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The Spark of Life: Darwin and the Primeval Soup
Paperback
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ISBN10: 0738204935
ISBN13: 9780738204932
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: Mar 1 2001
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.05
Height: 0.78 Width: 5.96 Depth: 9.14
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780738204932
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: Mar 1 2001
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.05
Height: 0.78 Width: 5.96 Depth: 9.14
Language: English
A highly readable survey of the historical prelude to the study of the origins of life, as well as selected areas of current research, including the search for extraterrestrial life.-NatureWhere did we come from? Did life arise on earth or on some other planet? What did the earliest primitive organisms look like? Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore current theories of the source of life-from Martian meteors to hydrothermal vents-and then present their own elegant scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many believe, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus. Knowing exactly how life began on Earth will not only teach us more about ourselves, it will bring us closer to finding life elsewhere.
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