Institute of Physics Publishing Creating the Molecules of Life (AAS-IOP Astronomy)

Product Description Creating the Molecules of Life discusses origins, including the Big Bang, and the origin of the elements. With a complete presentation and explanation, this book provides evidence that the molecules of life are produced in outer space and how the SNAAP model purports to explain that origin. Extremophiles, which explains that evolution is robust enough to create life forms in a wide variety of conditions, is also presented. Readable for those at the upper undergraduate level, mathematics associated with coupling the nuclear spins to the molecular chirality is discussed. An accompanied appendix is provided to support mathematics. Review Overall the book is an enjoyable read covering a wide range of scientific disciplines and provides an interesting and, debatably, the best explanation of why left-handed chirality exists in life on Earth. Review I highly recommend this book to anyone entering the field of numerical simulations of non-standard cosmologies, who will find here an apt introduction to the topic. The book does not provide an index for its use as reference work, but the clear presentation and organization of the chapters makes it easy to navigate, and the appendix gives a summary of frequently-used mathematical relations and manipulations for look-up. Finally, the reading material is nicely illustrated by many well-prepared colour figures, which makes for a joyful read.Lucas Lombriser 2020 The Observatory Magazine