Preface: Life as a Cosmic Phenomenon
Part I: Physical and Chemical Constraints 1. Gravity and life 2.
Radiation as a constraint for life in the universe 3. The when and
where of water in the history of the universe 4. The cosmic
evolution of biochemistry 5. Astrophysical and cosmological
constraints on life 6. Primitive carbon: Before Earth and much
before any life on it
Part II: Predicting Habitability 7. The habitability of our
evolving galaxy 8. N-body simulations and galactic habitability 9.
Occupied and empty regions of the space of extremophile parameters
10. The emergence of structured, living and conscious matter in the
evolution of the universe: A theory of structural evolution and
interaction of matter
Part III: Life in the Cosmic Scale 11. Life before Earth 12. Earth
before life 13. The time-dependent Drake equation 14. Are we the
first? 10 billion years of evolution before Earth 15. Life before
its origin on Earth: Implications of a late emergence of
terrestrial life
Part IV: System Properties of Life 16. Symbiosis: Why was the
transition from microbial prokaryotes to eukaryotic organisms a
cosmic gigayear event? 17. Coenzyme world model of the origin of
life 18. Emergence of polygonal shapes in oil droplets and living
cells: The potential role of tensegrity in the origin of life 19.
Why on theoretical grounds it may be likely that ‘life’ exists
throughout the universe
A fascinating examination of the physical environments in the Universe capable of supporting the origin and evolution of life
Richard Gordon is a Theoretical Biologist at the Gulf Specimen
Marine Laboratory (Panacea, FL), as well as an Adjunct Professor in
the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Wayne State University
(Detroit, MI). Dr. Gordon was Professor at the University of
Manitoba until his retirement in 2011. He holds an undergraduate
degree in Mathematics from the University of Chicago and a PhD in
Chemical Physics from the University of Oregon under Terrell Hill.
He has edited 16 academic books and special issues plus two
monographs. He was summoned twice to the Canadian Parliament to
testify as an expert scientific witness on the grant system. Dr.
Gordon has published over 200 peer reviewed articles in
mathematics, engineering, physics and chemistry. He wrote the first
paper on diatom nanotechnology, founding that field. He started the
field of adaptive image processing and published on algal biofuels,
computed tomography, AIDS prevention, neural tube defects, embryo
physics, and research and social ethics. His interest in
astrobiology dates back to work on the Orgueil meteorite as an
undergraduate in Edward Anders' lab at the University of Chicago.
The full list of publications by Richard Gordon is available at
http://tinyurl.com/DickGordon. He may be reached at
DickGordonCan@gmail.com.
Dr. Richard Gordon
Retired from the University of Manitoba
Theoretical Biologist. Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory &
Aquarium
Adjunct Professor, C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth &
Development
Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Wayne State University
Alexei Sharov started his career as an entomologist and ecologist,
but soon realized that he had to answer more fundamental questions:
what is life, how it evolves, learns, and functions. Thus he got
involved in the Research Group on Theoretical Biology at Moscow
State University, and started publishing theoretical papers. Later
he organized a seminar and two conferences on Biosemiotics, which
is a synthesis of biology and semiotics, a theory on signs and
meanings. Since 2002, he has worked in molecular biology and
bioinformatics, and this new field helped him to advance further in
the area of theoretical biology and biosemiotics. He has published
over 200 papers and edited a special issue.
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
