Life in the universe: from the Miller experiment to the search for life on other worlds/ edited by Joseph Seckbach ... [et al.].

"This volume is a collection of chapters that have been presented as oral presentations or posters during the Seventh Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life ... Trieste, Italy on 15-19 September 2003 in Trieste, Italy."--Editors' pref.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Dedication; Biodata of editors; Preface by the editors; Acknowledgements; Group photograph and List of Attendees; I. Opening; Introduction to Life in the Universe: Introduction, T. Johnson; The Abdus Salam Lecture, H. Baltscheffsky; The Beginning of Chemical Evolution Experiments: Recollections and Perspectives, S. Miller, J. L. Bada and A. Lazcano; Overview of Cosmic Evolution, G. V. Coyne; Physical Phenomena underlying the Origin of Life, J. Pérez-Mercader; II. Where did the Chemical Elements come from and when did Life begin?; The Origin of Biogenic Elements, F. Matteucci and C. Chiappini; Thermochemistry of the Dark Age, D. Puy; Searching for Oldest Life on Earth: A Progress Report, S. Moorbath and B. S. Kamber; The European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association, A. Brack; III. Physical Constraints on the Origin of Life; The Origin of Biomolecular Chirality: Search for Efficient Chiroselective Autocatalytic Reactions, J. Rivera-Islas, J.C. Micheau and T. Buhse; Salam Hypothesis and the Role of Phase Transition in Amino Acids, W. Wang, N. Yao, Y. Chen and P. Lai; A Mechanism for the Prebiotic Emergence of Proteins: The role of Proton Gradient and High Temperature in the Polymerization of Amino Acids Embedded in Bilayers, H.P. De Vladar, R. Cipriani, B. Scharifker and J. Bubis; Functional, Self-Referential Genetic Coding, R.C. Guimarães and C.H.C. Moreira; Importance of Biased Synthesis in Chemical Evolution Studies, A. Negron-Mendoza, S. Ramos-Bernal and F. G. Mosqueira; When did Information first appear in the Universe?, J.G. Roederer; IV. From the Miller Experiment to Chemical and Biological Evolution; Prebiotic Organic Synthesis and the Emergence of Life: From the Miller Experiment to the start of Biological Evolution, L. Delaye, A. Becerra, A.M. Velasco, S. Islas and A. Lazcano; Origin and Evolution of very early Sequence Motifs in Enzymes, H. Baltscheffsky, B. Persson, A. Schultz, J. R. Pérez-Castiñeira and M. Baltscheffsky; The Lipid World: From Catalytic and Informational Headgroups to Micelle Replication and Evolution without Nucleic Acids, A. Bar-Even, B. Shenhav, R. Kafri and D. Lancet; Coenzymes in Evolution of the RNA World, M.S. Kritsky, T.A. Telegina, T.A. Lyudnikova and Yu. L. Zemskova; The Role of Heat in the Origin of Life, P.R. Bahn, A. Pappelis and R. Gubbs; A Possible Pathway for the Transfer of Chiral Bias from Extraterrestrial Ca-Tetrasubstituted a-Amino Acids to Proteinogenic Amino Acids, M. Crisma, A. Moretto, F. Formaggio, B. Kaptein, Q.B. Broxterman and C. Toniolo; Prebiotic Polymerization of Amino Acids. A Makov Chain Approach, F.G. Mosqueira, S. Ramos-Bernal and A. Negron-Mendoza; The Electrochemical Reduction of CO2 to Formate in Hydrothermal Sulfide Ore Deposit as a Novel Source of Organic Matter, M.G. Vladimirov, Yu.F. Ryzhkov, V.A. Alekseev, V.A. Bogdanovskaya, V.A. Otroshchenko and M.S. Kritsky; Towards a Chronological Order of the Amino Acids: Last Common Ancestor may have arisen from Genome Fusion, W.J.M.F. Collis; Origin and Evolution of Metabolic Pathways, M. Brilli and R. Fani; Conserved Oligopeptides in the Rubisco large Chains, P.B. Vidyasagar, P. Shil and S. Thomas; On the Question of Convergent Evolution in Biochemistry, A.A. Akindahunsi and J. Chela-Flores; Diversity of Microbial Life on Earth and Beyond, J. Seckbach; V. Alternative Scenarios for the Origin and Evolution of Life; Mineral Surfaces as a Cradle of Primordial Genetic Material, E. Gallori, E. Biondi and M. Franchi; Adsorption and Self-Organization of Small Molecules on Inorganic Surfaces, D.G. Fraser; Studies on Copper Chromicyanide as Prebiotic Catalyst, Kamaluddin and S.R. Ali; Phosphate Immobilization by Primitive Condensers: Implications in the Availability of Soluble Phosphate in Abiotic Environments, F. De Souza-Barros, M.B.M. Monte, A.C.P. Duarte, J.A.P. Bonapace, M.R.D. Amaral Jr., R.B. Levigrad, A. Ching-San Jr., C.S. Costa and A. Vieyra; Adsorption and Catalysis of Nucleotide Hydrolysis by Pyrite in Media Simulating Primeval Aqueous Environments, A. Vieyra, A.C. Tessis, M. Pontes-Buarque, J.A.P. Bonapace, M. Monte, H.S. De Amorim and F. De Souza-Barros; VI. Cosmological and other Space Science Aspects of Astrobiology; Dust and Planet Formation in the Early Universe, G. Vladilo; Quasar Absorption-Line Systems and Astrobiology, G. Vladilo; A New Search for Dyson Spheres in the Milky Way, D. Minniti, F. Capponi, A. Valcarce and J. Gallardo; Space Weather and Space Climate: Life Inhibitors or Catalysts?, M. Messerotti; VII. Planetary Exploration in our Solar System: The Interstellar Medium, Micro-Meteorites and Comets; Spontaneous Generation of Amino Acid Structures in the Interstellar Medium, U.J. Meierhenrich; Experimental Study of the Degradation of Complex Organic Molecules. Application to the Origin of Extended Sources in Cometary Atmospheres, N. Fray, Y. Benilan, H. Cottin, M.