Beginnings of Cellular Life
eBook - PDF

Beginnings of Cellular Life

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Beginnings of Cellular Life

About this book

In this book an internationally renowned scientist presents a radically new theory of the origin of life on Earth 4 billion years ago.

Harold J. Morowitz postulates that the first step toward the origin of life was the spontaneous condensation of amphiphilic molecules to form vesicles (or protocells). This hypothesis provides a framework for reexamining the emergence of cellularity. Morowitz further proposes that core metabolic processes have not changed for some 3.8 billion years, so we can use a study of modern biochemistry to advance our knowledge about the chemical processes of the earliest protocells. Morowitz views origin of life issues from the perspective of certain constructs in the philosophy of science that provide guideposts to formulating and assessing hypotheses. This book presents a unique discussion among origin-of-life books on the relation between science and epistemology on the difficult problem of learning about the very distant past.

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Yes, you can access Beginnings of Cellular Life by Harold J. Morowitz in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Science General. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. CONTENTS
  2. PREFACE
  3. 1. THE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM
  4. 2. THE STUDY OF ORIGINS
  5. 3. THE TOP-DOWN APPROACH
  6. 4. GENERALIZATION S FROM CONTEMPORARY BIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY
  7. 5. THE MINIMAL CELL
  8. 6. THE BOTTOM-UP APPROACH
  9. 7. CHEMICAL ELEMENTS, HYDROPHOBICITY, AND STRUCTURE
  10. 8. THE LOGIC OF REPLICATION
  11. 9. ENERGY, COMPLEXITY , AND ORGANIZATION
  12. 10. UNDERLYING CHEMICAL MECHANISMS
  13. 11. NETWORKS
  14. 12 LESSONS FROM CONTEMPORARY BIOCHEMISTRY
  15. 13 THE SCENARIO
  16. APPENDIX: AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST
  17. REFERENCES
  18. INDEX