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 . Chemistry escapes me. Too many un-descriptive "historical" names for processes, substances, molecules. Hence chapters 2, 3, and 4 are as difficult to internalize as lists of the crowned heads of Europe (and the wars they started, won, and mostly lost)
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 .p022 [[ https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/galileo-galilei-quotes | Galileo: ]] "I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has given us our senses, reason, and intelligence, wishes us to abandon their use"
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 .p033 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribonuclease_P | Ribonuclease P ]] !RNase P
  . broad class of RNA+Protein molecules that cut specific cellular RNAs in [[ https://www.dnatestingexperts.com/what-does-rnase-do-things-students-should-know-about/ | specific ways ]]
 .p033 The RNA does the work, the attached protein neutralizes the large negative charge of the RNA molecule
 .p033 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Altman | Sidney Altman ]] and colleagues added Mg++ magnesium ions, achieving similar neutralization
 .p034 discoveries of many self-cleaving RNAs that catalyze chemical reactions
 .p034 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Gilbert | Walter Gilbert ]] catchphrase [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA_world_hypothesis | RNA World ]]
 .p037 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_A._Steitz | Yale biochemist Thomas Steitz ]] [[ https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.289.5481.878 | The ribosome is a ribozyme ]]
 .p038 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_DNA | RNA World replaced by more stable DNA ]]
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 .p043 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formose_reaction | formose synthesis ]], sugar from formaldehyde
 .p046 British chemist [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sutherland_(chemist) | John Sutherland ]]
 .p048 pH buffer and catalyst makes [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Aminooxazole | 2-aminooxazole 2AO ]] synthesis efficient, [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_chemistry | systems chemistry ]] example
 .p048 2AO plus [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyceraldehyde | glyceraldehyde ]] produces [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribose_aminooxazoline | RAO
 .p057 Where did SO₂ come from? Volcanic eruptions. [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo | Pinatubo ]] released enough SO₂ haze to cool Earth for 2 years.
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Is Earth Exceptional?

The Quest for Cosmic Life

  • Mario Livio & Jack Szostak . 2024 . 576.83 LIVIO . Cedar Mill Library


  • Chemistry escapes me. Too many un-descriptive "historical" names for processes, substances, molecules. Hence chapters 2, 3, and 4 are as difficult to internalize as lists of the crowned heads of Europe (and the wars they started, won, and mostly lost)
  • p001 Chapter 1: A Freak Chemical Accident or a Cosmic Imperative?

  • p022 Galileo: "I do not feel obligated to believe that the same God who has given us our senses, reason, and intelligence, wishes us to abandon their use"




  • p067 Appendix: Chemical Structures and Reactions

  • p073 Chapter 4: The Origin of Life: Amino Acids and Peptides


  • p083 Chapter 5: The Origin of Life: The Road to the Protocell

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  • p119 Chapter 6: Putting it All Together: From Astrophysics and Geology to Chemistry and Biology

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  • p141 Chapter 7: Extraterrestrial Life on Solar System Planets?

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  • p167 Chapter 8: Extraterrestrial Life on Solar System Moons?

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  • p189 Chapter 9: Life Out There: The Astronomical Quest

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  • p219 Chapter 10: Life as We Don't Know It: The Design of Natural and Unnatural Life-Forms

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  • p231 Chapter 11: The Hunt for Intelligence: Preliminary Thoughts

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  • p257 Chapter 12: The Hunt for Intelligence: The Searches

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  • p271 Chapter 13: Epilogue: And Immanent Breakthrough?

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  • p285 Acknowledgements


  • p287 Selected Further Reading
  • p301 Lustin-Yaeger et. al. 2018, "Detecting Ocean Glint on Exoplanets Using Multiphase Mapping," Astronomical Journal 156 no. 6 December


  • p311 Index

EarthExceptional (last edited 2026-05-23 08:33:33 by KeithLofstrom)