Life as We Know It

Cover......Page 1
Title Page......Page 4
ISBN 9781402043949......Page 5
TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 6
Preface......Page 12
Foreword......Page 14
Brief Introduction......Page 16
Acknowledgements......Page 18
List of Authors and their Addresses......Page 19
Biodiversity and Extremophiles......Page 26
The Extremophiles: Diversity of Life Environments......Page 27
Prokaryotic Life......Page 44
The Algae–Diverse Life Forms and Global Importance......Page 58
Fungal Lives......Page 72
Life in Saline and Hypersaline Environments......Page 92
Thermophilic Communities as Autonomous Ecosystems......Page 104
Life in Ice......Page 120
Life under Pressure: Deep-Sea Microbial Ecology......Page 137
The Evolution of Life on Earth and in the Universe......Page 155
Early Precursors of Life in the Solar Nebula......Page 157
Is Life on Earth Accidental? Natural Selection and the Second Law of Thermodynamics......Page 172
From the Minimal Genome to the Minimal Cell: Theoretical and Experimental Investigations......Page 187
Numerical Analysis of Biocomplexity......Page 206
Hepatitis B Virus Conjectures on Human Interactions and Origin of Life......Page 219
The Record of Early Life: In Search of Biosignatures......Page 241
Ground Truth: The Epistemology of Searching for the Earliest Life on Earth......Page 263
Eukaryogenesis: The Origin of the Eukaryotes......Page 290
Symbiotic: Forms of Life......Page 308
Symbiosis: The Way of All Life......Page 325
Can There be a Limit on the Complexity of Life?......Page 339
Evolution of Intelligence......Page 355
The Destiny of Life in the Universe......Page 156
Searching Other Worlds for Life as We Know It......Page 368
The Role of Comets and Meteorites in the Origin of Life......Page 376
Astronomical Constraints for Life on Terrestrial Planets......Page 390
Prerequisites for the Evolution of Life on Exoplanets......Page 402
Life as an Unfolding Biocosmos......Page 418
We Have Not Detected Extraterrestrial Life, Or Have We?......Page 431
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence......Page 443
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence......Page 455
An Alternative Method for the Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life: The \"Local SETI\"......Page 467
Destinies of the Universe and Life: The Final Frontiers of Cosmology and Astrobiology......Page 483
Destiny of Life and Religious Attitudes......Page 495
Artificial Life......Page 511
Life in the Universe: Philosophical and Theological Issues......Page 512
Consciousness......Page 524
Afterlife in Moshe Maimondes\'s thought......Page 535
Science and Religion: Some Suggestions for Conceptual Harmonizing Constraints......Page 545
Understanding the Nature of Life: A Matter of Definition or Theory?......Page 556
\"And You Shall Choose Life\"......Page 567
When Form Outlasts Its Medium: A Definition of Life Integrating Platonism and Thermodynamics......Page 572
Epistemological Pluralism: Realities as Species-Specific Interpretations of the Material World......Page 585
Temperature Gradients as a Major Impetus: Driving Prebiotic Evolution......Page 603
Life during Clinical Death: The \"Near Death Experience\" Phenomenon......Page 615
Beauty in Nature......Page 621
All Things Bright and Beautiful: The Hidden Cosmos of Microscopic Planktonic Algae......Page 641
Life and Sports: Musings of a Pro Athlete......Page 656
Artificial Life: From Life-As-We-Know-It to Life-As It-Could Be......Page 661
Life-Cycles of Life......Page 672
PART 4: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS......Page 686
What Do We Call Life? A Brief Outlook on Life......Page 687
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