On Life

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franklin M. Harold
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Material World ◽  
Living Things ◽  
The World ◽  
Inanimate Matter ◽  
The Origin Of Life

Living things are truly strange objects. They stand squarely within the material world, but at the same time flaunt capacities that far exceed those of inanimate matter. Life is in some sense a singular phenomenon: astonishingly, all creatures from bacteria to elephants, redwoods and humans belong to a single enormous family. What life is, how living things work, how they mesh with the realm of physics and chemistry, and how they came to be as we find them—these are the questions that define the science of biology. A rational sense of the world requires finding in it a place for life. Many of the answers are known, but as knowledge expands relentlessly it becomes ever harder to grasp the phenomenon of life whole. This book aims to make the phenomenon of life intelligible to serious readers who are not professional biologists by giving them a sense of the biological landscape: presenting the principles as currently understood and the major issues that remain unresolved, as simply and concisely as may be. What emerges is a biology that is internally consistent and buttressed by a wealth of factual knowledge, but also inescapably historical and complex. The hallmark of life is organization, order that has purpose; and that sets biology apart from the physical sciences. Despite a century of spectacular progress the phenomenon of life remains tantalizingly beyond our grasp, bracketed by two stubborn mysteries: the origin of life at one end, the nature of mind at the other.

What is life?

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Maynard Smith ◽  
Eors Szathmary
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of Life ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Physical Processes ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Life On Earth

Imagine that, when the first spacemen step out of their craft onto the surface of one of the moons of Jupiter, they are confronted by an object the size of a horse, rolling towards them on wheels, and bearing on its back a concave disc pointing towards the Sun. They will at once conclude that the object is alive, or has been made by something alive. If all they find is a purple smear on the surface of the rocks, they will have to work harder to decide. This is the phenotypic approach to the definition of life: a thing is alive if it has parts, or ‘organs’, which perform functions. William Paley explained the machine-like nature of life by the existence of a creator: today, we would invoke natural selection. There are, however, dangers in assuming that any entity with the properties of a self-regulating machine is alive, or an artefact. In section 2.2, we tell the story of a self-regulating atomic reactor, the Oklo reactor, which is neither. This story can be taken in one of three ways. First, it shows the dangers of the phenotypic definition of life: not all complex entities are alive. Second, it illustrates how the accidents of history can give rise spontaneously to surprisingly complex machine-like entities. The relevance of this to the origin of life is obvious. In essence, the problem is the following. How could chemical and physical processes give rise, without natural selection, to entities capable of hereditary replication, which would therefore, from then on, evolve by natural selection? The Oklo reactor is an example of what can happen. Finally, section 2.2 can simply be skipped: the events were interesting, but do not resemble in detail those that led to the origin of life on Earth. There is an alternative to the phenotypic definition of life. It is to define as alive any entities that have the properties of multiplication, variation and heredity. The logic behind this definition, first proposed by Muller (1966), is that a population of entities with these properties will evolve by natural selection, and hence can be expected to acquire the complex adaptations for survival and reproduction that are characteristic of living things.

scholarly journals Restoring the Critical Power of Curriculum Studies to Transform the Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-113
Author(s):  
Edi Subkhan
Keyword(s):  
Critical Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Curriculum Studies ◽  
Material World ◽  
New Managerialism ◽  
Epistemological Foundation ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
The World ◽  
Important Field ◽  
Educational Field

Curriculum Studies has evolved for years and already gain its very honorable place in the heart of education studies. Most education scholars said that curriculum is important, curriculum is the heart of education (Priestley & Philippou, 2019), and in so doing curriculum studies. But, how this very important field of studies survive and evolve in this vulnerable and unpredictable era which neoliberal agendas dominating almost educational field around the world? We are witnessing how the culture of positivism, competition ideology, New Managerialism, and even racism and hatred, poisoning and deflect the aims of education. On the other hand, there also a crisis in curriculum studies in which curriculum seems only struggling and focusing on theoretical discourse without any significant influences on the material world. Right in this very difficult position of curriculum studies, the work of Wayne Au is significant. He wrote very important book entitled “Critical Curriculum Studies: Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing” in 2012. Which Michael Apple in the series editor introduction said that this work is ambitious and provocative, because it seeks theoretical and epistemological foundation of critical curriculum studies that challenges many basic assumptions about curriculum (Au, 2012, p. xv). I am agree with what has Apple said and through this review book article I would say that Au’s work has huge contribution to the development of curriculum studies in this contemporary era, especially in order to become a tool to change or transform the society to be more democratic and just.

