Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life

I/Cosmochemistry.- Fitness in the Universe: Choices and Necessities.- Galactic Clouds of Organic Molecules.- The Outer Solar System: Perspectives for Exobiology.- Catalytic Reactions in the Solar Nebula: Implications for Interstellar Molecules and Organic Compounds in Meteorites.- II/Paleobiology.- Natural Evidence for Chemical and Early Biological Evolution.- Aspects of the Geologic History of Seawater.- Homeostatic Tendencies of the Earth’s Atmosphere.- Microfossils from the Middle Precambrian McArthur Group, Northern Territory, Australia.- The Development and Diversification of Precambrian Life.- III/Primordial Organic Chemistry.- The Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids.- Biomolecules from HCN.- The Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligonucleotides.- The Possible Role of Clays in Prebiotic Peptide Synthesis.- Interactions Between Amino Acids and Nucleotides in the Prebiotic Milieu.- Coacervate Systems and Origin of Life.- Transfer RNA and the Translation Apparatus in the Origin of Life.- IV/Precellular Organization.- A Hypothetic Scheme for Evolution of Probionts.- From Proteinoid Microsphere to Contemporary Cell: Formation of Internucleotide and Peptide Bonds by Proteinoid Particles.- Chemical and Catalytical Properties of Thermal Polymers of Amino Acids (Proteinoids).- Pre-Enzymic Origin of Metabolic Redox Processes and of the Energy Storage Processes.- Experimental Attempts for the Study of the Origin of Optical Activity on Earth.- Life’s Beginnings — Origin or Evolution?.- V/Early Biochemical Evolution.- On the Chemical Constitution of Cometary Nuclei.- Photochemical Conversions of Lower Aldehydes in Aqueous Solutions and in Fog.- Inferences from Protein and Nucleic Acid Sequences: Early Molecular Evolution, Divergence ofKingdoms and Rates of Change.- On the Possible Origin and Evolution of the Genetic Code.- Genetics and the Origin of the Genetic Code.- Origin of the Genetic Code: A Physical-Chemical Model of Primitive Codon Assignments.- The Iron-Sulphur Proteins: Evolution of a Ubiquitous Protein from Model Systems to Higher Organisms.- A New Hypothesis for the Evolution of Biological Electron Transport.- Pathways of Chemical Evolution of Photosynthesis.- Inorganic Types of Fermentation and Anaerobic Respirations in the Evolution of Energy-Yielding Metabolism.- VI/Exobiology.- Test Results on the Viking Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer Experiment.- Automated Life-Detection Experiments for the Viking Mission to Mars.- Organic Contamination Problems in the Viking Molecular Analysis Experiment.- Model Systems for Life Processes on Mars.- An Automatically-Returned Martian Sample by 1985?.- Life on Jupiter?.- The Possibility of Organic Molecule Formation in the Venus Atmosphere.- Planetary Systems and Extraterrestrial Life.- The Origin of Life in a Cosmic Context.- List of Participants.- Index of Subjects.