Origins

Foreword, Leslie E. Orgel; Preface, Joseph Seckbach; Acknowledgements, Joseph Seckbach; List of Authors and their Adresses; Legends for the Cover Photo; I. Origin & Evolution of Life. Introduction, Joseph Seckbach; The Fact of Life, Philip Morrison; Historical Review of the Origin of Life and Astrobiology, Florence Raulin-Cerceau; In the Beginning, Louis Lerman and Jacqueline Teng; II. The Standard Scenario. The Chemistry of Life's Origins, Andre Brack; Prebiotic Amphiphilic Compounds: Self-Assembly and Properties of Early Membrane Structures, David W. Deamer; Theoretical and Computational Approaches to the Study of the Origin of Life, Daniel Segre and Doron Lancet; The HCN World: Establishing Protein-Nucleic Acid Life via Hydrogen Cyanide Polymers, Clifford Matthews; The Possible Role of Volcanic Lightning in Chemical Evolution, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez and Antigona Segura; Chemistry in Prebiotic Aerosols: a Mechanism for the Origin of Life, Heikki Tervahattu, Adrian F. Tuck and Veronica Vaida; III. Alternatives to the Standard Scenario. Prebiotic Interplay between Fatty Acids and Amino Acids in Hydrothermal Environments, Koichiro Matsuno; The Role of Clays in the Origin of Life, Alicia Negron-Mendoza and Sergio Ramos-Bernal; Organomineralization: A Clue to the Understanding of Meteorite-Related 'Bacteria-Shaped' Carbonate Particles, Joachim Reitner; IV. The First Steps of Biological Evolution. Role of Nucleotide-Like Coenzymes in Primitive Evolution, Mikhail S. Kritsky and T.A. Telegina; Cosmic Thermobiology: Thermal Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Universe, Charles H. Lineweaver and David W. Schwartzman; Paradigm Completion for Generalized Evolutionary Theory with Application to Epistemology, Yuval Ne'eman; V. The First Cells. The Outlines of Bacterial Evolution, Radhey S. Gupta; Cell Wall Structures of Mesophilic, Thermophilic and Hyperthermophilic Archaea, Helmut Koenig, Harald Claus and Erol Akca; Potentional Role ofDissimilatory Iron Reduction in the Early Evolution of Microbial Respiration, Derek R. Lovley; The Evolution of Lipids in Prokaryotes, Y.H. Itoh and T. Itoh; Calcium Build-up in the Precambrian Sea: A Major Promoter in the Evolution of Eukaryotic Life, Jozef Kazmierczak and S. Kempe; The Viral Eukaryogenesis Theory, P.J.L. Bell; VI. Extremophiles & Biodiversity. Introduction to the Extremophiles, Joseph Seckbach and Aharon Oren; Alkalithermophiles: A Double Challenge form Extreme Environments, V.V. Kevbrin, Christopher S. Romanek and J. Wiegel; Halophilic Microorganisms: Physiology and Phylogeny, Aharon Oren; Adaptation of Bacteria to the Terrestrial Permafrost Environment: A Biomodel for Astrobiology, Vera S. Soina and E.A. Vorobyova; Phototrophic Bacteria and UV Stress, Richard W. Castenholz; Importance of Chemolithotrophy for Early Life on Earth: The Tinto River (Iberian Pyritic Belt) Case, R. Amils, E. Gonzalez-toril, F. Gomez, D. Fernandez-Remolar, N. Rodriguez, M. Malki, J. Zuluaga, A. Aguilera, L.A. Amaral-Zettler; Glacial Periods on Early Earth and Implications for the Evolution of Life, Warwick F. Vincent, Derek Mueller, Patrick van Hove and Clive Howard-Williams; The Evolutionary Ecology of Species Diversity in Stressed and Extreme Environments, Dan Cohen; Microbial Diversity in Meso-Neoproterozoic Formations, with Particular Reference to the Himalaya, Vinod Chandra Tewari; Microbial Biodiversity within the Vibrionacean, Michele K. Nishiguchi and Bryan W. Jones; VII. Distribution & Destiny of Life in The Universe. Comets and the Origin of Life on the Primitive Earth, Joan Oro; Evaluating Comets as a Source of Earth's Water, Humberto Campins, Timothy D. Swindle and David A. Kring; From Microbial Fossils to Astrobiology, Jan Toporski and Andrew Steele; Organisms in Extreme Environments: From the Origin and Early Evolution of Life on Earth to Astrobiology, David A Wharton; A Brief Geological History of Water on Mars, Victor R. Baker;