From Stardust to First Cells: The Origin and Evolution of Early Life - Softcover

Chatterjee, Sankar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3031233999 ISBN 13: 9783031233999

Publisher: Springer, 2024

Synopsis

Unites and interweaves the various evidences from astronomy, geology, chemistry, and biology to more thoroughly explore the beginning and first evolutionary steps of life           

Argues that life most likely arose in four, interconnected hierarchical stages of increasing complexity—cosmic, geological, chemical, and biological 

Contends that the most likely crucible for biosynthesis was a hydrothermal crater lake, where life began to brew

 

About this title

About the Author

Sankar Chatterjee is Paul Whitfield Horn Distinguished Professor of Geosciences and Curator of Paleontology at Texas Tech University. He received his Ph.D. from Calcutta University and was a Postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and George Washington University before he moved to Texas Tech. His current research focuses on astrobiology and the origin of life. He is an elected fellow of the Geological Society of America and the American Association of the Advancement of Science. He led several expeditions to Antarctica, China, India, and the American Southwest in search of dinosaurs and early birds. His previous book, The Rise of Birds (Johns Hopkins University Press), has been translated into many languages.

From the Back Cover

This book presents a groundbreaking hypothesis to answer one of the greatest scientific mysteries: How did life begin? Like a detective piecing together seemingly disparate bits of evidence, Dr. Sankar Chatterjee combines the most recent discoveries in cosmology, geology, chemistry, information systems, and biology, weaving a vast tapestry from the threads of current research. Dr. Chatterjee convincingly argues that the odyssey of life first began when the fundamental building blocks were brought to Earth by meteorites. These cosmic compounds concentrated and simmered like a soup in hydrothermal crater-caldrons. Through a system of subterranean vent networks, a biosynthetic-rich variety of organic compounds mixed and matched into a recipe of rich biomolecules guided by prebiotic information systems. Through symbiosis, these complex biopolymers gradually assemble into membrane-bound protocells. At each stage of this evolutionary progression, through natural selection, they refined with increasing stability and complexity, ultimately leading to the emergence of the first cells about four billion years ago. In this book, Dr. Chatterjee tells this story in rigorous detail in language that is both accessible and engaging.

Edition details

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3031233999
• ISBN 13: 9783031233999
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 285