Abiogenic Origin of Life: a Theory in Crisis
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Glossary - Cellbiology
1 Glossary - Cellbiology Blotting: (Blot Analysis) Widely used biochemical technique for detecting the presence of specific macromolecules (proteins, mRNAs, or DNA sequences) in a mixture. A sample first is separated on an agarose or polyacrylamide gel usually under denaturing conditions; the separated components are transferred (blotting) to a nitrocellulose sheet, which is exposed to a radiolabeled molecule that specifically binds to the macromolecule of interest, and then subjected to autoradiography. Northern B.: mRNAs are detected with a complementary DNA; Southern B.: DNA restriction fragments are detected with complementary nucleotide sequences; Western B.: Proteins are detected by specific antibodies. Cell: The fundamental unit of living organisms. Cells are bounded by a lipid-containing plasma membrane, containing the central nucleus, and the cytoplasm. Cells are generally capable of independent reproduction. More complex cells like Eukaryotes have various compartments (organelles) where special tasks essential for the survival of the cell take place. Cytoplasm: Viscous contents of a cell that are contained within the plasma membrane but, in eukaryotic cells, outside the nucleus. The part of the cytoplasm not contained in any organelle is called the Cytosol. Cytoskeleton: (Gk. ) Three dimensional network of fibrous elements, allowing precisely regulated movements of cell parts, transport organelles, and help to maintain a cell’s shape. • Actin filament: (Microfilaments) Ubiquitous eukaryotic cytoskeletal proteins (one end is attached to the cell-cortex) of two “twisted“ actin monomers; are important in the structural support and movement of cells. Each actin filament (F-actin) consists of two strands of globular subunits (G-Actin) wrapped around each other to form a polarized unit (high ionic cytoplasm lead to the formation of AF, whereas low ion-concentration disassembles AF). -
Intelligent Design, Abiogenesis, and Learning from History: Dennis R
Author Exchange Intelligent Design, Abiogenesis, and Learning from History: Dennis R. Venema A Reply to Meyer Dennis R. Venema Weizsäcker’s book The World View of Physics is still keeping me very busy. It has again brought home to me quite clearly how wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed back (and that is bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don’t know; God wants us to realize his presence, not in unsolved problems but in those that are solved. Dietrich Bonhoeffer1 am thankful for this opportunity to nature, is the result of intelligence. More- reply to Stephen Meyer’s criticisms over, this assertion is proffered as the I 2 of my review of his book Signature logical basis for inferring design for the in the Cell (hereafter Signature). Meyer’s origin of biological information: if infor- critiques of my review fall into two gen- mation only ever arises from intelli- eral categories. First, he claims I mistook gence, then the mere presence of Signature for an argument against bio- information demonstrates design. A few logical evolution, rendering several of examples from Signature make the point my arguments superfluous. Secondly, easily: Meyer asserts that I have failed to refute … historical scientists can show that his thesis by not providing a “causally a presently acting cause must have adequate alternative explanation” for the been present in the past because the origin of life in that the few relevant cri- proposed candidate is the only known tiques I do provide are “deeply flawed.” cause of the effect in question. -
Solar System Simulator NASA SUMMER of INNOVATION
National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solar System Simulator NASA SUMMER OF INNOVATION UNIT Earth and Space Science – Year of the Solar System DESCRIPTION This online software generates views of GRADE LEVELS the bodies of our planetary system at any th th 7 – 9 date from any artificial or natural point of observation. CONNECTION TO CURRICULUM Science and technology OBJECTIVES TEACHER PREPARATION TIME Students will: 1 hour • Investigate how to determine the relative position of the sun, LESSON TIME NEEDED planets, and a number of 30 minutes Complexity: Basic planetary spacecraft using a simple web-based program • Explore how planets change their position in space over time NATIONAL STANDARDS National Science Education Standards (NSTA) Science and Technology Standards • Abilities of technological design • Understanding about science and technology Earth and Space Science • Earth in the solar system • Objects in the