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Astrobiology: Towards an Understanding of the Emergence of Life in the Universe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Antonio Lazcano
Antonio Lazcano*
Affiliation:
Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-407 Cd. Universitaria, 04510 México, Mexico

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Long before the idea of spontaneous generation was incorporated by JeanBaptiste de Lamarck into evolutionary biology to explain the first emergence of life, the possibility that other planets were inhabited had been discussed, sometimes in considerable detail, by scientists and philosophers alike (Lazcano 2001). More often than not, these were speculations that rested on the idea of a uniform universe but with little or no empirical basis. Today our approaches to the issue of life in the Universe have changed dramatically; neither the formation of planets nor the origin of life are seen as the result of inscrutable random events, but rather as natural outcomes of evolutionary events. The interconnection between these two processes is evident: understanding the formation of planets has major implications for our understanding of the early terrestrial environment, and therefore for the origin of living systems.

Type
Origins and Evolution of Life
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 245 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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