Chemical Evolution Across Space & Time
Chemical Evolution Across Space & Time

Author: Lori Zaikowski

Publisher: Amer Chemical Society

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 9780841274310

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The concept of evolutionary change is a fundamental thread linking the sciences. An evolutionary perspective can provide one framework for unifying and advancing the sciences, and chemistry has made important contributions to our understanding of evolution. Chemists today use principles of evolution and take lessons from chemistry in nature to advance modern chemistry in areas such as agriculture, energy, new materials, and pharmaceuticals. The book explores the evolutionary nature of chemistry and the scientific evidence that supports it, and is a source of ideas for integrating these concepts in chemistry courses. The publication will be of interest to chemists, instructors and students of chemistry, and all others with an interest in the evolution of the universe in which we live. This volume continues the theme of Chemical Change Across Space and Time: From the Big Bang to Prebiotic Chemistry. This second volume begins with origins of life and culminates with applications of the concept of chemical evolution in modern society.

The Search for Life's Origins
The Search for Life's Origins

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1990-02-01

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0309042461

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The field of planetary biology and chemical evolution draws together experts in astronomy, paleobiology, biochemistry, and space science who work together to understand the evolution of living systems. This field has made exciting discoveries that shed light on how organic compounds came together to form self-replicating molecules-the origin of life. This volume updates that progress and offers recommendations on research programs-including an ambitious effort centered on Mars-to advance the field over the next 10 to 15 years. The book presents a wide range of data and research results on these and other issues: The biogenic elements and their interaction in the interstellar clouds and in solar nebulae. Early planetary environments and the conditions that lead to the origin of life. The evolution of cellular and multicellular life. The search for life outside the solar system. This volume will become required reading for anyone involved in the search for life's beginnings-including exobiologists, geoscientists, planetary scientists, and U.S. space and science policymakers.

Chemical Evolution of Galaxies
Chemical Evolution of Galaxies

Author: Francesca Matteucci

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-01-05

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 3642224911

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The term “chemical evolution of galaxies” refers to the evolution of abundances of chemical species in galaxies, which is due to nuclear processes occurring in stars and to gas flows into and out of galaxies. This book deals with the chemical evolution of galaxies of all morphological types (ellipticals, spirals and irregulars) and stresses the importance of the star formation histories in determining the properties of stellar populations in different galaxies. The topic is approached in a didactical and logical manner via galaxy evolution models which are compared with observational results obtained in the last two decades: The reader is given an introduction to the concept of chemical abundances and learns about the main stellar populations in our Galaxy as well as about the classification of galaxy types and their main observables. In the core of the book, the construction and solution of chemical evolution models are discussed in detail, followed by descriptions and interpretations of observations of the chemical evolution of the Milky Way, spheroidal galaxies, irregular galaxies and of cosmic chemical evolution. The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to students as well as to amend our present ideas in research; the book also summarizes the efforts made by authors in the past several years in order to further future research in the field.

Cosmic Evolution
Cosmic Evolution

Author: Eric J. Chaisson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2001-02-16

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0674009878

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Chaisson addresses some of the most basic issues we can contemplate: the origin of matter and the origin of life, and the ways matter, life, and radiation interact and change with time. He designs for us an expansive yet intricate model depicting the origin and evolution of all material structures.

A World From Dust
A World From Dust

Author: Ben McFarland

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-03-07

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0190275030

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A World From Dust describes how a set of chemical rules combined with the principles of evolution in order to create an environment in which life as we know it could unfold. Beginning with simple mathematics, these predictable rules led to the advent of the planet itself, as well as cells, organs and organelles, ecosystems, and increasingly complex life forms. McFarland provides an accessible discussion of a geological history as well, describing how the inorganic matter on Earth underwent chemical reactions with air and water, allowing for life to emerge from the world's first rocks. He traces the history of life all the way to modern neuroscience, and shows how the bioelectric signals that make up the human brain were formed. Most popular science books on the topic present either the physics of how the universe formed, or the biology of how complex life came about; this book's approach would be novel in that it condenses in an engaging way the chemistry that links the two fields. This book is an accessible and multidisciplinary look at how life on our planet came to be, and how it continues to develop and change even today. This book includes 40 illustrations by Gala Bent, print artist and studio faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts, and Mary Anderson, medical illustrator.

The Evolution of The Milky Way
The Evolution of The Milky Way

Author: F. Matteucci

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 644

ISBN-13: 9780792366799

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This review of the most up-to-date observational and theoretical information concerning the chemical evolution of the Milky Way compares the abundances derived from field stars and clusters, giving information on the abundances and dynamics of gas.

The Evolution of Matter
The Evolution of Matter

Author: Igor Tolstikhin

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-06-12

Total Pages: 532

ISBN-13: 9780521866477

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The Evolution of Matter explains how all matter in the Universe developed following the Big Bang and through subsequent stellar processes. It describes the evolution of interstellar matter and its differentiation during the accretion of the planets and the history of the Earth. Unlike many books on geochemistry, this volume follows the chemical history of matter from the very beginning to the present, demonstrating connections in space and time. It provides also solid links from cosmochemistry to the geochemistry of Earth. The book presents comprehensive descriptions of the various isotope systematics and fractionation processes occurring naturally in the Universe, using simple equations and helpful tables of data. With a glossary of terms and over 900 references, this volume is a valuable reference for researchers and advanced students studying the chemical evolution of the Earth, the Solar System and the wider Universe.

Complexity and the Arrow of Time
Complexity and the Arrow of Time

Author: Charles H. Lineweaver

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-08-08

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1107276632

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There is a widespread assumption that the universe in general, and life in particular, is 'getting more complex with time'. This book brings together a wide range of experts in science, philosophy and theology and unveils their joint effort in exploring this idea. They confront essential problems behind the theory of complexity and the role of life within it: what is complexity? When does it increase, and why? Is the universe evolving towards states of ever greater complexity and diversity? If so, what is the source of this universal enrichment? This book addresses those difficult questions, and offers a unique cross-disciplinary perspective on some of the most profound issues at the heart of science and philosophy. Readers will gain insights in complexity that reach deep into key areas of physics, biology, complexity science, philosophy and religion.

Science and Creationism
Science and Creationism

Author: National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9780309064064

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This edition of Science and Creationism summarizes key aspects of several of the most important lines of evidence supporting evolution. It describes some of the positions taken by advocates of creation science and presents an analysis of these claims. This document lays out for a broader audience the case against presenting religious concepts in science classes. The document covers the origin of the universe, Earth, and life; evidence supporting biological evolution; and human evolution. (Contains 31 references.) (CCM)

Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origin and Evolution of Life
Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origin and Evolution of Life

Author: Julian Chela-Flores

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 9400917120

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Leading researchers in the area of the origin and evolution of life in the universe contributed to Chemical Evolution: Physics of the Origin and Evolution of Life. This volume provides a review of this interdisciplinary field. In 35 chapters many aspects of the origin of life are discussed by 90 authors, with particular emphasis on the early paleontological record: physical, chemical, biological, and informational aspects of life's origin, instrumentation in exobiology and system exploration; the search for habitable planets and extraterrestrial intelligent radio signals. This book contains the proceedings of the Fourth Trieste Conference on Chemical Evolution that took place in September 1995, in which scientists from a wide geographical distribution joined in a Memorial to Cyril Ponnamperuma, who was a pioneer in the field of chemical evolution, the origin of life, and exobiology, and also initiated the Trieste Conferences on Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life. This fourth Conference was therefore dedicated to his memory. Audience: Graduate students and researchers in the many areas of basic, earth, and life sciences that contribute to the study of chemical evolution and the origin of life.