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tiagombp's review
5.0
Que livrinho fascinante... Não tem nem duzentas páginas, mas tem mais informações do que muito livrão por aí, e num texto empolgante e até divertido. Na definição do autor, astrobiologia é "o ramo da ciência que estuda a origem e a evolução da vida na Terra e a possível variedade da vida em outros lugares". Para isso, é preciso estudar um pouco de tudo: cosmologia, astronomia, astrofísica, geologia, microbiologia, química, evolução... Ou seja, só coisa boa!
emsemsems's review
4.0
‘The human race is just a chemical scum on a moderate-sized planet, orbiting around a very average star in the outer suburb of one among a hundred billion galaxies.’ – Stephen Hawking .
Before reading this, I read Hand's [b:Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space|51801208|Alien Oceans The Search for Life in the Depths of Space|Kevin Peter Hand|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581410825l/51801208._SY75_.jpg|73424948] (earlier this year) which explores very similar topics covered in Catling’s book. Hand’s was more detailed and in-depth (Jupiter-centric I’d say), and Catling’s is much easier to digest – certainly a more accessible book. If you’re interested in ‘aliens’ – and by that I meant ‘little green men’ or creepy slimy killing-machines, then this won’t be the book for you. If anything, it covers more of exoplanets, and microbes in outer space. A fantastic primer for anyone who’s clueless and curious about all that.
‘Another, more primitive, type of microbial photosynthesis that doesn’t split water or release oxygen is anoxygenic photosynthesis. In this case, biomass is made using sunlight and hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide, or dissolved iron in hydrothermal areas around volcanoes. Today, microbial scum grows this way in hot springs.’
For me, I usually listen to non-fiction audiobooks (mostly science/history/autobios) before bed, and then have a quick flip/read through of the physical books the day after. The photographs and graphs in the books are great fun. Although I’ve previously learned about most of the scientific discoveries/theories in the books, it’s a good book to recap. The writing is brilliant. The bit about photosynthesis (albeit a brief discussion) got me excited.
‘A world without eukaryotes would also be one without sex. Think no flowers or love songs...There are many ideas about why sex is evolutionarily advantageous for eukaryotes. One possibility concerns how it mixes and matches genes from both parents onto each chromosome in a process called recombination. If beneficial mutations occur separately in two individuals, the mixture of both can’t be achieved in asexual organisms, but sexually reproducing organisms can bring them together and reap the benefits. Conversely, sex can also eliminate bad, mutated genes by bringing unmutated genes together in some individuals, whereas self-cloning organisms are stuck with bad genes, and offspring can die because of them.’
‘Outside the three domains, viruses represent a grey area between the living and non-living. Viruses are typically about ten times more abundant than microbes in seawater or soil. They consist of pieces of DNA or RNA surrounded by protein and, in some cases, a further membrane. Viruses are tiny, only about 50–450 nanometres (billionths of a metre) in size, comparable to the wavelength of ultraviolet light. They are generally considered non-living because they are inanimate outside a cell and have to infect and hijack cells for their own reproduction. However, some do this without the host ever noticing, so not all viruses cause disease. One theory of several for the origin of the nucleus of eukaryotes is that it may have evolved from a large DNA virus, but the role of viruses in the evolution of life is still a matter of debate.’
An article by Scientific American shows how the Chicxulub Impactor created rainforests – here. And I think that’s a perfect add-on reading to Catling’s book. Also, I suppose we shouldn’t need to worry about another asteroid blasting us into another wave of mass extinction, because if it does come, it’d happen so fast we wouldn’t even know what hit us. A blessing and curse – it all depends on how you look at it.
‘Extinctions destroy previously successful lineages but they also provide opportunities for others. You are reading this book because of the Chicxulub impactor. The mammals became dominant once the dinosaurs were gone.’
qontfnns's review
4.0
Yang aku penasaran dari astrobiologi, yaitu kemungkinan kehidupan ekstraterestrial cuma dibahas di 2 bab. Buku ini lebih banyak mengenalkan biologinya daripada berspekulasi tentang alien apalagi yang berperadaban. Membaca itu aku jadi tersadar sih, kek oiya kemunculan kehidupan di bumi juga adalah sebuah freak event. Bumi juga adalah planet yang dulu tak berkehidupan. Biologi kita adalah astrobiologi di planet lain. Maka salah satu wajah yang juga penting dari astrobiologi adalah kemungkinannya membantu kita lebih mengerti tentang masa lalu dan masa depan kehidupan di bumi sendiri. Apa yang terjadi waktu sel pertama berejawantah? Apa harus karbon yang menjadi lego utama makhluk hidup? Kenapa harus air? Menemukan sistem kehidupan lain yang lahir dengan independen akan memberi kita banyak insight tentang bagaimana kehidupan bekerja. Anw, buat aku pribadi astrobiologi lebih nikmat sebagai pop sains. Buku ini agak kering dan kurang menggugah dibandingkan Pale Blue Dot, atau Dragons of Edennya Carl Sagan misalnya, entah karena terlalu faktual, atau Carl Sagan saja yang dapat menyampaikan dengan lebih handal. I'll keep the 4 stars because somehow that's what I felt after finishing the book. Now that I think about it, it's just okay.
realreads's review
5.0
Well-written and very educational. The first 2/3 of the book covers the biochemistry of life so it would be of interest to a wide audience, even if you don't care about the life-elsewhere part. The last third provided a good summary of the conditions on other planetary bodies (planets, moons, asteroids) and how life might get a foothold there. I also appreciated the summary charts towards the end.