Sources of Direct Quotations by Page
(page 241) “The province of the student…” George Ellery Hale, The Study of Stellar Evolution: An Account of Some Recent Methods of Astrophysical Research (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1908), p. 4.
(page 244) “utterly unique…” Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (New York: Springer-Verlag, 2000) p. xxiv.
(page 250) “It is quite hard…” Walker, “First High-Precision Radial Velocity Search for Extra-Solar Planets,” p. 2.
(page 252) “I probably won't…” Marschall and Maran, Pluto Confidential, pp. 170–71.
CHAPTER 9. DARWIN AND THE COSMOS
Many years ago, I read and was inspired by a book that led me to thinking about the issues discussed in this chapter: Brian Swimme, The Universe Is a Green Dragon: A Cosmic Creation Story (Santa Fe, NM: Bear, 1985). The history of the concept of cosmic evolution is covered in Steven J. Dick, “Cosmic Evolution: History, Culture, and Human Destiny,” in Cosmos & Culture: Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context, ed. Steven J. Dick and Mark Lupisella (Washington, DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of External Relations, History Division, 2009). For the reference to Darwin's “gone cycling on,” I’m indebted to Timothy Ferris, who noted Darwin's use of the term in his book The Whole Shebang: A State-of-the-Universe(s) Report (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), p. 175.
Sources by Sections
The Biological Big Bang
The section on Alexander Dalgarno is based on my interview with him and on the articles: Alexander Dalgarno, “A Serendipitous Journey,” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 46 (2008): 1–20; Alexander Dalgarno, “The Growth of Molecular Complexity in the Universe,” Faraday Discussions 133 (2006): 9–25; and Volker Bromm and Richard B. Larson, “The First Stars,” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 42 (2004): 79–118. Current research goals on the eras of cosmic dawn and the cosmic dark ages are outlined in National Research Council of the National Academies, New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2010).
What Is “Life”?
In writing this section, I drew on Steven Benner, Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method (Gainesville, FL: Ffame Press, 2009); Steven Benner “Defining Life,” Astrobiology 10 (2010): 1021–30; Stephane Tirard, Michel Morange, and Antonio Lazcano, “The Definition of Life: A Brief History of an Elusive Scientific Endeavor,” Astrobiology 10 (2010): 1003–1009; C. E. Cleland and C. F. Chyba, “Defining ‘Life,'” Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 35 (2002): 333–43; and Antonio Lazcano, “Which Way to Life?” Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 40 (2010): 161–67.
Alonso Ricardo and Steven Benner, “The Origin of Proteins and Nucleic Acids,” in Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology, ed. Woodruff T. Sullivan III and John Baross (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007) p. 154.
For a fascinating look at efforts to trace back our molecular heritage, see Chiaolong Hsiao et al., “Peeling the Onion: Ribosomes Are Ancient Molecular Fossils,” Molecular Biology and Evolution 26 (2009): 2415–45; and the Center for Ribosomal Origins and Evolution, where a large research team is working to rewind the tape of life at the molecular level: http://astrobiology.gatech.edu/home (accessed April 30, 2012).
For a full discussion of the history of the development of the RNA world theory and the current debate, see Benner, Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method, chaps. 4 and 5.
Life as a Cosmic Continuum
This section draws on George Wald, “The Origins of Life,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 52, no. 2 (August 1964): 595–611; Chris P. McKay, “What Is Life—and How Do We Search for It in Other Worlds?” PLoS Biology 2 (September 2004): 1260–63; Norman R. Pace, “The Universal Nature of Biochemistry,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98 (2001): 805–808; Pascale Ehrenfreund and Mark A. Sephton, “Carbon Molecules in Space: From Astrochemistry to Astrobiology,” Faraday Discussions 133 (2006): 277–88; and National Research Council of the National Academies, The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2007).
Astrobiology pioneer Lynn Rothschild's “Replaying the Tape” lecture to her astrobiology and space exploration class at Stanford University can be found at https://humbio.stanford.edu/node/2427 (accessed April 30, 2012).
