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News Notes
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- Millennial Musings
- The editors of Chemical and Engineering News (December 6, 1999 issue)
asked prominent chemists what will be the major scientific
questions for the next hundred years. Three responded the
origins of life would be one of the major topics of study.
Excerpts from their specific quotes are:
Shohei Inoue
President, Chemical Society of Japan
Professor of Chemistry, Science University of Tokyo
"One of the most important unsolved scientific problems that chemistry
should play a central role in is the origin of life. Recently, a system
with order--one of the remarkable characteristics of life--has been
demonstrated to appear on computer display from a disordered system
by selecting an appropriate program. However, such a "virtual" system
has no relation to the substances that constitute life existing on
Earth. Physics tends to give less concern about particular substances,
while biology deals with specific behaviors of particular types of
substances. Chemistry, on the other hand, is free from these limitations
and can even create a variety of substances that would have played
an essential role on the way to the origin of life--that is, chemical
evolution. Thus, the development of studies related to chemical
evolution should bring about a new evolution of chemistry, emphasizing
the identity of chemistry from other disciplines. The current examples
of related studies are biomimetic chemistry and supramolecular chemistry.
The development of these areas can lead to the resolution of the
fundamental origin-of-life problem. There is even the possibility
of the creation of a new ordered "living" system independent of
existing life. It must be emphasized that such an "evolution of
chemistry" should also find new applications, for example, as an
information carrier based on a single molecule or artificial
nucleic acid."
Rita R. Colwell
Director, National Science Foundation
"Chemists also will develop self-replicating molecular systems to provide
insights into the molecular origins of life."
Frank H. Westheimer
Professor of Chemistry Emeritus, Harvard University
"I look forward to spectacular advances in prebiotic chemistry that will add to the
hesitant start provided by Juan Oro's synthesis of adenine and Albert
Eschenmoser's synthesis of ribose-3,4-diphosphate."
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- Ferris Elected Trustee
- Jim Ferris has been elected as a Trustee for the Universities Space
Research Association (USRA) representing the Northeastern US region.
USRA is a private non-profit corporation formed under the auspices of the
NAS for eighty-two colleges and universities that have graduate
programs in space science or aerospace engineering. It oversees a
number of centers such as the Lunar and Planetary Institute and
contracts for space research, e.g., The Stratosphere Observatory
for Infrared Astronomy (SOPHIA).
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- WAMC's Environment Show, Health Show, Best of Our Knowledge and 51% to feature Origins of Life
- On Saturday at 6 AM
and Tuesday at 8 PM
WAMC's Environment
Show will feature a segment on Origins of Life. This
will be a regular feature airing approximately every three weeks in the same time slots. On alternate weeks listen to
the Health Show, Best of Our Knowledge and 51% for Origins of Life segments.
Listen to the shows on your computer! Check it
out at WAMC Northeast Public Radio.
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- Life on Mars News
- Life on
Mars? -- NASA/Johnson Space Center
- Ancient
meteorite may point to life on Mars CNN news story
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- Oparin Medal to Jim Ferris
- The Oparin Award of the International Society for the
Study of the Origin of Life was given to Jim Ferris at
the triennial meeting of the Society in July 1996 in
Orleans, France. This is the highest ISSOL award and is
given every six years "to the scientist deemed to
have had the best sustained scientific research program
in the origin of life field." The award was
presented at Chambord, one of the largest Chateaus in the
Loire Valley of France, at the final banquet at this 11th
International conference on the origin of life.
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- New Look at How Life Began
- Research published in Nature. Troy, NY -- Rensselaer
chemist James Ferris has produced RNA polymers of more
than 50 units from non-living materials under conditions
that could have existed on primordial Earth.
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- Origins of Life and
Evolution of the Biosphere
- Special Astronomy Issue
- A special astronomy issue is being prepared under the
guest editorship of Douglas Whittet (Rensselaer). This
will be published in early 1997. It aims to review topics
in astrophysics relevant to the origin and evolution of
life. Each article is written by a leader in the field.
Papers will discuss the origin and evolution of the
biogenic elements, from creation by nucleosynthesis in
stars, through processing in the interstellar medium and
the solar nebula, to delivery at the surface of the
primitive Earth. Reviews also cover the search for life
on Mars and the possibility of habitable planets orbiting
other stars.
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- An inventory of
interstellar ice - ISO Information Note, 12
June 1996
- The spaces between the stars are very cold, so vapours
like water condense and freeze on the surface of
available grains, in the manner of frost in winter. They
form part of the interstellar dust that darkens the
visible sky and which ISO is thoroughly analysing for the
first time.
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Center for Studies of Origins of
Life, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY 12180
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/phys/Astro/origin.html
Email: Origins of Life (Origins_of_Life@rpi.edu)