Darwinian Evolution of Molecules

Preface Chapter 1. The Dynamic Earth: A Recent Concept Necessary for the Study of the Origin of Life1-1 Continental Drift Theory in the Early Twentieth Century1-2 Revival of the Continental Drift Theory1-3 Plate Tectonics: A Dynamically Flowing Mantle1-4 Plume Tectonics: A Recent Concept of the Earth Chapter 2. Why did Life Generate? Why does Life Evolve? Physical Perspective of the Origin of Life2-1 Does the generation and evolution of life violate the basic principle of physics?2-2 Physical inevitability of generation and evolution of life Chapter 3. What is the Ultimate Ancestor? Evidence from Fossils and Gene Analyses3-1 The oldest fossil of "life"?3-2 The "ultimate ancestor" explored by gene analysis3-3 A gene must be a "molecule" governed by quantum physics Chapter 4. "Miller-Urey Experiment" in the Recent Picture of the Early Earth4-1 Traditional hypotheses on the origin of bio-organic molecules4-2 An overview: Cooling history of the Hadean and Archean Earth4-3 At 4.0 ~ 3.8 b.y.a., reductive atmosphere occurred locally and temporarily!4-4 Evaporation of minerals by meteorite collisions with ocean: an experimental simulation4-5 Hypothesis: mass production of ammonia during meteorite ocean collisions on the early Earth Chapter 5. Origin of Organic Molecules and Natural Selection of Bioorganic Molecules5-1 "The big-bang" of organic molecules5-2 Experimental confirmation of the hypothesis, "the Big-bang" of organic molecules5-3 Natural selection of "bioorganic molecules" Chapter 6. Molecular Evolution in Deep Subterranean Regions6-1 Dispelling the myth that "an ancient sea was the mother of life"6-2 A hypothesis, "Molecular Evolution in Deep Subterranean Regions"6-3 Experimental confirmation of the hypothesis, "Molecular evolution in Deep Subterranean Regions"6-4 Homochirality of bioorganic molecules, from the view of natural selection of molecules Chapter 7. The last stage of molecular evolution to the birth of life: Individuals, metabolism, and heredity7-1

Hiromoto Nakazawa is an emeritus fellow at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, and a fellow of the Japan Geoscience Union. He is also a former chairman of The Clay Science Society of Japan (2001-2002). He devoted most of his research time to X-ray crystallography while at the National Institute for Research in Inorganic Materials (NIRIM), Japan. As a materials scientist, he has been awarded the Crystallographic Society of Japan Prize (1978) for the identification and study of new superstructures of iron sulfides using X-ray diffraction and high-resolution electron microscopy. He was also awarded the Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon as well as several other prizes for his invention of the scanning X-ray microscope using the X-ray guide tube (2000). His curiosity regarding the origin of life from his student days brought him to the study of clay minerals as materials at the interface between the inorganic and organic realms during his tenure as a managing researcher at NIRIM (1985-2000). While a professor at Tohoku University, Japan (2001), he commenced his experimental studies of the origin of life together with his students and subsequently proposed a new scenario for the origin of life on the Earth based on their recent results (2006, 2014). In 2011, he received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.