DQ4.1: Contrast the "NASA definition of life" with other definitions of life.

DQ4.2: What are some complications involved with dating rocks using zircon crystals?

DQ4.3: How would you characterize the fossil evidence for earliest life?

DQ4.4: What is the relationship between stromatolites and cyanobacteria?

DQ4.5: For the "Seven Steps" (p. 92), which are dependent on all of the steps listed before them?

DQ4.6: Why was Stanley Miller's student research project considered to be a landmark study?

DQ4.7: Explain the notions of chemical evolution and autocatalytic networks.

DQ4.8: What is a replicase?

DQ4.9: What are some advantages of compartmentalization?

DQ4.10: Characterize some lines of evidence for an "RNA World" (see also p. 57).

DQ4.11: Where do ribozymes occur in living organisms?

DQ4.12: What is the relationship (if any) between RNA ligase and RNA polymerase?

DQ4.13: Contrast two alternative models for initial interactions between RNA and amino acids.

DQ4.14: What advantages might have led DNA to replace RNA as an information carrier?