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Life

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A History of the Solar System

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Abstract

There is growing evidence for precursors of biomolecules in many parts of the solar system and, to judge from telescopic imaging from the ground and from space as well as from sampling of meteorites and comets, elsewhere in our galaxy and beyond its confines. Their age can be estimated on Earth and more controversially on Mars, while conditions that appear propitious for life can be identified and sometimes dated on other solar system bodies and on a number of exoplanets. The interaction between living and abiotic processes can now be traced in broad terms over much of the Earth’s 4.6 Gyr lifetime, to the benefit of both geology and evolutionary biology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Rd, London, SW7 5BD, UK

    Claudio Vita-Finzi

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  1. Claudio Vita-Finzi
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Correspondence to Claudio Vita-Finzi .

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Vita-Finzi, C. (2016). Life. In: A History of the Solar System. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33850-7_7

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