The Search for Life's Origins Progress and Future Directions in Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution (1990) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 16-20
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From page 16... ...
Initially, attention was directed at assessing the prospects for finding extant organisms on that planet and developing guidelines for the biological containment both of terrestrial materials that might be transported to Mars and of Martian material that might be returned to Earth. Later, as data from the Viking spacecraft and from ground-based simulations of the Viking biological experiments were made available, the committee became involved in the analysis and interpretation of the Viking Mars biological data.
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From page 17... ...
This report indicates objectives of future research in the various aspects of planetary biology and chemical evolution and makes detailed and comprehensive recommendations for accomplishing them. Issues that were inadequately discussed in earlier reports are emphasized here, and issues that have been treated in detail before are omitted.
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From page 18... ...
It should be apparent, therefore, that one very important source of data with which to model the environment of the Earth during the period when life was emerging is the knowledge gained from intensive exploration of the solar system. Laboratory studies aimed at finding mechanisms to explain the specific chemical processes that produced replicating molecules on Earth constitute an integral and essential part of the research activity involved in deciphering the course of chemical evolution.
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From page 19... ...
Indeed, evolutionary biologists are becoming increasingly aware that the course of biological evolution, over its entire history, simply cannot be viewed as operating independently of planetary conditions. Variations in the Earth's climate due to orbital perturbations, changes in solar luminosity, and impacts of comets or
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From page 20... ...
The interplay between these sciences is creating a synergism of benefit to both. For example, paleobiological data indicating periodicity in mass extinctions of terrestrial organisms have stimulated inquiry into possible periodic astronomical phenomena and their effects on the environment.
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