Astrobiology: Difference between revisions

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[[Image:AstrobiologyCover1.jpg|right|318x450px|AstrobiologyCover1.jpg]]
[[Image:AstrobiologyCover1.jpg|right|318x450px|AstrobiologyCover1.jpg]]
and The Search for Life on Mars
and The Search for Life on Mars
[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/ISBN_Numbers ISBN: 978-1-60785-255-1]


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


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== 'Here are phenomena that are passing strange'  ==
== 'Here are phenomena that are passing strange'  ==
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; Percival Lowell : [http://ia600504.us.archive.org/22/items/marsabodeoflife00loweiala/marsabodeoflife00loweiala.pdf ''Mars as the Abode of Life'']
; Percival Lowell : [http://ia600504.us.archive.org/22/items/marsabodeoflife00loweiala/marsabodeoflife00loweiala.pdf ''Mars as the Abode of Life'']
; Gilbert V. Levin : [http://livingbooksaboutlife.org/pdfs/Labeled%20_Release_Gil_Levin.pdf The Labeled Release Experiment – Past and Future]  
; Gilbert V. Levin : [http://livingbooksaboutlife.org/pdfs/Labeled%20_Release_Gil_Levin.pdf The Labeled Release Experiment – Past and Future]  


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; Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto : [http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/6/1602/pdf Resistance of Microorganisms to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Its Contribution to Astrobiology]  
; Pabulo Henrique Rampelotto : [http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/6/1602/pdf Resistance of Microorganisms to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Its Contribution to Astrobiology]  
; Seth D. Baum : [http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/2/591/pdf Is Humanity Doomed? Insights from Astrobiology]
; Seth D. Baum : [http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/2/2/591/pdf Is Humanity Doomed? Insights from Astrobiology]


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; Sarah Kember : [http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/235/216 Creative Evolution?: The Quest for Life (On Mars)]
; Sarah Kember : [http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/235/216 Creative Evolution?: The Quest for Life (On Mars)]
==  [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Attributions Attributions] ==
==  [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Astrobiology/Attributions Attributions] ==
== A 'Frozen' PDF Version of this Living Book ==
; [http://livingbooksaboutlife.org/pdfs/bookarchive/Astrobiology.pdf Download a 'frozen' PDF version of this book as it appeared on 7th October 2011]

Latest revision as of 13:52, 19 January 2012

AstrobiologyCover1.jpg
AstrobiologyCover1.jpg

and The Search for Life on Mars

ISBN: 978-1-60785-255-1

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

A 'Frozen' PDF Version of this Living Book

Download a 'frozen' PDF version of this book as it appeared on 7th October 2011