"Nancy Kress - Sex and Violence" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kress Nancy)

SEX AND VIOLENCE
by Nancy Kress

Nancy Kress shows us why we canтАЩt live without...

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тАЬThe central problem of evolution is this,тАЭ Dr. Shearing said, chalk
poised before the blackboard. Bio 101 slouched, sprawled, and yawned in
its collective seats. тАЬNatural selection works fine once you have organisms
to select from. But how did that first self-replicating organism get itself
assembled? In fifty years of lab experimentsтАФfifty years!тАФwe havenтАЩt
succeeding in infusing life into any тАШprimordial-soupтАЩ chemicals. Let alone in
joining the minimum thirty-two amino acids needed for a self-replicating
proto-cell.тАЭ He paused dramatically. тАЬSo where did that first
natural-selection candidate come from? Where?тАЭ

Ordered on eBay, Jim Dunn text-messaged to Emily McLean across
the aisle. She giggled.

тАЬOf course,тАЭ Dr. Shearing continued, тАЬThereтАЩs always the theory that
life on Earth was seeded from the stars, by a cloud of drifting spores called
panspermiaтАФтАЭ

Canned sperm, ya? Emily texted, giggling harder.

тАЬтАФand that we descendents of alien spores in fact are, after three
and a half billion years of evolution, aliens to Earth.тАЭ

HEтАЩS pretty alien, Jim texted. Wanna get coffee?

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тАЬThey test how?тАЭ [Mghzl] [said] to [his] [lab assistant].

тАЬMatter-based, which is strange enough, but ... look.тАЭ The other
displayed all the relevant data on the [not translatable] of a [also not
translatable].

тАЬSugar-phosphate double helix and amino acid pairs? YouтАЩre sure?тАЭ

The [lab assistant] [nodded]. The fabric of space-time rippled slightly.
 тАЬWhen?тАЭ

тАЬForty point sixteen [time units] ago. It could have been an accidental
escape or...тАЭ

тАЬOr a deliberate release,тАЭ [Mghzl] [said] bitterly. тАЬI suspect ... you
know what I suspect. What have they evolved into?тАЭ