Donato Colangelo’s Reviews > Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life > Status Update
Donato Colangelo
is 56% done
““As we have noted several times, we have reasons to believe that small ponds on land are more likely places for life to have originated, but hydrothermal vent environments certainly can sustain life.” So, ponds are essential. On a moon without any pond how can we explain the emergence of life? I read “vent” here. Not to say that Enceladus does harbor life, but to me it seems that vents are important…
— Nov 01, 2025 12:36PM
Like flag
Donato’s Previous Updates
Donato Colangelo
is 80% done
Livio’s section is far more enjoyable, rational and less biased than Szostak’s. Unfortunately, he seldom falls into the pit of the theoretical dead-end presented for the origin of life, wasting pages of good science.
— Nov 02, 2025 08:37AM
Donato Colangelo
is 53% done
Started Livio’s section about the search for extraterrestrial life. I should say it’s better than the first part, about which I have so many misgivings…
— Nov 01, 2025 10:01AM
Donato Colangelo
is 42% done
Total surprise as the authors directly attack the conceptual framework presented by Martin and Russel. From the short tirade against the theory, I get the authors of this book have not fully understood what they are criticizing. They confound black smokers and alkaline vents and conclude by saying that Martin and Russel work diverts “attention and resources from more realistic scenarios.” Come on.
— Oct 31, 2025 07:36AM
Donato Colangelo
is 40% done
It is as I feared. Complex treatise that provides no plausible answers. I mean, it’s a great biochemistry discussion, but thermodynamics is left out, entirely. We can discuss lab experiments and chemical mechanisms, but if we leave the energy fluxes out of the discussion we end up having nothing at all.
— Oct 31, 2025 04:41AM
Donato Colangelo
is 13% done
Ok, so the RNA world. Interesting take by the authors but nothing new under the sun, so to speak. Rather, chapter 2 was strangely short for dealing with such a complex subject like the role of RNA in protein synthesis.
— Oct 18, 2025 11:12AM
