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ByKashif,35 (A3MA)

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Contents

• Origin of the Universe.• Laws of Nature that ‘caused’ us. -some examples.• Origin of Life.• Life on Earth.• Evolution & Natural Selection.• Conclusion.• References.

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What is Life ?Have YouEver

Asked..

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A few diligent quotes-

• We’re the cosmos made conscious. Life is the means by which Universe understands itself…

-Brian Cox

• Life is a polymer of DNA…It’s a journey of Chemistry from Biology…

-E. Schrödinger

• I , a universe of atoms…an atom in the universe… -R.P. Feynman

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The beginning….

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Q. How we learn about the Nature?

• Answer in a simple phrase-

Laws Of Nature

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The 4 Pillars of our understanding

• Conservation of energy• Conservation of mass or more appropriately, “The Conservation of mass-energy in spacetime continuum”.• Relativity• Quantum theory.

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trees How tall can they grow?

Size, Heat and Gravity

• An organism’s structure- subject to evolution.

• Evolution-constrained by the universal forces of physics.

• Gravity limits the size of plants and animals.

• An interesting relationship between an organism’s body size and its metabolic rate.

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Order & Disorder

The 2nd law of thermodynamics “We’re a part of energy conversion”

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Origins of Life-some theories-

• Theory of special creation.• Theory of spontaneous generation.• Theory of Catastrophism.• Theory of Panspermia.• Theory of chemical evolution.

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Theory of special creation

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Theory of spontaneous creation• Living things originated spontaneously from inanimate objects.• It is also called abiogenesis or biopoesis.• Supporters :- Aristotle

» Epicurus »Von Helmont

• They believed» Insects arise from dew» Fish & frog from mud» Fly maggots from meat .

• Opposers » Fransisco Redi» Spallanzani» Louis pasteur

Redi’s experiment

Pasteur’s experiment

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Theory of Panspermia

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Dr. Richard B. Hoover, an astrobiologist with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center published a paper on March 4, 2011,

claiming to have found fossil evidence for cyanobacteria in an extremely rare class of meteorites, called CI1 carbonaceous

chondrites .

Origin of Life’s Chemicals

Miller-Urey Goal: Recreated

atmosphere of Early Earth

Objective: Can organic compounds form?

Results: amino acids, nucleotides, lipids, carbohydrate pieces

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Life on Earth

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Oxygen in the atmosphere

• Can be traced back to around 2.4 billion years.• Cyanobacteria photosynthesised their food.• The by-products of this pioneering organism

were molecules of Oxygen.• This filled the atmosphere with air worth

breathing and allowed the development of more complex life, like plants and animals.

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Ingredients for life

• Energy• Chemical elements.

A brief history of “cooking life”- -acidic seawaters meet the alkaline water.(pumping out of a hydrothermal vent.) -energy is released.-a feature of the vents that make them a possible location for the origin of life include the presence of organic molecules and porous chambers in the rocks.

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Symbiosis- “the first friendship”

• A close and often long-term interaction between two or more different biological species.

• e.g. between jellyfish and algae living within their tissues.

• the algae harness sun’s energy for photosynthesis and produce glucose

for the jellyfish to use in turn.

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How has life become so varied ?

• EARTH…a spectacularly diverse place.• The mystery of LUCA.• We all share the same fundamental

biochemistry.• Cosmic rays, a source for the Evolution ?

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Evolution of Senses

• We feel, we taste, we hear, we see, and we smell.

• But how come we got such an extraordinary collections of biological sensors ?

• Almost all animal life can see (96% of species have an eye)

• the evolution of the mammalian ear bones, the malleus, incus and stapes

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Endless forms most beautiful

• Around 8.7 million species alive!!• From a lifeless cosmos ruled by the laws of

nature to living beings.• Carbon, the most precious ingredient for life• Got transferred via food chains.• DNA, the blue print for all living things.

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Evolution and Natural Selection EvolutionOrganisms today developed from more simple life forms and have changed over time.

SelectionThe organisms that best adapted to their environment have a better chance of surviving and reproducing.

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Voyage of the BeagleWhat did Darwin find?

• The finches on each island in the Galapagos had different types of beaks.

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What do you think happened?

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Evidences

• Common ancestry.• Homologous structures.• Embryo development.• Vestigial organs.• Fossils.

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Conclusion

The probability to form a 300 -molecule-long protein by total random chance in this universe is 1 in 10390 .

Enjoy the gift of life, because…

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References-

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/• “What is Life?” by Erwin Schrödinger's.• “Wonders of Life” by Brian Cox.• http://evolutionfaq.com/articles/probability-

life.• http://excitabledog.com/2012/04/the-next-

step-in-natural-selection/• http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-

areas/what-powered-the-big-bang/

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Queries are invited