The Structure of the Computational Biosciences

by Jotun Hein (1.6.07) Life on Earth The overwhelming percentage of bioscience is directed towards earth life, although many principles applied make no specific reference to this and many ideas and questions apply generally. Life beyond earth issues are clearly very interesting, but of little practical importance presently. The moment (and if) other life forms are found, question will be asked about similarities and differences in overall structure of life forms. In certain cases, like Earth/Mars, it could even legitimately be asked if the overall structure was a sign of homology? This is not pure silliness, as it is known that on very long time span there is exchange of surface material between Mars and Earth. It has been tested, in what retrospectively seems naïve, but is still a valiant and fun attempt. This was done by asking if the root of life on Earth was older than the age of the Earth (Eigen, ). (The answer was “no”!!). Life on Earth has an overall architecture and has chosen certain key components. Due to evolution all instances of Life on Earth are related by one very large genealogical structure that presently is being characterized. Behind all research about Life on Earth looms the question about its origin, which clearly remains unsettled.