WorldCat Linked Data Explorer

Turtle N-Triple JSON-LD RDF/XML HTML Contact Us Home

http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1166426112

What is life? : how chemistry becomes biology

In his famous 1944 text What is Life? Erwin Schrodinger pointed out how strange living systems appeared to be when viewed from a strictly physical standpoint. All living systems are highly organized and the emergence of these organized systems would seem to contradict the most basic tenets of physics and chemistry, which say that systems tend toward chaos and disorder. What is even more remarkable is that despite dramatic developments in molecular biology in the half century since Schroedinger's remarks, we still don't understand what life is or how it relates to the inanimate world. In addressing Schrodinger's classic question,the author offers a radically new approach to these fundamental questions of biology, what is life and how did it emerge. He examines these issues from a chemical perspective, providing a new understanding of how the sciences of chemistry and biology relate to one another. He shows that recent developments in a new area of chemistry called "systems chemistry" now allow researchers to outline the chemistry-biology connection, shedding light on how and why some prebiotic chemical systems are able to make the magical transformation from inanimate to animate. Through the application of these simple chemical concepts, this book reveals the essence of the animate-inanimate connection, explains the strange properties of living systems in chemical terms, and offers profound new insights into classical biological issues, such the mechanism and driving force for evolution and the origin of altruism. Here the author reveals that the emergence of life on Earth and classical Darwinian theory are intimately related; that Darwinian theory is just the biological expression of a more general chemical principle, one that Darwin himself predicted would likely be uncovered in time. -- From publisher's description.

Open All Close All

type

about

http://schema.org/about

contributor

creator

description

http://schema.org/description

  • "In his famous 1944 text What is Life? Erwin Schrodinger pointed out how strange living systems appeared to be when viewed from a strictly physical standpoint. All living systems are highly organized and the emergence of these organized systems would seem to contradict the most basic tenets of physics and chemistry, which say that systems tend toward chaos and disorder. What is even more remarkable is that despite dramatic developments in molecular biology in the half century since Schroedinger's remarks, we still don't understand what life is or how it relates to the inanimate world. In addressing Schrodinger's classic question,the author offers a radically new approach to these fundamental questions of biology, what is life and how did it emerge. He examines these issues from a chemical perspective, providing a new understanding of how the sciences of chemistry and biology relate to one another. He shows that recent developments in a new area of chemistry called "systems chemistry" now allow researchers to outline the chemistry-biology connection, shedding light on how and why some prebiotic chemical systems are able to make the magical transformation from inanimate to animate. Through the application of these simple chemical concepts, this book reveals the essence of the animate-inanimate connection, explains the strange properties of living systems in chemical terms, and offers profound new insights into classical biological issues, such the mechanism and driving force for evolution and the origin of altruism. Here the author reveals that the emergence of life on Earth and classical Darwinian theory are intimately related; that Darwinian theory is just the biological expression of a more general chemical principle, one that Darwin himself predicted would likely be uncovered in time. -- From publisher's description."@en
  • "In his famous 1944 text What is Life? Erwin Schrodinger pointed out how strange living systems appeared to be when viewed from a strictly physical standpoint. All living systems are highly organized and the emergence of these organized systems would seem to contradict the most basic tenets of physics and chemistry, which say that systems tend toward chaos and disorder. What is even more remarkable is that despite dramatic developments in molecular biology in the half century since Schroedinger's remarks, we still don't understand what life is or how it relates to the inanimate world. In addressing Schrodinger's classic question,the author offers a radically new approach to these fundamental questions of biology, what is life and how did it emerge. He examines these issues from a chemical perspective, providing a new understanding of how the sciences of chemistry and biology relate to one another. He shows that recent developments in a new area of chemistry called "systems chemistry" now allow researchers to outline the chemistry-biology connection, shedding light on how and why some prebiotic chemical systems are able to make the magical transformation from inanimate to animate. Through the application of these simple chemical concepts, this book reveals the essence of the animate-inanimate connection, explains the strange properties of living systems in chemical terms, and offers profound new insights into classical biological issues, such the mechanism and driving force for evolution and the origin of altruism. Here the author reveals that the emergence of life on Earth and classical Darwinian theory are intimately related; that Darwinian theory is just the biological expression of a more general chemical principle, one that Darwin himself predicted would likely be uncovered in time. -- From publisher's description."
  • "Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrödinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: 'What is life?'. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and ever since.Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? Did life begin with replicating molecules, and, if so, what could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now, deve"@en
  • "In his famous 1944 text What is Life? Erwin Schrodinger pointed out how strange living systems appeared to be when viewed from a strictly physical standpoint. All living systems are highly organized and the emergence of these organized systems would seem to contradict the most basic tenets of physics and chemistry, which say that systems tend toward chaos and disorder. What is even more remarkable is that despite dramatic developments in molecular biology in the half century since Schroedinger's remarks, we still don't understand what life is or how it relates to the inanimate world. In addressing Schrodinger's classic question, the author offers a radically new approach to these fundamental questions of biology, what is life and how did it emerge. He examines these issues from a chemical perspective, providing a new understanding of how the sciences of chemistry and biology relate to one another. He shows that recent developments in a new area of chemistry called "systems chemistry" now allow researchers to outline the chemistry-biology connection, shedding light on how and why some prebiotic chemical systems are able to make the magical transformation from inanimate to animate. Through the application of these simple chemical concepts, this book reveals the essence of the animate-inanimate connection, explains the strange properties of living systems in chemical terms, and offers profound new insights into classical biological issues, such the mechanism and driving force for evolution and the origin of altruism. Here the author reveals that the emergence of life on Earth and classical Darwinian theory are intimately related; that Darwinian theory is just the biological expression of a more general chemical principle, one that Darwin himself predicted would likely be uncovered in time. -- From publisher's description."@en
  • "Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrödinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: 'What is life?'. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and ever since.Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? Did life begin with replicating molecules, and, if so, what could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now, developments in the emerging field of 'systems chemistry' are unlocking the problem. Addy Pross shows how the different kind of stability that operates amongreplicating entities results in a tendency for certain chemical systems to become more complex and acquire the properties of life. Strikingly, he demonstrates that Darwinian evolution is the biological expression of a deeper and more fundamental chemical principle: the whole story from replicating molecules tocomplex life is one continuous coherent chemical process governed by a simple definable principle. The gulf between biology and the physical sciences is finally becoming bridged."

genre

http://schema.org/genre

  • "Electronic books"
  • "Electronic books"@en

name

http://schema.org/name

  • "What is life? how chemistry becomes biology"
  • "What is life? : how chemistry becomes biology"@en
  • "What is life? : how chemistry becomes biology"
  • "What Is Life? : How Chemistry Becomes Biology"
  • "What is Life? How chemistry becomes biology"@en
  • "What is life how chemistry becomes biology"

workExample