First Life
eBook - PDF

First Life

Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began

  1. 283 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

First Life

Discovering the Connections between Stars, Cells, and How Life Began

About this book

This pathbreaking book explores how life can begin, taking us from cosmic clouds of stardust, to volcanoes on Earth, to the modern chemistry laboratory. Seeking to understand life's connection to the stars, David Deamer introduces astrobiology, a new scientific discipline that studies the origin and evolution of life on Earth and relates it to the birth and death of stars, planet formation, interfaces between minerals, water, and atmosphere, and the physics and chemistry of carbon compounds. Deamer argues that life began as systems of molecules that assembled into membrane-bound packages. These in turn provided an essential compartment in which more complex molecules assumed new functions required for the origin of life and the beginning of evolution. Deamer takes us from the vivid and unpromising chaos of the Earth four billion years ago up to the present and his own laboratory, where he contemplates the prospects for generating synthetic life. Engaging and accessible, First Life describes the scientific story of astrobiology while presenting a fascinating hypothesis to explain the origin of life.

Trusted by 375,005 students

Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.

Study more efficiently using our study tools.

Information

Publisher
University of California Press
Year
2011
Print ISBN
9780520274457
Edition
1
eBook ISBN
9780520948952
Topic
Biological Sciences
Subtopic
Evolution
Index
Biological Sciences

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Table of Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Introduction
  7. Chapter 1: A Fireball Over Australia
  8. Chapter 2: Where Did Life Begin?
  9. Chapter 3: When Did Life Begin?
  10. Chapter 4: Carbon and the Building Blocks of Life
  11. Chapter 5: The Handedness of Life
  12. Chapter 6: Energy and Life’s Origins
  13. Chapter 7: Self-Assembly and Emergence
  14. Chapter 8: How To Build a Cell
  15. Chapter 9: Achieving Complexity
  16. Chapter 10: Multiple Strands of Life
  17. Chapter 11: Catalysts: Life in the Fast Lane
  18. Chapter 12: Copying Life’s Blueprints
  19. Chapter 13: How Evolution Begins
  20. Chapter 14: A Grand Simulation of Prebiotic Earth
  21. Chapter 15: Prospects for Synthetic Life
  22. Epilogue
  23. Sources and Notes
  24. Index

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn how to download books offline
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.5M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1.5 million books across 990+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn about our mission
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more about Read Aloud
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS and Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Yes, you can access First Life by David Deamer in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Evolution. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.