Cosmochemical Evolution and the Origins of Life: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on the Origin of Life and the First Meeting of the [Paperback]

This publication, in two volumes, includes most of the scientific papers presented at the first meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), held on June 25-28, 1973 in Barcelona, Spain. The first volume contains the invited articles and the second volume the contributed papers, which also appear in the 1974 and 1975 issues, respectively, of the new journal Origins of Life, published by D. Reidel. A relatively large number of meetings on the subject of the origin of life have been held in different places since 1957. In terms of its organization, scope, and number and nationality of participants, the Conference celebrated last year in Barcelona closely followed the three international conferences held earlier in Moscow, U.S.S.R., 1957, Wakulla Springs, U.S.A., 1963, and Pont-a-Mousson, France, 1970. For this reason the first ISSOL meeting was also named the Ath International Conference on the Origin of Life.Preface.- I / Cosmochemistry.- Fitness in the Universe: Choices and Necessities.- Galactic Clouds of Organic Molecules.- The Outer Solar System: Perspectives for Exobiology.- Catalytic Reactions in the Solar Nebula: Implications for Interstellar Molecules and Organic Compounds in Meteorites.- II / Paleobiology.- Natural Evidence for Chemical and Early Biological Evolution.- Aspects of the Geologic History of Seawater.- Homeostatic Tendencies of the Earths Atmosphere.- Microfossils from the Middle Precambrian McArthur Group, Northern Territory, Australia.- The Development and Diversification of Precambrian Life.- III / Primordial Organic Chemistry.- The Atmosphere of the Primitive Earth and the Prebiotic Synthesis of Amino Acids.- Biomolecules from HCN.- The Prebiotic Synthesis of Oligonucleotides.- The Possible Role of Clays in Prebiotic Peptide Synthesis.- Interactions Between Amino Acids and Nucleotides in the Prebiotic Milieu.- Coacervate Systems and Origin of Life.- Transfer RNA and the Translation Apparatus in the Originlƒ)