Exobiology: Matter, Energy, and Information in the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe: Proceedings of the Fifth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution: An Abdus Salam Memorial Trieste, Italy, 22–26 September 1997

Front Matter....Pages i-xxi
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe....Pages 53-57
Are We Alone?....Pages 61-68
Abdus Salam from Fundamental Interactions to the Origin of Life....Pages 5-8
Cosmochemical Evolution....Pages 11-32
The Theory of Common Descent....Pages 35-49
Front Matter....Pages 69-69
The Concept of Matter and Materialism in the Origin and Evolution of Life....Pages 71-80
Re-Appraisal of the Age of the Oldest Water-Lain Sediments, West Greenland....Pages 81-86
The Origin of Mind and Life....Pages 87-92
Front Matter....Pages 93-93
Energy for the Origin of Life....Pages 95-102
Visually Retracing the Emergence of the Evolvable Protocell....Pages 103-106
Radicals, Ions and Molecules in Chemical Evolution....Pages 107-112
Some Aspects of the Irradiation of HCN and Related Compounds and Their Role in Prebiotic Chemistry....Pages 113-116
The Role Played by Solid State Surfaces in Prebiotic Chemistry....Pages 117-121
Mutually Catalytic Amphiphiles: Simulated Chemical Evolution and Implications to Exobiology....Pages 123-131
Salam Phase Transition and the Causal Origin of Homochirality....Pages 133-136
Physical Studies of Adsorbed Bio-Organic Substances in Na-Montmorillonite....Pages 137-142
On the Prevailing Direction of our Search into the Origin-of-Life — “Second thoughts”....Pages 143-146
Front Matter....Pages 147-147
Generic Properties of the Sequence-Structure Relations of Biopolymers....Pages 149-156
Genetic Code: Dinucleotide Type, Hydropathic and Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Class Organization....Pages 157-160
Cognitive Universals: Abstract Psychology of Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Intelligence....Pages 161-164
Front Matter....Pages 165-165
Early Metabolic Evolution: Insights from Comparative Cellular Genomics....Pages 167-174
Impacts of Darwin’s Theory on « Origins of Life » and « Extraterrestrial Life » Debates, and some wider topics....Pages 175-180
The Oldest Fossil Mineral Bacteria from the Early Archean of South Africa and Australia....Pages 181-186
The Evolutionary Aspects of Coenzyme Photobiochemistry....Pages 187-190
Origin of the Proto-Cell Membrane....Pages 191-194
Animate Protocells from Inanimate Thermal Proteins....Pages 195-198
Did the First Cell Emerge from a Microsphere ?....Pages 199-202
Front Matter....Pages 203-203
Exobiology in Earth Orbit....Pages 205-212
Production of Organic Compounds in Interstellar Space....Pages 213-216
Front Matter....Pages 217-217
The Search for Extraterrestrial Biochemistry on Mars and Europa....Pages 219-227
Possible Degree of Evolution of Solar-System Microorganisms....Pages 229-234
Is There an Alternative Path in Eukaryogenesis?....Pages 235-240
Did Earthlife Come from Mars?....Pages 241-244
Ultrastructure in the Carbonate Globules of Martian Meteorite ALH84001....Pages 245-250
Production and Detection of Organic Compounds on Mars....Pages 251-254
Prebiotic Synthesis by Lightning in Martian Volcanic Plumes....Pages 255-260
Earliest Microbes on Earth and Possible Occurrence of Stromatolites on Mars....Pages 261-265
Front Matter....Pages 267-267
Cometary Contributions to Planetary Atmospheres....Pages 269-273
Comets as a Source of Life’s Origins....Pages 275-285
Formation of Molecular Hydrogen: The Mother of All Molecules....Pages 287-290
Front Matter....Pages 267-267
Pre-Biotic Chemistry Induced by Ion Irradiation of Ices....Pages 291-294
Extraterrestrial Delivery of Simple Biomolecules to the Earth: Survival of Amino Acids and Nucleic Acid Bases....Pages 295-298
Front Matter....Pages 299-299
Titan’s Chemistry : Exobiological Aspects and Expected Contribution from Cassini-Huygens....Pages 301-311
Production of Organic Gases and Aerosols by Electrical Activity in Titan’s Tropospheric Clouds....Pages 313-316
Front Matter....Pages 317-317
The Search for Life Outside the Solar System....Pages 319-326
Exochirality in the Solar System and Beyond....Pages 327-332
DRVS and the Search for Life on Extrasolar Planets....Pages 333-336
Front Matter....Pages 337-337
A Full-Sky Survey for Ultra-Narrowband Artificial Signals....Pages 339-346
SETI These Last Few Years....Pages 347-353
SETI from Space and the Moon Far Side in the Next Century....Pages 355-360
Back Matter....Pages 361-386