scholarly journals Macrobiont: Cradle for the Origin of Life and Creation of a Biosphere

Life ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 278
Author(s):  
Benton C. Clark ◽  
Vera M. Kolb
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Systems Analysis ◽  
Figures Of Merit ◽  
Planetary Scale ◽  
Macro Scale ◽  
Prebiotic Chemical ◽  
Inanimate Matter ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Pond Size ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity

Although the cellular microorganism is the fundamental unit of biology, the origin of life (OoL) itself is unlikely to have occurred in a microscale environment. The macrobiont (MB) is the macro-scale setting where life originated. Guided by the methodologies of Systems Analysis, we focus on subaerial ponds of scale 3 to 300 m diameter. Within such ponds, there can be substantial heterogeneity, on the vertical, horizontal, and temporal scales, which enable multi-pot prebiotic chemical evolution. Pond size-sensitivities for several figures of merit are mathematically formulated, leading to the expectation that the optimum pond size for the OoL is intermediate, but biased toward smaller sizes. Sensitivities include relative access to nutrients, energy sources, and catalysts, as sourced from geological, atmospheric, hydrospheric, and astronomical contributors. Foreshores, especially with mudcracks, are identified as a favorable component for the success of the macrobiont. To bridge the gap between inanimate matter and a planetary-scale biosphere, five stages of evolution within the macrobiont are hypothesized: prebiotic chemistry → molecular replicator → protocell → macrobiont cell → colonizer cell. Comparison of ponds with other macrobionts, including hydrothermal and meteorite settings, allows a conclusion that more than one possible macrobiont locale could enable an OoL.

scholarly journals The Mental Time Traveller: Considering the Future Consequences of Present Day Behaviours

2015 ◽  
pp. 123-127
Author(s):  
Lisa Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Immanuel Kant ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
The Other ◽  
Subjective Time ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
The World ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Future Consequences

Time cannot be outwardly intuited. These are the words of Immanuel Kant, an 18th century philosopher renowned for his contemplations of the fundamental concepts underlying the entire human experience. Central to Kant’s reasoning is the concept of subjective time, the idea that time is not only an entity to be quantified in the physical sciences, but a subjective experience which can differ across each person, rooting the individual in his or her own mental reality. We all have unique experiences of time. Two individuals can attend the same event, a concert or a party perhaps, and for one of them, time can move extremely quickly, but for the other it can drag on for what seems like an eternity. Time flies when we are having fun and enjoying ourselves, yet feels endless when we are bored or afraid. It is the lens through which we view and experience the world ...

scholarly journals Behavior of Poly-A onto Kaolin

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-143
Author(s):  
María Guadalupe Torres-Duque ◽  
Claudia Camargo-Raya ◽  
Alicia Negrón-Mendoza ◽  
Sergio Ramos-Bernal
Keyword(s):  
Ionizing Radiation ◽  
Origin Of Life ◽  
External Source ◽  
The Other ◽  
Alkaline Media ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Acidic Environments ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
Geochemical Variables

A combination of geochemical variables is necessary to explain the origin of life on Earth. Thus, in this work the sorption of Poly-A on a clay mineral (kaolinite) was studied to get an insight about the sorption capacity at different times and pH values, as well as to confirm the capabilities of the clay to protect the sorbate from an external source of ionizing radiation. Poly-A presented a high percentage of sorption in the clay, especially in acidic environments, and this percentage sharply decrease in alkaline media. On the other hand, Poly-A’s recovery was higher in the system with clay, confirming its protection role.

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