The study of element-based phylogenetics is the new field of paleoecophylostoichiometrics: paleo: “ancient”; eco: “environment”; phylo: “genetic relationship”; stochiometrics: “measurement of relative quantities”; see Aditya Chopra et al., Palaeoecophylostoichiometrics: Searching for the Elemental Composition of the Last Universal Common Ancestor, in Australian Space Science Conference Series: 9th Conference Proceedings. Full Refereed Proceedings DVD, National Space Society of Australia Ltd., ISBN 13: 978-0-9775740, 2010.
For thoughts on the cosmic selection process of our genetic code, see Paul G. Higgs and Ralph E. Pudritz, “A Thermodynamic Basis for Prebiotic Amino Acid Synthesis and the Nature of the First Genetic Code,” Astrobiology 9, no. 5 (2009): 483–89; and Gayle K. Philip and Stephen J. Freeland, “Did Evolution Select a Nonrandom ‘Alphabet' of Amino Acids?” Astrobiology 11, no. 3 (2011): 235–40.
For background on possible abiotic cell membrane precursors, see Sandra Pizzarello, “The Cosmochemical Record of Carbonaceous Meteorites: An Evolutionary Story,” Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society 53, no. 4 (2009): 253–60; George D. Cody et al., “Establishing a Molecular Relationship between Chondritic and Cometary Organic Solids,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (November 29, 2011): 19171–76; and “Protocells,” Center for Fundamental Living Technology, http://flint.sdu.dk/index.php?page=protocell.
Bunsen and Kirchhoff's Gift
For an overview of exoplanet atmospheric science, see Sara Seager and Drake Deming, “Exoplanet Atmospheres,” Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 48 (2010): 631–72. For proposed missions to study possible living exoplanets, see C. S. Cockell et al., “Darwin—A Mission to Detect and Search for Life on Extrasolar Planets,” Astrobiology 9, no. 1 (January–February 2009): 1–22; and see the entire issue of Astrobiology 10, no. 1 (January–February 2010), especially the article by M. Fridlund et al., “The Search for Worlds Like Our Own,” pp. 5–19.
An excellent overview of the history and challenging future of direct exoplanet imaging is Paul Kalas, “Planetary Systems Revealed through Direct Imaging,” Hipparchos 2 (September 2011): 23–28.
For an overview of how NASA discusses its mission in finding an alien Earth, see PlanetQuest on NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory's site: http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/.
The description of the history of searching for living planets based on their atmospheric characteristics is based on J. E. Lovelock, “A Physical Basis for Life Detection Experiments,” Nature 207 (August 7, 1965): 568–70; and Dian R. Hitchcock and James E. Lovelock, “Life Detection by Atmospheric Analysis,” Icarus 7 (1967): 149–59.
A link between exoplanet geology and atmospherics is found in Nikku Madhusudhan, “A High C/O Ratio and Weak Thermal Inversion in the Atmosphere of Exoplanet WASP-12b,” Nature 469 (January 6, 2011): 64–67. See also Michael F. Sterzik, Stefano Bagnulo, and Enric Palle, “Biosignatures as Revealed by Spectropolarimetry of Earthshine,” Nature 483 (March 1, 2012): 64–66; Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman et al., “Using Biogenic Sulfur Gases as Remotely Detectable Biosignatures of Anoxic Planets,” Astrobiology 11, no. 5 (2011): 419–41; and David J. Des Marais et al., “Biosignatures and Planetary Properties to Be Investigated by the TPF Mission,” NASA-JPL Publication 01-008, Rev. A, October 2001 available online at http://planetquest1.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/TPF_Biomrkr_REV_3_02.pdf.
An Ancient View with Stardust Eyes
I visited Guanajuato, Mexico, from January to June 2012. Presently, the University of Guanajuato offers nightly astronomy viewing from the roof of its main downt
own campus building.
Sources of Direct Quotations by Page
(page 227) “We have had a century…” Wald, “Origins of Life,” p. 595.
(page 284) “a revolution in our…” Dimitar Sasselov, “Two Separate Quests, One to Discover Habitable Worlds, the Other to Synthesize Artificial Organisms, Now Unite to Redefine ‘Life' and Place in the Universe,” SeedMagazine.com, March 14, 2011, pp. 66–67, http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/on_discovering_life/ (accessed February 22, 2012).
(pages 288–89) “This is no accident,” Benner, Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method, p. 23.
(page 290) “Life is a self-sustaining chemical system…” Ibid., p. 24.
