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Title	:	Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story
Author	:	A.G. Cairns-Smith
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 131 pages
Published	:	September 26th 1986 by Cambridge University Press (first published September 13th 1985)
Categories	:	Science. Biology. Evolution. Nonfiction

Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story

A.G. Cairns-Smith

Paperback | Pages: 131 pages

Rating: 4.01 | 117 Users | 15 Reviews

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A general, generic understanding of the origin of life is that organic chemicals came together by chance in just the right way so that replication occurred. Then random variation and natural selection took it from there and favored the better replicators. Cairns-Smith doubts this speculative account of life’s origins. He argues that the essential stuff of life (DNR, RNA, and proteins) are much too complex and must have been preceded by organized entities “that did not need nucleotides [links in the DNA chain], but could have evolved to produce them.”

In his view, non-organic (and very microscopic) crystals in clay are the key. Crystals grow and replicate. This self-assembly process is based on the perpetual motion of atoms and molecules that combine with other atoms and molecules to bond in particular ways: “The perpetual motion of the molecules allows them to try out many possible arrangements and they can thus arrive at some particular arrangement that has the greatest possible cohesion. Such an arrangement, once found, will of course tend to persist.”

“Mistakes” are made during replication and these “defects” or “irregularities” contain “information” – in this case, size and shape – that are then repeated as the crystal structure grows, as long as the defect does not compromise stability of the structure itself. This replication process, built upon “mutations” (errors) is subject to natural selection that favors those that allow for continuous self-assembly and weeding out those that don’t contribute to such.

Somehow, from all of this, Cairns-Smith concludes that “The very first organisms were inorganic-crystalline in nature, not organic-molecular as organisms are now” and that “The origin of life on Earth is a branch of mineralogy….” The switch from life to non-life is described as a transition from “primary organisms” [“unevolved and so not-yet-alive to begin with”] to secondary organisms [“through a gradual replacement of genes made of one material by genes made of an altogether different material – that is to say through a genetic takeover”].

At this point I lost the trail - the transition point between inorganic non-life and organic life, which of course is the central thesis of this book. The author also describes the origins of life as an inner impulse that unfolds organically, but I wonder how the active importation of energy from the outside fits into his argument and why that might not be central to the distinction between non-life and life. These are not criticisms. This book, though hard to follow, provides another perspective on life’s origins, and it is good to know that his argument is out there.

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Original Title:	Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story (Canto)
ISBN:	0521337933 (ISBN13: 9780521337939)
Edition Language:	English

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Ratings: 4.01 From 117 Users | 15 Reviews

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Modern genetic components are too complex to have appeared by chance on the primordial Earth. DNA and RNA, and even their more elementary building blocks, require the assistance of an agent at least as complex as themselves for their synthesis. This is the famous Catch-22 of the origin of organic replicators. Cairns-Smith begins by clearly stating this problem, and then embarks on an innovative and imaginative journey to find its solution.It is no shortcoming of this endeavor that a solution is

Πρόκληση-τροφή για σκέψη σε ένα βιβλίο εκλαϊκευμένης επιστήμης που δίνεται με τη μαεστρία ενός συγγραφέα αστυνομικής νουβέλας. Ένα από τα απαραίτητα αναγνώσματα για οποιονδήποτε ενδιαφέρεται, έστω και σε μικρό βαθμό, για την προέλευση και την εξέλιξη του φαινομένου της ζωής στον πλανήτη μας.Υ.Γ.Ήδη ψάχνω για τα αντίστοιχα τεχνικά άρθρα του συγγραφέα.

A second reading of this book 20+ years later leaves me with the same conviction: Cairns-Smith must be right -- mineral processes rather than organic are the most likely source of the "naked genes" that are needed to bootstrap evolution. I'm not an expert in the field, and Cairns-Smith's ideas have been around a long time now. So I'll be watching for news of any research that supports his theory or suggests a way that organic molecules could have served as naked genes. In any case this book lays

Richard Dawkins recommends this in The Blind Watchmaker (1986), though I generally prefer the more orthodox RNA world hypothesis (citation to be added later).

A refreshing perspective on the Origins of Life.Scenarios abound to explain life's origins, but so far none are anywhere near satisfactory. Reading 'Seven Clues' invites us to consider a prominent role for a somewhat surprising actor: crystals. The author provides some compelling arguments to see crystals as information-carrying functional replicators: crystals can grow and break, incorporate and replicate defects, catalyze reactions and can show rudimentary forms of competition, allowing for

A good read even though idea of life coming from clays is outdated.

Although some of our understanding of the early atomsphere has changed since this book was written, it still tells an interesting story about how scientists do their work in trying to see back in time to Earth's earliest days. Has some compelling information.