Recent Developments in the Chemistry of Life and 'Science Playing God'

ISBN-13: 9786202528542 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 208 str.

Beena Jose

Opis

The question of life's primordial beginning, one of the existential questions that scientists have pondered since antiquity, belongs directly to the domain of chemistry. It is therefore relevant to study and reflect on the kinds of chemical reactions that would have been important in molecular origins. The origin of life can be addressed in the platform of an interdisciplinary approach that covers chemical conundrums as well as biological, physical and philosophical sciences. In this thesis I focus on the chemical perspectives on the origin of life and the creation of the synthetic cell because of their overwhelming chemical significance. The thesis also aims at exploring the ethical concerns over 'creating life' with special emphasis on Craig Venter's synthetic cell with a view to ensure hope and security in the context of the scientific predictions and mounting apprehensions. It underscores the worries that synthetic cells are inherently bad because they are unnatural or that their creators are 'playing God'.

O autorze

Jose, Beena
Dr. Sr. Beena Jose is a member of the Congregation of Mother of Carmel. She obtained Ph.D. in Chemistry and was an international research fellow at the JST of Santa Clara University, USA. She is also the recipient of the TORCH international fellowship, University of Oxford, UK. Currently she is the Principal of Vimala College, Kerala, India.