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From: Stig Agermose <stig.agermose@get2net.dk> Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 06:10:00 Fwd Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 11:41:46 -0400 Subject: Re: Theorist Predicts Life in Universe is Common [List only] Source: AstroNews (Astronomy Magazine), 22 June 1999, http://www.kalmbach.com:80/astro/news/news/0699Origins.html Stig *** ORIGIN OF LIFE Theorists Predicts Life in Universe is Common, Waiting for Discovery ** The hypothesis that life is unique to Earth could prove to be just as implausible as theories of Divine Creation. Chemist Robert Shapiro suggests that the laws of nature might favor the generation of life throughout the universe. Shapiro's arguments are presented in "Prebiotic cytosine synthesis: A critical analysis and implications for the origin of life," in the April 13, 1999, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Shapiro, a professor of chemistry at New York University, also lays out his argument in a new book entitled Planetary Dreams, published by John Wiley & Sons. In the book and paper, Shapiro argues that standard origin-of-life theories are badly flawed. Such theories are dependent on a miraculous event: the once-in-a-universe spontaneous generation of nucleic acids DNA or RNA that make up plant, animal, and microbial genes or some related molecule. Shapiro, a specialist in the chemistry of DNA and RNA, marshals an array of data to argue that the simplest kind of cellular life may arise as a predictable result of organic chemistry and the physics of self-organizing systems whenever planets exist with the right constituents and conditions: a liquid or dense gas medium (not necessarily water), a suitable energy source, and a system of matter capable of using the energy to organize itself. He calls this hypothesis the "life principle." Furthermore, he argues that no predictable directions exist for life's later development from these basic beginnings. In addition, he argues that humankind's search for life beyond Earth should continue to focus on those nearby worlds -- Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Titan -- where the conditions appear to support the development of life. He writes, "The debate over extraterrestrial life has been carried out with a great deal of passion, but with little progress, for centuries. Only in the last decades have we gained the ability to move it forward by collecting data at close range. We can send robots to inspect likely worlds such as Mars, Europa and Titan, and return photographs, information and samples, or, if we choose, we can go there ourselves and look around. We may find existing life, remnants of extinct life, or chemical systems evolving in the direction of life. Alternatively, we may encounter monotonous wastelands, lacking any sign that a process relevant to life has taken place there. The results will help decide which of two very different views of the Universe is more nearly correct." 22 June 1999 If you've come to this page from an outside link and you don't see the ASTRONOMY Magazine Logo at the top of the page *Click Here ASTRONOMY is a Registered Trademark of Kalmbach Publishing Co. Copyright © 1996,1997,1998,1999 Kalmbach Publishing Co.
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