Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Neruda · 10-29-2002, 02:56 PM

I need to find six sources of information that discuss evolution and chemistry. It doesn't need to be about evolution and chemistry only, but it certainly needs to touch on the topic. I would like to use books or peer-reviewed journals for the most part, and maybe one or two web sites only. Does anyone have any reccomendations for interesting sources of this kind?

[ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: Neruda ]

pz · 10-29-2002, 04:20 PM

Look up Stu Kauffman. You might also check into some of the big names behind the RNA world hypothesis, like Thomas Cech.

When I'm in the office tomorrow, I'll rummage about in my abiogenesis file and get back to you with some more specific references.

Valentine Pontifex · 10-29-2002, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Neruda:
I need to find six sources of information that discuss evolution and chemistry. It doesn't need to be about evolution and chemistry only, but it certainly needs to touch on the topic. I would like to use books or peer-reviewed journals for the most part, and maybe one or two web sites only. Does anyone have any reccomendations for interesting sources of this kind?

I apologize in advance if my suspicion is wrong. Is this a homework assignment?

lpetrich · 10-29-2002, 05:42 PM

Neruda, that is a VERY vague and general subject.

And there are some nice search engines you can use to find out more. Like Google and PubMed.

PubMed should be easy to find with Google; it's an index of biomedical-related abstracts. These are short summaries of articles; the full articles are often available online at various places, though one may have to purchase access to them. But the summaries should be enough to see if you wish to read further, and they will sometimes contain what you are looking for.

Yes, numerous professional journals are available online, though their articles often use formidable jargon and those articles often assume some background in the subject being discussed.

MortalWombat · 10-29-2002, 05:57 PM

<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi" target="_blank">PubMed</a>

Neruda · 10-29-2002, 10:43 PM

Quote:

I apologize in advance if my suspicion is wrong. Is this a homework assignment?

no! no no no...yes. Yeah, I sort of balked when it came to posting it, because I know that they can be annoying (I moderate on a forum myself). This isn't the body of my assignment (I'm not trying to get other people to do all the work), but I haven't researched the chemical side of evolution so I didn't really know where to begin. I knew of some possible subtopics, such as pesticides and insect adaptations, but I thought that people might have other things that would be good to research.

lpetrich · 10-29-2002, 11:14 PM

Sorry, Neruda, that is still an impossibly broad subject. Please pick something more specific.

pz · 10-30-2002, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lpetrich:
Sorry, Neruda, that is still an impossibly broad subject. Please pick something more specific.

Still, we can give him impossibly broad references.

Neruda, Read Kauffman's _At Home in the Universe_, Christian de Duve's _Vital Dust_, and Manfred Eigen's _Steps Towards Life_.

When you've finished those, we can talk.

Aw, heck, here's something short to get you started:

Szostak JW, DP Bartel, and PL Luisi (2001) Synthesizing life. Nature 409:387-390.

[ October 30, 2002: Message edited by: pz ]

10-29-2002, 02:56 PM	#1
Neruda Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Portland, OR, USA Posts: 80	evolution and chemistry: help please I need to find six sources of information that discuss evolution and chemistry. It doesn't need to be about evolution and chemistry only, but it certainly needs to touch on the topic. I would like to use books or peer-reviewed journals for the most part, and maybe one or two web sites only. Does anyone have any reccomendations for interesting sources of this kind? [ October 29, 2002: Message edited by: Neruda ]</p>

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10-29-2002, 04:20 PM	#2
pz Veteran Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Morris, MN Posts: 3,341	Look up Stu Kauffman. You might also check into some of the big names behind the RNA world hypothesis, like Thomas Cech. When I'm in the office tomorrow, I'll rummage about in my abiogenesis file and get back to you with some more specific references.

10-29-2002, 05:42 PM	#4
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	Neruda, that is a VERY vague and general subject. And there are some nice search engines you can use to find out more. Like Google and PubMed. PubMed should be easy to find with Google; it's an index of biomedical-related abstracts. These are short summaries of articles; the full articles are often available online at various places, though one may have to purchase access to them. But the summaries should be enough to see if you wish to read further, and they will sometimes contain what you are looking for. Yes, numerous professional journals are available online, though their articles often use formidable jargon and those articles often assume some background in the subject being discussed.

10-29-2002, 05:57 PM	#5
MortalWombat Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: St Louis area Posts: 3,458	<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi" target="_blank">PubMed</a>

10-29-2002, 11:14 PM	#7
lpetrich Contributor Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Lebanon, OR, USA Posts: 16,829	Sorry, Neruda, that is still an impossibly broad subject. Please pick something more specific.

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