sky Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (NCTM) Number and Operations in Base Ten • Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths Operations and Algebraic Thinking • Generate and analyze patterns ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Students (ISTE) Creativity and Innovation • Use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. Technology Operations and Concepts • Understand and use technology systems Aerospace Education Services Project MANAGEMENT MATERIALS Take time to practice with this software. While simple, it offers a • Computer with Internet variety of views with which to become familiar. access On the simulator homepage, a FIELD OF VIEW of 2 will show the inner solar system very nicely. It will be difficult to see the position of ALL the planets at one time. -
Molecular Biology for Computer Scientists
CHAPTER 1 Molecular Biology for Computer Scientists Lawrence Hunter “Computers are to biology what mathematics is to physics.” — Harold Morowitz One of the major challenges for computer scientists who wish to work in the domain of molecular biology is becoming conversant with the daunting intri- cacies of existing biological knowledge and its extensive technical vocabu- lary. Questions about the origin, function, and structure of living systems have been pursued by nearly all cultures throughout history, and the work of the last two generations has been particularly fruitful. The knowledge of liv- ing systems resulting from this research is far too detailed and complex for any one human to comprehend. An entire scientific career can be based in the study of a single biomolecule. Nevertheless, in the following pages, I attempt to provide enough background for a computer scientist to understand much of the biology discussed in this book. This chapter provides the briefest of overviews; I can only begin to convey the depth, variety, complexity and stunning beauty of the universe of living things. Much of what follows is not about molecular biology per se. In order to 2ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY explain what the molecules are doing, it is often necessary to use concepts involving, for example, cells, embryological development, or evolution. Bi- ology is frustratingly holistic. Events at one level can effect and be affected by events at very different levels of scale or time. Digesting a survey of the basic background material is a prerequisite for understanding the significance of the molecular biology that is described elsewhere in the book. -
The Hidden Kingdom
INTRODUCTION Fungi—The Hidden Kingdom OBJECTIVE • To provide students with basic knowledge about fungi Activity 0.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION The following text provides an introduction to the fungi. It is written with the intention of sparking curiosity about this GRADES fascinating biological kingdom. 4-6 with a K-3 adaptation TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS TYPE OF ACTIVITY 1. With your class, brainstorm everything you know about fungi. Teacher read/comprehension 2. For younger students, hand out the question sheet before you begin the teacher read and have them follow along and MATERIALS answer the questions as you read. • copies of page 11 3. For older students, inform them that they will be given a • pencils brainteaser quiz (that is not for evaluation) after you finish reading the text. VOCABULARY 4. The class can work on the questions with partners or in groups bioremediation and then go over the answers as a class. Discuss any chitin particularly interesting facts and encourage further fungi independent research. habitat hyphae K-3 ADAPTATION kingdom 1. To introduce younger students to fungi, you can make a KWL lichens chart either as a class or individually. A KWL chart is divided moulds into three parts. The first tells what a student KNOWS (K) mushrooms about a subject before it is studied in class. The second part mycelium tells what the student WANTS (W) to know about that subject. mycorrhizas The third part tells what the child LEARNED (L) after studying nematodes that subject. parasitic fungi 2. Share some of the fascinating fungal facts presented in the photosynthesis “Fungi—The Hidden Kingdom” text with your students. -
Bayesian Analysis of the Astrobiological Implications of Life's
