The Living Cosmos: A Fabric That Binds Art and Science

Leonardo ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 435-441
Author(s):  
Chris Impey ◽  
Heather Green
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Mixed Media ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Media Constructions ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

The authors, an astronomer and an artist, have collaborated on a series of seven mixed-media constructions and prose pieces that follow the flow and themes of Impey's book on astrobiology, The Living Cosmos. The book summarizes recent research on astrobiology, from the origin of life on Earth and its environmental range on this planet to the search for life in the solar system and beyond. The artist's work encapsulates these ideas with its use of material objects, textures, images and metaphors that mirror the elements of the scientific approach to astrobiology.

scholarly journals Commission 51: Bioastronomy – Search for Extraterrestrial Life

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (T26A) ◽  
pp. 171-174
Author(s):  
Karen Meech ◽  
Alan Boss ◽  
Cristiano Cosmovici ◽  
Pascale Ehrenfreund ◽  
David Latham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
International Society ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Extrasolar Planets ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Formation And Evolution ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth

Historically, there have been two main groups dealing with the investigation of extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds. The first is IAU Commission 51, composed of astronomers, physicists and engineers who focus on the search for extrasolar planets, formation and evolution of planetary systems, and the astronomical search for intelligent signals. The second group, the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), is composed largely of biologists and chemists focusing research on the biogenesis and evolution of life on Earth and in the solar system. There are now a variety of international organizations dedicated to this field, and this triennium has seen the beginnings of coordination and interaction between the groups through the Federation of Astrobiology Organizations, FAO.

scholarly journals ‘Whole Organism’, Systems Biology, and Top-Down Criteria for Evaluating Scenarios for the Origin of Life

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 690
Author(s):  
Clifford F. Brunk ◽  
Charles R. Marshall
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Chemical Systems ◽  
Biochemical Pathways ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Energy And Material Flows ◽  
Complex Scenario ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Physical Laws ◽  
Equilibrium Chemical

While most advances in the study of the origin of life on Earth (OoLoE) are piecemeal, tested against the laws of chemistry and physics, ultimately the goal is to develop an overall scenario for life’s origin(s). However, the dimensionality of non-equilibrium chemical systems, from the range of possible boundary conditions and chemical interactions, renders the application of chemical and physical laws difficult. Here we outline a set of simple criteria for evaluating OoLoE scenarios. These include the need for containment, steady energy and material flows, and structured spatial heterogeneity from the outset. The Principle of Continuity, the fact that all life today was derived from first life, suggests favoring scenarios with fewer non-analog (not seen in life today) to analog (seen in life today) transitions in the inferred first biochemical pathways. Top-down data also indicate that a complex metabolism predated ribozymes and enzymes, and that full cellular autonomy and motility occurred post-LUCA. Using these criteria, we find the alkaline hydrothermal vent microchamber complex scenario with a late evolving exploitation of the natural occurring pH (or Na+ gradient) by ATP synthase the most compelling. However, there are as yet so many unknowns, we also advocate for the continued development of as many plausible scenarios as possible.

What is life?

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maynard Smith ◽  
Eors Szathmary
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth

Imagine that, when the first spacemen step out of their craft onto the surface of one of the moons of Jupiter, they are confronted by an object the size of a horse, rolling towards them on wheels, and bearing on its back a concave disc pointing towards the Sun. They will at once conclude that the object is alive, or has been made by something alive. If all they find is a purple smear on the surface of the rocks, they will have to work harder to decide. This is the phenotypic approach to the definition of life: a thing is alive if it has parts, or ‘organs’, which perform functions. William Paley explained the machine-like nature of life by the existence of a creator: today, we would invoke natural selection. There are, however, dangers in assuming that any entity with the properties of a self-regulating machine is alive, or an artefact. In section 2.2, we tell the story of a self-regulating atomic reactor, the Oklo reactor, which is neither. This story can be taken in one of three ways. First, it shows the dangers of the phenotypic definition of life: not all complex entities are alive. Second, it illustrates how the accidents of history can give rise spontaneously to surprisingly complex machine-like entities. The relevance of this to the origin of life is obvious. In essence, the problem is the following. How could chemical and physical processes give rise, without natural selection, to entities capable of hereditary replication, which would therefore, from then on, evolve by natural selection? The Oklo reactor is an example of what can happen. Finally, section 2.2 can simply be skipped: the events were interesting, but do not resemble in detail those that led to the origin of life on Earth. There is an alternative to the phenotypic definition of life. It is to define as alive any entities that have the properties of multiplication, variation and heredity. The logic behind this definition, first proposed by Muller (1966), is that a population of entities with these properties will evolve by natural selection, and hence can be expected to acquire the complex adaptations for survival and reproduction that are characteristic of living things.

Prospects for Life on Other Planets

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
David W. Deamer
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Hydrothermal Vents ◽  
European Space Agency ◽  
Extraterrestrial Life ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Planetary Bodies ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Alternative Scenarios

This book describes a hypothetical process in which populations of protocells can spontaneously assemble and begin to grow and proliferate by energy- dependent polymerization. This might seem to be just an academic question pursued by a few dozen researchers as a matter of curiosity, but in the past three decades advances in engineering have reached a point where both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) routinely send spacecraft to other planetary objects in our solar system. A major question being pursued is whether life has emerged elsewhere than on Earth. The limited funds available to support such missions require decisions to be made about target priorities that are guided by judgment calls. These in turn depend on plausible scenarios related to the origin of life on habitable planetary surfaces. We know that other planetary bodies in our solar system have had or do have conditions that would permit microbial life to exist and perhaps even to begin. By a remarkable coincidence, the two most promising objects for extraterrestrial life happen to represent the two alternative scenarios described in this book: An origin of life in conditions of hydrothermal vents or an origin in hydrothermal fields. This final chapter will explore how these alternative views can guide our judgment about where to send future space missions designed as life-detection missions. Questions to be addressed: What is meant by habitability? Which planetary bodies are plausible sites for the origin of life? How do the hypotheses described in this book relate to those sites? There is healthy public interest in how life begins and whether it exists elsewhere in our solar system or on the myriad exoplanets now known to orbit other stars. This has fueled a series of films, television programs, and science fiction novels. Most of these feature extrapolations to intelligent life but a few, such as The Andromeda Strain, explore what might happen if a pathogenic organism from space began to spread to the human population. There is a serious and sustained scientific effort—SETI, or Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence—devoted to finding an answer to this question.

The Origin of Life on Earth and in the Universe

2006 ◽  
pp. 147-198
Author(s):  
Jordi Llorca ◽  
Malcolm E. Schrader ◽  
Pasquale Stano ◽  
Francesca Ferri ◽  
Pier Luigi Luisi
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Universe
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