(page 292) “If the origin of life…” Lazcano, “Which Way to Life?” p. 166.
(pages 292–93) “Though no evidence…” J. Peretó, J. Bada, and A. Lazcano, “Charles Darwin and the Origin of Life,” Origins of Life and Evolution of the Biosphere 39 (2009): 404.
(page 293) “The human genome…” Ricardo and Benner, “Origin of Proteins and Nucleic Acids,” p. 154.
(page 296) “Different life forms…” McKay, “What Is Life?” p. 1262.
(page 297) “What drives us…” Jacob Berkowitz, “The New Age in Astronomy: Ottawa Native Spots Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet, a Mere 500 Light-Years Away,” Ottawa Citizen, September 10, 2006.
(page 304) “the contrast between the apparent…” Paul W. Merrill, “Stars as They Look and as They Are,” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 38, no. 221 (1926): 14.
(page 306) “To the ancient Aztecs…” Octavio Paz, The Labyrinth of Solitude: Life and Thought in Mexico, trans. Lysander Kemp (New York: Grove, 1961), p. 56.
abundances of elements, 84–85, 87, 91–92, 97, 99–100, 143, 293–94
“Abundances of the Elements” (Suess and Urey), 99–100,
accretion disk, 220
acetic acid, 187, 227
acetone, 187
Adams, Walter, 67
adenosine triphosphate (ATP), 230
AGB-type stars, 155
alanine, 223
alchemy, 71–73, 79
alcohol, 186
Aldrin, Buzz, 167
Alien (film), 294, 295
aliens, 15, 161–62, 164, 294
search for, 160, 177, 244, 249, 256
See also exoplanets
Allamandola, Lou, 221
Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, 195
Allende meteorite, 200–202, 204–207, 209–12,
alpha particles, 78, 86, 93–94,
alpha process, 101
Alpher, Ralph, 88
aluminum, 185, 186, 204–206,
Alvarez, Luis, 233
American Astronomical Society, 98, 251
American Imperial measurement system, 18
amino acids, 127–28, 223, 227–29, 295–96,
ammonia
in carbonaceous chondrites, 225
in Earth's primordial atmosphere, 123, 126–27,
experiments with, 212, 222
in interstellar space, 172–75, 180, 187, 191
on planets, 261, 301
anaerobic bacteria, 302
ancestors
cosmic, 284
in family history, 12
molecular, 291
remains of, 216
stars as, 11, 15, 183, 293, 306
ancient cultures, 13–14,
Anders, Edward, 207–14, 218
Annual Reviews in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 105
Antarctica, 195
Apollo missions, 133, 166–69, 231, 268, 285
Apollo 8 mission, 166
Apollo 11 mission, 167, 201
Apollo 17 mission, 14
arachidic acid, 227
Arecibo radio telescope, 161
Arizona Radio Observatory, 160, 181
Armstrong, Neil, 167, 169, 201
Arrhenius, Svante, 119
asteroids
asteroid belt, 198, 207
Ceres, 220
impacts on Earth, 232–33,
meteorites from, 203, 204, 207–208,
molecules formed in, 239
origins of, 225
samples from, 196
Vesta, 220
Aston, Francis William, 80
astrobiology, 27, 121, 224, 285–86,
Astrobiology Roadmap, NASA, 27
astrochemistry, 22, 30–31, 180–91, 224, 235
astrogeology, 199, 205–206, 214–16, 235
astrometry, 246
astromineralogy, 156–57,
Astronomer Royal, 98
astronomer's periodic table, 102, 105, 205, 280
astronomy
and biology, 277, 297
history of, 28
popularizers, 31, 79, 89
positional, 139
Astrophysical Context of Life (Committee on the Origins and Evolution of Life), 24
Astrophysical Journal Letters, 279
astrophysics
atoms and, 68
celestial mechanics, 266
geology and, 214
history of, 28–30, 57
molecular, 180, 280
scientific establishment and, 33–35,
Asunsolo, Guillermo, 200
atmospheres
Earth, 123, 126–30,
exoplanets, 298–302,
habitability of, 271
oxidative, 123, 129
reducing, 123, 129
Sun, 54
water in, 147
atomic bombs, 81–83, 125
atomic energy, 80
