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Showing 1 to 20 of 31 for “"origins of life"”.
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Computational studies of origins of life scenarios
"Understanding the origins of life on Earth is one of the most intriguing problems facing science today. In the research presented here, we apply computational methods to explore origins of life scenarios. In particular, we focus on the origins of the genetic code and the intersection between …
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Layered Double Hydroxides and the Origins of Life on Earth
A brief introduction to the current state of research in the Origins of Life field is given in Part I of this work. Part II covers original research performed by the author and co-workers. Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) systems are anion-exchanging clays that have the general formula …
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Layered Double Hydroxides: Morphology, Interlayer Anion, and the Origins of Life
The preparation of layered double hydroxides via co-precipitation of a divalent/trivalent metal solution against a base results in 1 mm LDH particles with a disorganized metal lattice. Research was performed to address these morphological issues using techniques such as Ostwald ripening and …
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The Conditions of Emergence: Towards a Feminist Philosophy of The Origins of Life
<p>This dissertation explores the limits of feminist theory in terms of what questions it can address, and does this by reimagining the relation feminist theory and late nineteenth and twentieth-century continental thought can have with scientific research concerning the origins of life. I argue …
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From the Origins of Life to Epidemics: Bayesian Inference, Stochastic Simulation, and Dynamics of Bioinformatic Systems
With the advent of DNA and protein sequencing, X-ray crystallography, and other methods of analysis, researchers interested in biological questions have been presented with a wealth of data to parse and interpret. Additionally, some hypotheses, such as those pertaining to the origin of life, are …
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Late accretion to the early Earth and rocky exoplanets
The final stages of Earth's formation were characterised by the violent collisions of planetesimals, asteroids and comets -- by-products of the primary stage of planet formation -- with the nascent planet. It is thought these impacts, delivering vast sums of energy, may have transformed surface …
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The behaviour of fatty acid vesicles in prebiotically plausible environments
Prior to the emergence of cellular life, there must have been an abiotic analogue to the cell -- also known as the protocell. To flourish, they should have performed key functions enabling growth, and ensuring their survival and propagation. While researchers study a variety of model protocell …
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Melvin Calvin : Nobel-Winning chemist and SETI scientist wannabe
… advisory committees, and got him plenty of textbook mentions. But even though Calvin's claim to fame was his work on photosynthesis, his longestrunning passion project was investigating the origins of life in the universe. Astrobiology efforts peppered his career, from theorizing about …
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Prebiotic assembly and replication of nucleic acids
One of the most researched hypotheses for the origins of life, known as the "RNA world", relies on replication of ribonucleic acid (RNA) before the advent of protein enzymes and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Essentially, the hypothesis relies on what some researchers believe is a parsimonious claim …
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Constructing Phylogenetic Networks based on Trinets
Abstract The motivation of phylogenetic analysis is to discover the evolutionary relationships between species, with the broader aim of understanding the origins of life. Our understanding of the molecular character- istics of species through DNA sequencing permanently changed the approach to …
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Searching for life where the sun don't shine : explorations to the seafloors of Earth and Europa
… seafloor host entire ecosystems that live off energy from chemosynthesis rather than photosynthesis. This energy process uses chemical reactions between metals and hot gases from inside Earth's mantle to fuel thriving communities of exotic organisms. Some researchers think life originated …
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Ribozymes of the RNA World: Investigating Ancient Enzymes through Modern Self-Cleaving Ribozymes.
… can perform catalytic functions. The discovery of ribozymes was an important milestone in science because it not only opened new avenues of research but also provided insights into the origins of life on Earth. Early life most likely used RNA as catalysts for diverse functions, however, it is …
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Modeling and Characterization of Structural, Thermophysical, and Dynamical Evolutions of Small Bodies in the Solar System
Explorations of small bodies in the solar system––such as asteroids and comets––offer unique opportunities to study the remnants of the early solar system. These small bodies often challenge our expectations, revealing surprising findings that raise questions about planetary formation, evolution, …
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Life in a drop of water
The last century of biology brought a revolution to our understanding of life at the molecular level; the last decade, a widening re-evaluation of the claim that understanding gained in vitro could reflect the true complexities in vivo and in situ. I present the results of two projects, one …
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Generative Machine Learning Models for RNA Structure Prediction and Design
… biology, central to the regulation and execution of life’s most essential processes. Its diverse roles range from encoding genetic information to catalyzing biochemical reactions. Beyond its modern biological functions, RNA is also believed to have played a pivotal role in the origins of life …
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Aesthetics of the Brink: Environmental Crisis and the Sublime in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
… is today remembered as the progenitor of the science fiction genre, the first major literary work to link a long history of fictional narratives concerning the origins of life � notably drawing itself from the stories of Prometheus and Milton�s Paradise Lost � to the scientific …
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Aesthetics of the Brink: Environmental Crisis and the Sublime in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
… is today remembered as the progenitor of the science fiction genre, the first major literary work to link a long history of fictional narratives concerning the origins of life � notably drawing itself from the stories of Prometheus and Milton�s Paradise Lost � to the scientific …
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The structural basis of RNA-catalyzed RNA polymerization
… chemically identical to a single turnover of RNA-dependent RNA polymerization. Such an activity would have been requisite for the emergence of a self-replicase ribozyme, an enzyme that, according to the RNA World hypothesis, would be fundamental for the emergence of life. Demonstrating the …
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Morning light : the secret history of the Tagish Lake Fireball
… the Yukon Territory in northern Canada. The size of the fireball and the contrail that it left behind caught the attention of meteoriticists, who suspected it was a carbonaceous chondrite. Amongst the public, however, reactions to the event were varied, and conspiracy theorists emerged, claiming …
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