Is the emergence of life on Earth the result of a single chance event or combination of lucky accidents, or is it the outcome of biochemical forces woven into the fabric of the universe? And if inevitable, what are these forces, and how do they account not only for the origin of life but also for its evolution toward increasing complexity? Vital Dust is a groundbreaking history of life on Earth, a history that only someone of Chrisitian de Duve’s stature and erudition could have written.
1. Introduction 2. The Age of Chemistry 1. The Search for Origins 2. The First Catalysts of Life 3. The Fuel of Emerging Life 4. The Advent of RNA 3. The Age of Information 1. RNA Takes Over 2. The Code 3. Genes in the Making 4. Freedoms and Constraints 4. The Age of the Protocell 1. Encapsulating Life 2. Turning Membranes into Machines 3. Adaptation to Life in Confinement 4. The Ancestor of All Life 5. The Universality of Life 5. The Age of the Single Cell 1. Bacteria Conquer the World 2. The Making of a Eukaryote 3. The Primitive Phagocyte 4. The Guests that Stayed 6. The Age of Multicellular Organisms 1. The Benefits of Cellular Collectivism 2. The Greening of the Earth 3. The First Animals 4. Animals Fill the Oceans 5. Animals Move Out of the Sea 6. The Web of Life 7. The Virtues of Junk DNA 7. The Age of the Mind 1. The Step to Human 2. The Brain 3. The Workings of the Mind 4. The Works of the Mind 5. Values 8. The Age of the Unknown 1. The Future of Life 2. The Meaning of Life