Atomic Energy Commission Space Nuclear Systems Office, 181–82,
atomic physics, 69, 88, 90
atomic weight, 74, 88
atoms
creation of, 281–82,
electrons, 67, 76, 171, 209, 268, 281–82,
Greek idea of, 73
laboratory analysis of, 67–68,
splitting of, 78–79,
transmutation of, 78–82,
ATP (adenosine triphosphate), 230
Australia, 226
Aztecs, 306
B2FH, 100–102,
Baade, Walter, 91
Baboquivari Peak, 160
bacteria
anaerobic, 302
fossil and biochemical evidence of, 235
reproduction, 130
Bada, Jeffrey, 127–28,
Bakh, Alexei N., 114
barium (element), 54, 99
Barnard, E. E., 138
Barnard's Star, 248
Barrett, Alan, 173
baryonic matter, 281
bases.See nucleobases
Batalha, Natalie, 272–74,
Bell, Jocelyn, 104
Bell Telephone Company, 162–64, 170, 171
Benner, Steve, 286–90, 293, 294
benzene, 188
Bernstein, Max, 221
beryllium (element), 84, 93, 94, 102, 281
Berzelius, Jöns Jacob, 116
beta decay, 98–99, 101
Betelgeuse, 155, 304, 305
Bethe, Hans, 81–84, 100–101,
big bang
biological, 283
cosmic microwaves, 165
nucleosynthesis, 281
theory, 14, 60, 82, 86–89, 92, 103
Biochemical Institute (USSR), 114
biochemistry, 113–14, 121, 125
cellular biochemistry, 296
experiments in, 126
universal nature of, 295
biology
and astronomy, 24, 277, 297
evolution and, 244
exoplanets and, 267
molecular, 128
in space age, 131–32,
as subdivision of chemistry, 290
bismuth (element), 101
Black Cloud, The (Hoyle), 141
black holes, 177
Bohr, Niels, 90, 125, 174
Bok, Bart, 151–53,
Bok globules, 151–53,
border patrol, United
States, 159–60,
Borucki, William “Bill,” 266–72, 274–75, 307
Boss, Alan, 256
Bowen, Ira, 62, 98, 174
Bradbury, Ray, 267
Brief History of Time, A (Hawking), 29, 297
British Association for the Advancement of Science's Royal Institution, 73
Brownlee, Donald, 197–98,
B2FH, 100–102,
Bunsen, Robert, 29, 46–51, 55, 61, 298, 300
Bunsen burner, 47, 166
Burbidge, Geoffrey and Margaret, 96–102, 104–105, 183
Bush, George W., 23, 24
butadiynyl radical, 186
cacodyls, 47–48,
caffeine, 230
calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions, 204–205,
calcium-44, 218
Calcutta, India, 129–30,
California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 41, 67–69, 83, 92–94, 99, 100, 148, 152, 170, 174
Caltech.See California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Cambridge University, 72, 76, 78–80, 90–91, 147, 289
Cameron, Alastair, 104
Campbell, Bruce, 245–53, 255, 257, 269
Canada
astronomy funding in, 252
Grasslands National Park, 135–37,
National Meteorite Collection, 202
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, 249–50,
Cannon, Annie Jump, 58, 278
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 272
caprylic acid, 227
carbon
carbon-based molecules, 158, 162, 185
abundance of, 295
cosmic origin of, 235–40,
carbon dioxide, 147, 191, 238, 300
carbon hydride, interstellar, 166
carbon monoxide, 173, 179, 187, 283, 301
in cosmic dust, 142–43, 234
as element of life, 119–20, 293
formation of, 101
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 187–88, 224, 230
in stars, 69, 93–95, 178, 282
carbonaceous chondrites, 203–204, 225–31, 233, 235–39, 291
carboxylic acid, 226–27,
Carnegie, Andrew, 41
Carnegie Fellows, 98
Carnegie Observatories, 42
Cassiopeia (constellation), 151, 164
Cassiopeia A, 155
Cat's Eye nebula, 185
Cavendish Laboratory, 76, 80
Celsius temperature scale, 17
Ceres (asteroid), 220
cesium (element), 51
CfA (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), 254, 277, 279, 284, 297
The Stardust Revolution Page 36