-C. Gazeau and F. Raulin; Fate of Glycine During Collapse of Interstellar Clouds and Star Formation, S.K. Chakrabarti, S. Chakrabarti and K. Acharyya; Formation of Simplest Bio-Molecules during Collapse of an Interstellar Cloud, K. Acharya, S. K. Chakrabarti and S. Chakrabarti; Chemical Abundances of Cometary Meteoroids from Meteor Spectroscopy: Implications to the Earth Enrichment, J.M. Trigo-Rodríguez, J. Llorca and J. Oró; VIII. Earth Analogues of Extraterrestrial Ecosystems; Viable Halobacteria from Ancient Oceans – and in outer Space?, H. Stan-Lotter, C. Radax, S. Leuko, A. Legat, C. Gruber, M. Pfaffernhuemer, H. Wieland and G. Weidler; Mars-Like Soils in the Yungay Area, the Driest Core of the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, R. Navarro-González, F.A. Rainey, P. Molina, D.R. Bagaley, B.J. Hollen, J. De La Rosa, A.M. Small, R.C. Quinn, F.J. Grunthaner, L. Cáceres, B. Gomez-Silva, A. Buch, R. Sternberg, P. Coll, F. Raulin and Ch.P. McKay; The Discovery of Organics in Sub-Basement Fossil Soils Drilled in the North Pacific (ODP LEG 197): Their Model Formation and Implications for Astrobiology Research, R. Bonaccorsi and R.L. Mancinelli; Silica-Carbonate Biomorphs and the Implications for Identification of Microfossils, A.M. Carnerup, S.T Hyde, A-K. Larsson, A.G. Christy and J.M. Gracía-Ruiz; Some Statistical Aspects Related to the Study of Treeline in Pico De Orizaba, L. Cruz-Kuri, C.P. McKay and R. Navarro-Gonzalez; IX. On the Question of Life on Mars and on the Early Earth; The Beagle 2 Lander and the Search for Traces of Life on Mars, A. Brack, C.T. Pillinger and M.R. Sims; Minimal Unit of Terraforming an Alternative for Remodelling Mars, H.O. Pensado Diaz; Early Archaean Life, F. Westall; Extraterrestrial Impacts on Earth and Extinction of Life in the Himalaya, V.C. Tewari; Palaeobiology and Biosedimentology of the Stromatolitic Buxa Dolomite, Ranjit Window, Sikkim, Ne Lesser Himalaya, India, V.C. Tewari; X. Searching for Extraterrestrial Life, Europa, Titan and Extrasolar Planets; Searching for Extraterrestrial Life, T. Owen; Search for Bacterial Waste as a Possible Signature of Life on Europa, A.B. Bhattacherjee and J. Chela-Flores; Sulfate Volumes and the Fitness of SUPCRT92 for Calculating Deep Ocean Chemistry: The Situation in Europa’s Ocean, S. Vance, E. Shock and T. Spohn; The Case for Life Existing Outside of our Biosphere: Techniques for Identifying Molecular Structures, R.S. Gatta; Application of Molecular Biology Techniques to Astrobiology, R.S. Gatta and J. Chela-Flores; Titan: Current Status and Expected Exobiological Return of the Cassini-Huygens Mission, F. Raulin, J-P. Lebreton and T. Owen; Chemical Characterization of Aerosols in Simulated Planetary Atmospheres, S. I. Ramirez, R. Navarro-Gonzalez, P. Coll and F. Raulin; Observation, Modeling and Experimental Simulation: Understanding Titan’s Atmospheric Chemistry using these three Tools, J.M. Bernard, P. Coll, C.D. Pintassilgo, Y. Benilan, A. Jolly, G. Cernogora and F. Raulin; Exobiology of Titan, M. Simakov; XI. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI); SETI-Italia: 2003 Present Activities and Future, S. Montebugnoli, J. Monari, C. Bortolotti, A. Cattani, A. Maccaferri, M. Poloni, A. Orlati, S. Righini, S. Poppi, M. Roma, M. Teodorani, C. Maccone, C.B. Cosmovici and N. D’Amico; SETI on the Moon, C. Maccone; Proposing a United Nations Secretary General SETI International Advisory Board, G. Picco, G. Genta, P. Galeotti and D. Noventa; Some Engineering Considerations on the Controversial Issue of Humanoids, G. Genta; XII. The Search for Evolution of Intelligent Behavior and Destiny of Life; The New Universe, Destiny of Life, and the Cultural Implications, S.J. Dick; Evolution of Intelligent Behavior: Is it just a Question of Time?, J. Chela-Flores; Evolution of Language as Innate Mental Faculty, K.T. Shah; How Advanced is ET?, P. Musso; XIII. Epistemological and Historical Aspects of Astrobiology; Chance or Design in the Origin of Living Beings: and Epistemological Point of View, R. Vicuña and A. Serani-Merlo; Astrobiology and Biocentrism, R. Aretxaga; Analysis of the Works of the German Naturalist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) on the Origin of Life, F. Raulin-Cerceau; A Reexamination of Alfonso Herrera’s Sulfocyanic Theory on the Origin of Life, E. Silva, L. Perezgasga, A. Lazcano and A. Negrón-Mendoza; Determinism and the Proteinoid Theory, A. Pappelis and P.R. Bahn; Glimpses of Trieste Conferences on Chemical Evolution and Origin of Life a pictorial Overview, M. S. Chadha; Index; Subjects, Names, List of Authors, List of Participants