Astrobiology: Difference between revisions

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and The Search for Life on Mars
and The Search for Life on Mars


edited by [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/bio Sarah Kember]
''edited by'' [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/bio Sarah Kember]


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[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Introduction '''Introduction: What is Life?''']
==[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Introduction '''Introduction: What is Life?''']==


J. B. S. Haldane (1949) and Erwin Schrödinger (1944), two of the twentieth century’s most influential scientists, posed the direct question, ‘what is life?’ and declared that it was a question unlikely to find an answer. Life, they suggested, might exceed the ability of science to represent it and even though the sciences of biology, physics and chemistry might usefully describe life’s structures, systems and processes, those sciences should not seek to reduce it to the sum of its parts. While Schrödinger drew attention to the physical structure of living matter, including especially the cell, Haldane asserted that ‘what is common to life is the chemical events’ (1949: 59) and so therefore life might be defined, though not reduced, to ‘a pattern of chemical processes’ (62) involving the use of oxygen, enzymes and so on. ([http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Introduction more])  
J. B. S. Haldane (1949) and Erwin Schrödinger (1944), two of the twentieth century’s most influential scientists, posed the direct question, ‘what is life?’ and declared that it was a question unlikely to find an answer. Life, they suggested, might exceed the ability of science to represent it and even though the sciences of biology, physics and chemistry might usefully describe life’s structures, systems and processes, those sciences should not seek to reduce it to the sum of its parts. While Schrödinger drew attention to the physical structure of living matter, including especially the cell, Haldane asserted that ‘what is common to life is the chemical events’ (1949: 59) and so therefore life might be defined, though not reduced, to ‘a pattern of chemical processes’ (62) involving the use of oxygen, enzymes and so on. ([http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Introduction more])  

Revision as of 04:17, 29 September 2011

AstrobiologyCover1.jpg
AstrobiologyCover1.jpg

and The Search for Life on Mars

edited by Sarah Kember

Introduction: What is Life?

J. B. S. Haldane (1949) and Erwin Schrödinger (1944), two of the twentieth century’s most influential scientists, posed the direct question, ‘what is life?’ and declared that it was a question unlikely to find an answer. Life, they suggested, might exceed the ability of science to represent it and even though the sciences of biology, physics and chemistry might usefully describe life’s structures, systems and processes, those sciences should not seek to reduce it to the sum of its parts. While Schrödinger drew attention to the physical structure of living matter, including especially the cell, Haldane asserted that ‘what is common to life is the chemical events’ (1949: 59) and so therefore life might be defined, though not reduced, to ‘a pattern of chemical processes’ (62) involving the use of oxygen, enzymes and so on. (more)


'Here are phenomena that are passing strange'

Percival Lowell

Mars

H. G. Wells

The War of the Worlds


'An aroma of actuality' - Lowell vs. Wallace on the nature of knowledge and life

Percival Lowell

Mars and Its Canals

Alfred Russell Wallace

Is Mars Habitable?


From Martians with- to Martians as- microbes

Percival Lowell

Mars as the Abode of Life

Gilbert V. Levin

The Labeled Release Experiment – Past and Future


Alien communication

NASA

Voyager: Sounds of Earth

SETI-X

Scrambles of Earth


What is life?

Chris P. McKay

What Is Life -- and How Do We Search for It in Other Worlds?

 Y. N. Zhuravlev, V. A. Avetisov

The Definition of Life in the Context of Its Origin


Astrobiology from the perspective of sustainability

Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto

Resistance of Microorganisms to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Its Contribution to Astrobiology

Seth D. Baum

Is Humanity Doomed? Insights from Astrobiology


Afterword

Sarah Kember

Creative Evolution?: The Quest for Life (On Mars)

Attributions