Abstract
Without our knowing exactly when it took place, a sequence of events was to have major consequences on the surface of the Earth. As a result of self-organization processes whose details have yet to be worked out, and which were as much chemical as physical in nature, the very first living beings, capable of transforming energy and matter, and of evolving, appeared. Bit by bit, they transformed their environment ...
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Notes
- 1.
. The theory of panspermia will not be considered in this book, because although the possibility of the transfer of life from one planet to another is difficult to refute, it does not rest on any tangible evidence, and thus remains purely speculative in nature.
- 2.
. NADH = Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, a coenzyme found in all living cells.
- 3.
. Note that here the term “equilibrium state” is used in its thermodynamical sense: it is the state from which an isolated system can no longer evolve. This definition is far different from the concept of dynamical stability that is found in living systems, and which is covered by the concept of a stationary state.
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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Gargaud, M., Martin, H., López-García, P., Montmerle, T., Pascal, R. (2012). Intermezzo: The Gestation of Life and its First Steps. In: Young Sun, Early Earth and the Origins of Life. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22552-9_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22552-9_4
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