AST 248: The Search for Life in the Universe

1. What two assumptions of the Miller-Urey experiment for monomer production on the early Earth are probably incorrect?
2. What common material could have been responsible for the first polymerizations of amino acids into proteins?
3. Give 2 examples of inorganic self-assemblers with strong reversible bonds. Why are these examples interesting in the context of the origin of life?
4. What is the importance of surface tension to the origin of life?
5. Perform a brief web survey concerning molecular or genetic clocks in order to answer these three questions.
   1. What is the fundamental flaw in the original assumption of Zuckerkandl and Pauling underlying the original idea of genetic clocks?
   2. How are molecular clocks calibrated?
   3. What is the consensus of opinion on the accuracy of molecular clocks?
6. This question concerns Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosome Adam.
   1. What do these terms mean?
   2. About how long ago did they live?
   3. Were either of these individuals the most recent common ancestor of all humans alive now?