Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Announcements
Midterm exam marks available on OWL will discuss problem questions in class next time
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Todays Topics
Evolution of life on Earth (Ch. 6.3, 6.5) Impacts and extinctions (Ch. 6.4) Life in the Solar System (Ch. 7)
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stromatolites rocks characterized by a distinctive layered structure: evidence of life at least 3.5 Byr ago microfossils: suggests life originated 3.53.0 Byr ago isotopes of carbon: enhanced carbon-12 to carbon-13 ratio in 3.85 Byr old rocks
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Life arose shortly after the end of Heavy Bombardment ~3.9 Byr ago
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Unlikely to have originated on land: no molecular oxygen (O2) in early atmosphere, so also no ozone (O3) to shield from UV Under-water or sub-surface environment more hospitable water blocks UV e.g., deep-sea volcanic vents also offer chemical energy for metabolic reactions
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Concoction of water vapour, methane, and ammonia, with energy provided by electricity (lightning) can produce amino acids in a lab Miller-Urey experiment
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Other possible origins: near deep-sea vents organic material from space (meteorites, comets)
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Keeping RNA molecules together increases likelihood of self-replication Isolation from outside preserves RNA and enzyme concentration: speeds up reactions natural selection-like
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Todays Topics
Evolution of life on Earth (Ch. 6.3) Impacts and extinctions (Ch. 6.4) Life in the Solar System (Ch. 7)
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Early microbes: simple organisms with a few enzymes and rudimentary metabolism resembling the simplest modern bacteria and archaea, no nucleus Oxygen-free atmosphere, so microbes were anaerobic Microbes likely were chemoautotrophs photosynthesis and ability to digest other organisms must have arrived later Modern parallels are archaea in hot sulphur springs
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With limited sets of enzymes, early DNA replication was buggy: high mutation rate: rapid evolution e.g., photosynthesis is a complex metabolic process, but already suggested in stromatolites and microfossils 3.5 Byr ago. Photosynthesis process also likely evolved: first with development of light-absorbing pigments then with utilization of a variety of products: e.g., hydrogem sulphide (H2S), rather than water (H2O) Oxygen build-up: from photosynthetic organisms 2.50.5 Byr ago
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Oldest known fossils with clear cell nuclei date to 2.1 Byr ago. Could have arisen earlier, but cell nuclei do not fossilize well.
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Symbiotic relationship between eukarya and bacteria lead to complex cells, with mitochondria and/or chloroplasts confirmed by DNA sequencing of mitochondria and chloroplasts, which shows that they are from domain bacteria !16
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Is the only major diversification of phyla in the geological record Possible reasons: oxygen reached a critical level for survival of larger life-forms a tipping point in the evolution of genetic complexity and diversification climate change: end of snowball Earth period absence of efficient predators
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First by microbes Then by plants originating from algae in shallow ponds occasional drying up of ponds favours mutations with thicker cell walls 475 Myr ago Animal organisms aided by the build-up of a protective ozone layer. by 400 Myr ago: amphibians and insects eating the plants
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Oxygen can react strongly with organic molecules: deadly to unadapted organisms but much more efficient cellular energy production, with ATP, compared to anaerobic organisms Oxygen also reacts quickly with clays, rocks making them turn reddish would last only a few Myr if not replenished So, early atmosphere must have been oxygen-free cyanobacteria in the oceans created the atmospheric oxygen starting 2.7 Byr ago.
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What major events have marked evolutionary history? development of photosynthesis as an energy-producing reaction by 3.5 Byr ago the build-up of atmospheric oxygen by cyanobacteria (2.50.5 Byr ago) the Cambrian explosion of animal diversity 542 Myr ago Why was the rise of oxygen so important to evolution? it offered a much more efficient energy production cycle than preceding anaerobic cycles.
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Human Evolution
Our goals for learning: How did we evolve? Are we still evolving?
Not from chimpanzee s or other modern apes Instead, from a common ancestor with them
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Changes over the past 10,00040,000 years have been relatively small. If we were to sequence the genome of a 40,000-old human, it would be difficult to distinguish from a that of a person living today Most substantial change is in average height better nutrition. Cultural and technological evolution are much faster exponential
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Todays Topics
Evolution of life on Earth (Ch. 6.3, 6.5) Impacts and extinctions (Ch. 6.4) Life in the Solar System (Ch. 7)
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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) was torn apart during an encounter with Jupiter in 1993. By early 1994, astronomers knew that it would collide with Jupiter later that year.
