Cosmobiology: Our Place in the Universe

Here we sit on a ball of silicate with beating hearts, opposable thumbs and curious minds. How did we get here? How did the evolution of non-living things, such as galaxies, stars and planets, create the ingredi-ents and the conditions for the emergence of life? Which aspects of this evolution are u...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Charles H. Lineweaver
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.544.4931
http://www.scienceschool.usyd.edu.au/history/2009/media/lectures/16-lineweaver-chapter.pdf
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Summary:Here we sit on a ball of silicate with beating hearts, opposable thumbs and curious minds. How did we get here? How did the evolution of non-living things, such as galaxies, stars and planets, create the ingredi-ents and the conditions for the emergence of life? Which aspects of this evolution are unique to the Earth and which are common in the universe? Are we alone? These cosmobiological questions are sharpened and partially answered by the overview presented here. How in the universe did we get here? In the fictional story “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”, the Improbability Drive called into existence a sperm whale several miles above the surface of an alien planet (Adams, 1999). As it