TY - BOOK AU - Walker,Sara Imari TI - Life as no one knows it: the physics of life's emergence SN - 9780593191897 (hardcover) AV - QH 325 W184l 2024 U1 - 577 PY - 2024/// CY - New York PB - Riverhead Books KW - Life KW - Origin KW - Popular works KW - Origen de la vida. KW - Exobiology KW - Exobiología KW - Astrobiología KW - Molecular evolution KW - Genética KW - Biophysics KW - Biofísica N1 - Includes bibliographical references and index; What is life ? -- Hard problems -- New physics -- Life is what ? -- Aliens -- Origins -- Planetary futures N2 - "An intriguing new scientific theory that explains what life is and how it emerges. What is life? This is among the most difficult open problems in science, right up there with the nature of consciousness and the existence of matter. All the definitions we have fall short. None help us understand how life originates or the full range of possibilities for what life on other planets might look like. In Life as No One Knows It, physicist and astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker argues that solving the origin of life requires radical new thinking and an experimentally testable theory for what life is. This is an urgent issue for efforts to make life from scratch in laboratories here on Earth and missions searching for life on other planets. Walker proposes a new paradigm for understanding what physics encompasses and what we recognize as life. She invites us into a world of maverick scientists working without a map, seeking not just answers but better ways to formulate the biggest questions we have about the universe. The book culminates with the bold proposal of a new theory for identifying and classifying life, one that applies not just to biological life on Earth but to any instance of life in the universe. Rigorous, accessible, and vital, Life as No One Knows It celebrates the mystery of life and the explanatory power of physics"-- ER -