{"product_id":"life-peter-clark-9781049804910","title":"Life: Its Origins and Physical Basis","description":"\u003cp\u003eExamining how life came to be on Earth, this book asks the question: How could life have emerged from a catastrophic event? Primordial Earth was rendered into a blank canvas when it was struck by a Mars-sized object. The discussion in this book illustrates the importance of the high-temperature, chaotic system created in reaction and offers a consequential explanation of how chiral selection of amino acids occurred in the first steps to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eUnlike much of the discussion in origin-of-life literature that favours an RNA-first world, chemistry researcher Peter D. Clark proposes a sequence of events based on their probability: namely, conversion of simple gases into amino acids, their simultaneous chiral selection and polymerization to L-enriched polypeptides, and then synthesis of RNA. Consequential evolution of this chemical system would then lead to the emergence of a codependent polypeptide-RNA chemical landscape and a rudimentary genetic code. Clark suggests that the important step of encapsulating replicating assemblies in a rudimentary cell membrane facilitated phosphate re-cycle - enabling development of life's universal energy generation machinery, the proton motive force.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eApplying these hypotheses to the potential for the development of life elsewhere in the solar system, this book demonstrates the possibility of simple life throughout the universe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Peter Clark\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1049804910\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781049804910\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Toronto Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/01\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 256\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.04lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.00d","brand":"Peter Clark","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":49084099297535,"sku":"9781049804910","price":85.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/life-peter-clark-9781049804910","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}