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Mass Extinctions
Fossil record shows occasional large dips in the diversity of species.
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Most recent was 65 million years ago, ending the reign of the dinosaurs.
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Evidence of an Impact
Iridium is very rare in Earth surface rocks but often found in meteorites. In 1978 Luis and Walter Alvarez found a worldwide layer containing iridium, laid down 65 million years ago, probably by a meteorite impact. Same layer also contains: shocked quartzthat requires the high temperatures and pressures of an impact to form spherical rock dropletsmolten rock that solidified while raining down sootfrom large-spread forest fires
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Consequences of an Impact
Meteorite 10 km in size would send large amounts of debris into atmosphere. Debris would reduce sunlight reaching Earths surface. Resulting climate change may have caused mass extinction: 75% of all existing plant and animal species 99% of all living plants and animals
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Geologists have found a 200 km-wide subsurface crater about 65 million years old in Mexico Estimate that the impactor was a 10 km asteroid or comet
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Chelyabinsk Impact
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Tunguska, Siberia: June 30, 1908 A ~40 meter object disintegrated and exploded in the atmosphere
2008 Pearson Education Inc, publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Manicouagan Crater, Eastern Canada 200 Myr, among oldest known 20 km across
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71% of Earths surface is water: small impacts leave no mark! evidence of large impacts >200 Myr ago recycled with seafloor
Frequency of Impacts
Arizona Yucatan
Small impacts happen almost daily. Impacts large enough to cause mass extinctions are many millions of years apart
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Major impacts are very rare: Extinction level events ~ millions of years. Major damage ~ tens to hundreds of years.
Aims to detect potentially hazardous asteroids Uses a network of telescopes to search for such asteroids nightly http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch/
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Some terms used in next video from NASA: PHA potentially hazardous asteroid Palermo Technical Impact Hazard Scale used to assess danger from an impact Aten a family of near-Earth asteroids that cross Earths orbit (and so are PHAs)
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Control is critical
breaking a big asteroid into a bunch of little asteroids is unlikely to help.
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Episodes of active volcanism ! climate change Rapid acceleration of mutation rates e.g., because of thinning of ozone layer and increased UV radiation weakening of Earths magnetic field and increased penetration of solar wind Nearby supernova explosions: also increased irradiation by high-energy particles (cosmic rays) large influx of gamma ray photons can destroy ozone layer ! increased UV radiation
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Human activity may drive half of species to extinction within a few centuries. On a geological time scale, this is a another mass extinction Potentially unpredictable consequences on global environment.
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Break: 5 min
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Todays Topics
Evolution of life on Earth (Ch. 6.3, 6.5) Impacts and extinctions (Ch. 6.4) Life in the Solar System (Ch. 7)
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Chemical elements needed for life likely occur in all planetary systems consequence of how planets form from their parent proto-planetary nebulae Amino acids and complex organic molecules require a liquid or gas to form and move about need either an atmosphere or an ocean
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Recall energy sources: sunlight organic molecules inorganic molecules Sunlight is everywhere in Solar System, although its intensity decreases with distance from the Sun
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wider than for other wide-spread fluids at higher temperatures ! faster chemical reactions
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Affects how water dissolves other substances Allows hydrogen bonds in biochemical reactions
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No surface liquids
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No atmosphere
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Verdict: negative.
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Does exist in some permanently shadowed craters Discovered in 2009 by NASAs LCROSS Indias Chandrayaan-1 Deposited over billions of years of impacts
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Enshrouded in a thick cloud cover Surface can not be seen from the Earth Without the atmospheric greenhouse effect, surface temperature would be ~35C.
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Russian landers in 1970s and 1980s Venera-1 and Venera-2 revealed: thick atmosphere: 90 atmospheric pressures at surface contains 96% CO2 470C surface temperature: day and night! no liquid water runaway greenhouse effect Verdict: possibly only in the distant past. will never know - evidence erased by geological processes.
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One of the best candidates for life beyond the Earth. The most explored planet after Earth. Will discuss in detail next time!
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Verdict: possible.
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Water clouds do exist in upper atmosphere But strong vertical (convective) winds would continually circulate any life forms between very cold and very hot regions
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Verdict: negative.
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Atmospheres much colder than those of Jupiter and Saturn Also strong vertical winds But outer liquid cores of water, methane, ammonia still: very high pressures, no clear energy extraction mechanism Would be extremely difficult to detect life that deep inside these planets Verdict: unlikely.
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Some have liquid oceans underneath their icy surfaces. One (Titan) has a thick atmosphere.
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