Beginnings of Cellular Life: Metabolism Recapitulates Biogenesis

By Harold J. Morowitz

Book Overview

In this book an internationally renowned scientist presents a radically new theory of the origin of life on Earth 4 billion years ago.

Harold J. Morowitz postulates that the first step toward the origin of life was the spontaneous condensation of amphiphilic molecules to form vesicles (or protocells). This hypothesis provides a framework for reexamining the emergence of cellularity. Morowitz further proposes that core metabolic processes have not changed for some 3.8 billion years, so we can use a study of modern biochemistry to advance our knowledge about the chemical processes of the earliest protocells. Morowitz views origin of life issues from the perspective of certain constructs in the philosophy of science that provide guideposts to formulating and assessing hypotheses. This book presents a unique discussion among origin-of-life books on the relation between science and epistemology on the difficult problem of learning about the very distant past.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300102100
• ISBN13: 9780300102109
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Abiogenesis as basic physical chemistry

Popular hypotheses on the origin of life generally surround the priming by hereditary material, by partitioning by micelles, or by early metabolic cycling. In Beginnings of Cellular Life, Harold Morowitz argues a sort of combination between the latter two, connecting the physical chemistries of carbon fixation, properties of C, O, H, N, P, and S, and extremely specific array of small ( To be sure, this book presents just a hypothesis. It is also probably over the heads of the average layperson. But his "principle of continuity" is the sound logic that any serious discussion on the origin of life must stick to, dismissing even Jacques Monod's vision of the origin of life as an event that has happened in the past and is truly unique, such that it cannot be recreated in the lab (Chance and Necessity, 1971). Simply put, the origin of life is at least conceptually accessible to science, and therefore any relevant hypothesis must be falsifiable (or conversely, verifiable). And as far as scientifically-argued explanations for the origin of life go, Morowitz has raised the bar, and having read the book, I'm surprised that this book has not gotten more publicity.