Bayesian analysis of the astrobiological implications of life's early emergence on Earth David S. Spiegel ∗ y, Edwin L. Turner y z ∗Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ 08540,yDept. of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ 08544, USA, and zInstitute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, The Univ. of Tokyo, Kashiwa 227-8568, Japan Submitted to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Life arose on Earth sometime in the first few hundred million years Any inferences about the probability of life arising (given after the young planet had cooled to the point that it could support the conditions present on the early Earth) must be informed water-based organisms on its surface. The early emergence of life by how long it took for the first living creatures to evolve. By on Earth has been taken as evidence that the probability of abiogen- definition, improbable events generally happen infrequently. esis is high, if starting from young-Earth-like conditions. We revisit It follows that the duration between events provides a metric this argument quantitatively in a Bayesian statistical framework. By (however imperfect) of the probability or rate of the events. constructing a simple model of the probability of abiogenesis, we calculate a Bayesian estimate of its posterior probability, given the The time-span between when Earth achieved pre-biotic condi- data that life emerged fairly early in Earth's history and that, billions tions suitable for abiogenesis plus generally habitable climatic of years later, curious creatures noted this fact and considered its conditions [5, 6, 7] and when life first arose, therefore, seems implications. -
Lecture 2 Our Place in the Universe (Cont'd)
Astronomy 110 –1 Lecture 2 Our Place in the Universe (Cont’d) 14/01/09 1 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. A few useful mathematical skills 14/01/09 2 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Powers of ten 103 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1000 102 = 10 x 10 = 100 101 = 10 100 = 1 10-1 = 1/10 = 0.1 10-2 = 1/10 x 1/10 = 0.01 10-3 = 1/10 x 1/10 x 1/10 = 0.001 Then: 300 = 3 x 100 = 3 x 102 2,500 = 2.5 x 1000 = 2.5 x 103 14/01/09 3 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Multiplying & dividing 101 x 101 = 100 = 102 101 x 102 = 10 x 100 = 1000 = 103 102 x 102 = 100 x 100 = 10000 = 104 When multiplying two powers of ten, add the exponents 1000 ÷ 100 = 103 ÷ 102 = 10 = 101 10 ÷ 10 = 101 ÷ 101 = 1 = 100 10 ÷ 100 = 101 ÷ 102 = 1/10 = 10-1 When dividing, subtract exponent of divisor from exponent of numerator 14/01/09 4 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. Powers and roots (104)3 = 104 x 104 x 104 = 1012 Rule of thumb: when raising to a power, multiply exponents What about √(104)? √(104) = 102 taking roots is the same as raising to a fractional power, in this case 1/2 power: √(104) = (104)1/2 = 102 √ is the same as raising to 1/2 power 3√ is the same as raising to 1/3 power 4√ is the same as raising to 1/4 power 14/01/09 5 Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. -
Department of Pharmacology (GRAD) 1
Department of Pharmacology (GRAD) 1 faculty participate fully at all levels. The department has the highest DEPARTMENT OF level of NIH funding of all pharmacology departments and a great diversity of research areas is available to trainees. These areas PHARMACOLOGY (GRAD) include cell surface receptors, G proteins, protein kinases, and signal transduction mechanisms; neuropharmacology; nucleic acids, cancer, Contact Information and antimicrobial pharmacology; and experimental therapeutics. Cell and molecular approaches are particularly strong, but systems-level research Department of Pharmacology such as behavioral pharmacology and analysis of knock-in and knock-out Visit Program Website (http://www.med.unc.edu/pharm/) mice is also well-represented. Excellent physical facilities are available for all research areas. Henrik Dohlman, Chair Students completing the training program will have acquired basic The Department of Pharmacology offers a program of study that leads knowledge of pharmacology and related fields, in-depth knowledge in to the degree of doctor of philosophy in pharmacology. The curriculum is their dissertation research area, the ability to evaluate scientific literature, individualized in recognition of the diverse backgrounds and interests of mastery of a variety of laboratory procedures, skill in planning and students and the broad scope of the discipline of pharmacology. executing an important research project in pharmacology, and the ability The department offers a variety of research areas including to communicate results, analysis, and interpretation. These skills provide a sound basis for successful scientific careers in academia, government, 1. Receptors and signal transduction or industry. 2. Ion channels To apply to BBSP, students must use The Graduate School's online 3. -
Biological Multi-Functionalization and Surface Nanopatterning of Biomaterials Zhe Annie Cheng
