Looking for life elsewhere: Photosynthesis and astrobiology

Introduction. Volcanism and astrobiology: life on earth and beyond.

Evolution of C4 photosynthesis--looking for the master switch.

C4 PHOTOSYNTHESIS—THE BASICS C4 photosynthesis is a unique blend of biochemical, anatomical, and gene regulatory characteristics. In the vast majority of C4 plants, i.e. with the exception of single-cell C4 photosynthesis in the Chenopodiaceae, this photosynthetic pathway is the result of the integrated metabolic activities of two distinct, specialized leaf cell types, mesophyll and bundle shea...

Life in the lithosphere, kinetics and the prospects for life elsewhere.

The global contiguity of life on the Earth today is a result of the high flux of carbon and oxygen from oxygenic photosynthesis over the planetary surface and its use in aerobic respiration. Life's ability to directly use redox couples from components of the planetary lithosphere in a pre-oxygenic photosynthetic world can be investigated by studying the distribution of organisms that use energy...

9 . Life On Earth . . . And Elsewhere ? THIERRY MONTMERLE

This concluding chapter is divided into two main parts. The first part is a summary of the main facts and events which constitute the present body of knowledge of the chronology of life in the solar system, in the form of ‘‘highlights’’ in astronomy, geology, chemistry and biology. The second part raises the interrogation ‘‘Is life universal?’’, and tries to provide answers based on these facts...

Astrobiology

If you were active on the web in July 1997, The spider bets that you surfed over to the US National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) web site to watch live feedback of the Pathfinder Mission to Mars. And if you haven’t recently returned to outer space via cyberspace, it’s time to visit some of the web sites dedicated to space research, to learn about the growing field of astrobiology. Astrob...