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Seminar Detail
Four Approaches to a General Theory of Life
Presenter: Steven Benner (Foundation For Applied Molecular Evolution)
April 28, 2008 11:00 AM Pacific
The search for life in the cosmos has been hindered by the absence of a general theory of life [Cleland]. Theories of life that have been based on the enumeration of properties of the life that we know (such as the cell, gene, and evolutionary theories of life) may even fail as grounds to search for life on Earth, as emerging molecular theories of life have suggested that there might be an entire biosphere in our immediate presence that is obscure to observational tools based on those theories (just as biospheres were overlooked or misunderstood before the invention of the microscope or the sequencing of ribosomal RNA). They are certainly failing as we prepare to look for life on subsurface Mars or, in more exotic environments, Europa, Titan, or Venus. Last, although nearly everyone agrees that Structure Theory from organic chemistry will be a necessary tool to analyze life, it is too broad to distinguish the living from the non-living. This talk will describe recent progress using four approaches to develop a theory of life. These simplify the life we know by going backwards in time towards a simpler life (paleogenetics), attempt to constrain the chemistry of life by defining possible mineral-chemistry interactions at that originated life on Earth, explore the solar system to define possible interactions between chemistries and real planetary environments, and create in the laboratory artificial chemical systems capable of Darwinian Evolution.
Participation Instructions
With a Polycom....RSVP to Marco Boldt (Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov) and connect to WebEx as instructed below. If you need Polycom help during the live event, message Marco Boldt in WebEx.
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Without a Polycom...There are two ways to participate:
1) You can listen to the seminar on the telephone while viewing the slides in WebEx (see WebEx instructions above). The NASA conference phone number will be displayed when joining the WebEx meeting.
2) You can watch the Realplayer webcast at: http://vanseg-1.arc.nasa.gov/2008/AB080428-01.ram and view the slides in WebEx (see WebEx instructions above) There is a 30 second delay for the webcast, so you will need to control the slides manually using the arrow buttons in WebEx. Questions for the speaker can be posted in the WebEx chat area to be answered at the end of the talk. Do not try to watch the Realplayer webcast at the same time as the Polycom or the phone.December 21, 2007
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