Biological multi-functionalization and surface nanopatterning of biomaterials Zhe Annie Cheng To cite this version: Zhe Annie Cheng. Biological multi-functionalization and surface nanopatterning of biomaterials. Other. Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux I; Université catholique de Louvain (1970- ..), 2013. English. NNT : 2013BOR15202. tel-01016695 HAL Id: tel-01016695 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01016695 Submitted on 1 Jul 2014 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THÈSE PRÉSENTÉE A L’UNIVERSITÉ BORDEAUX 1 ÉCOLE DOCTORALE DES SCIENCES CHIMIQUES Par Zhe (Annie) CHENG POUR OBTENIR LE GRADE DE DOCTEUR SPÉCIALITÉ : POLYMÈRES Biological Multi-Functionalization and Surface Nanopatterning of Biomaterials Directeurs de thèse : Mme. Marie-Christine DURRIEU & M. Alain M. JONAS Soutenue le : 10 décembre, 2013 Devant la commission d’examen formée de : Mme. MIGONNEY, Véronique Professeur de l’Université Paris 13, France Rapporteur Mme. PICART, Catherine Professeur de l’Université Grenoble INP, France Rapporteur M. GAIGNEAUX, Eric Professeur de l’Université catholique de Louvain, Belgique Examinateur M. AYELA, Cédric Chargé de Recherche CNRS, Bordeaux, France Examinateur Mme. FOULC, Marie-Pierre Ingénieur de Recherche, Rescoll, Bordeaux, France Examinateur Mme. GLINEL, Karine Professeur de l’Université catholique de Louvain, Belgique Examinateur M. -
The Chemical Origin of Behavior Is Rooted in Abiogenesis
Life 2012, 2, 313-322; doi:10.3390/life2040313 OPEN ACCESS life ISSN 2075-1729 www.mdpi.com/journal/life Article The Chemical Origin of Behavior is Rooted in Abiogenesis Brian C. Larson, R. Paul Jensen and Niles Lehman * Department of Chemistry, Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, USA; E-Mails: [email protected] (B.C.L.); [email protected] (R.P.J.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +1-503-725-8769. Received: 6 August 2012; in revised form: 29 September 2012 / Accepted: 2 November 2012 / Published: 7 November 2012 Abstract: We describe the initial realization of behavior in the biosphere, which we term behavioral chemistry. If molecules are complex enough to attain a stochastic element to their structural conformation in such as a way as to radically affect their function in a biological (evolvable) setting, then they have the capacity to behave. This circumstance is described here as behavioral chemistry, unique in its definition from the colloquial chemical behavior. This transition between chemical behavior and behavioral chemistry need be explicit when discussing the root cause of behavior, which itself lies squarely at the origins of life and is the foundation of choice. RNA polymers of sufficient length meet the criteria for behavioral chemistry and therefore are capable of making a choice. Keywords: behavior; chemistry; free will; RNA; origins of life 1. Introduction Behavior is an integral feature of life. Behavior is manifest when a choice is possible, and a living entity responds to its environment in one of multiple possible ways. -
Critical Analysis of Article "21 Reasons to Believe the Earth Is Young" by Jeff Miller
1 Critical analysis of article "21 Reasons to Believe the Earth is Young" by Jeff Miller Lorence G. Collins [email protected] Ken Woglemuth [email protected] January 7, 2019 Introduction The article by Dr. Jeff Miller can be accessed at the following link: http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=5641 and is an article published by Apologetic Press, v. 39, n.1, 2018. The problems start with the Article In Brief in the boxed paragraph, and with the very first sentence. The Bible does not give an age of the Earth of 6,000 to 10,000 years, or even imply − this is added to Scripture by Dr. Miller and other young-Earth creationists. R. C. Sproul was one of evangelicalism's outstanding theologians, and he stated point blank at the Legionier Conference panel discussion that he does not know how old the Earth is, and the Bible does not inform us. When there has been some apparent conflict, either the theologians or the scientists are wrong, because God is the Author of the Bible and His handiwork is in general revelation. In the days of Copernicus and Galileo, the theologians were wrong. Today we do not know of anyone who believes that the Earth is the center of the universe. 2 The last sentence of this "Article In Brief" is boldly false. There is almost no credible evidence from paleontology, geology, astrophysics, or geophysics that refutes deep time. Dr. Miller states: "The age of the Earth, according to naturalists and old- Earth advocates, is 4.5 billion years. -