on alien worlds, might be found in underwater caves in the Bahamas, researchers say.
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Origins
<em>New Scientist</em> Weighs in on the Origin of Life
This week's issue of New Scientist contains an interesting article bearing the headline "First Life: The Search for the First Replicator."
by Lucas Laursen Charles Darwin may have had his biggest impact on biology, but he began his scientific career as a geologist. So it’s appropriate that earlier this year, retired geologist John Ramsay, who had long studied the famed biologist’s life, accepted a commission to compose a Darwin-themed string quartet.
Origins
Kuhn's Physical Chemistry
It was early considered as a mystery how a genetic apparatus, the basic machinery of life, could have originated.
Carbon found within ancient rocks has played a crucial role developing a time line for the emergence of biological life on the planet billions of years ago. But applying cutting-edge technology to samples of ancient rocks from northern Canada has revealed the carbon-based minerals may be much younger than the rock they inhabit, a team of researchers report in the latest edition of the journal Nature Geoscience .
New Evidence Challenges Oldest Signs of Life
We are interested in the chemical and physical processes that facilitated the transition from chemical evolution to biological evolution on the early earth.
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