Is Earth Exceptional? The quest for cosmic life

• Mario Livio &
• Jack Szostak

Basic Books: 2024. 336 pp. $32.00

An astrophysicist and a biochemist team up to answer two of the biggest questions facing humanity: how did life on Earth begin? And are we alone in the Milky Way? First, they explain how chemistry can become biology. Five chapters take us on the convoluted pathway from simple hydrocarbons to RNA, without skipping the real-life laboratory problems and impediments that hampered, but did not derail, the progress of scientific understanding. The old concept of prebiotic soup is replaced with something more akin to ‘prebiotic salad’: solids waiting around for precisely the right set of environmental conditions to transform into the first living cells.

中文翻译：

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地球是特殊的吗？对宇宙生命的探索

•  马里奥·利维奥 &
•  杰克·索斯塔克

基础书籍：2024 年。336 页 32.00 美元

一位天体物理学家和一位生物化学家联手回答人类面临的两个最大问题：地球上的生命是如何开始的？我们在银河系中孤独吗？首先，他们解释了化学如何成为生物学。五章内容带我们了解了从简单碳氢化合物到 RNA 的复杂路径，同时也没有跳过现实生活中的实验室问题和障碍，这些问题和障碍阻碍了科学理解的进步，但并没有脱轨。益生元汤的旧概念被更类似于“益生元沙拉”的东西所取代：固体等待着合适的环境条件转变成第一个活细胞。