{"id":8763,"date":"2025-02-15T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763"},"modified":"2024-12-14T19:42:35","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T19:42:35","slug":"biosemiotics-and-the-origins-of-life-on-earth-part-6-of-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763","title":{"rendered":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>0302 In section 5.5 of&nbsp;<em>Semiotic Agency<\/em>&nbsp;and sections 9.4 and 9.5 of&nbsp;<em>Pathways,<\/em>&nbsp;Alexei Sharov presents&nbsp;<em>a replicator-niche coupling model<\/em>.&nbsp;&nbsp;Several items are required: water, oil, pigments (in oil), light, and two complementary molecules that are separate in water, yet combine to form an active site when they attach to the surface of an oil droplet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0304 Here is a picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8764\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png 600w, https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>0305 Let me start with the oil droplet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Water tends to drive alkanes out of solution.&nbsp;&nbsp;That is why alkanes form oil droplets in water.&nbsp;&nbsp;These droplets are not really stable, because they are not held together because of mutual attraction, but are held in place by&nbsp;<em>the fact that each water molecule networks with other water molecules<\/em>&nbsp;so well that, if a molecule does not participate in&nbsp;<em>water&#8217;s hydrogen-bond networks,<\/em>&nbsp;it gets driven out of solution. That also applies to the pigment, which is oil-soluble and not water-soluble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0306 What about the polymers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Parts of complementary polymers are soluble in water.&nbsp;&nbsp;Other parts are not as soluble.&nbsp;&nbsp;So, parts are driven out of water and parts are pulled back into water.&nbsp;&nbsp;These molecules collect on the surface of the oil droplet, then couple with one another, with the pigment and with an alkane, which is part of the oil droplet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>0307 There are no oxygen molecules in the picture.&nbsp;&nbsp;Today, the Earth&#8217;s atmosphere is around 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen.&nbsp;&nbsp;In the early Earth&#8217;s atmosphere, reduced carbon compounds make the smaller fraction and nitrogen makes the large fraction.&nbsp;&nbsp;More or less.&nbsp;&nbsp;No scientist can go back in time and measure the composition of the atmosphere of the early Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reduced carbon in the atmosphere goes with the alkanes in the oil.&nbsp;&nbsp;Much of the light of the early sun is absorbed by the carbon-rich atmosphere, but some makes it down to pigments in the oil droplet.&nbsp;&nbsp;The pigment and complementary polymers conjoin in two locations in the figure below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide098.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide098.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8765\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide098.png 600w, https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide098-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>0308 Then, what happens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pigment absorbs a photon and becomes an electronically excited pigment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then,&nbsp;<em>the energy captured by this pigment<\/em>&nbsp;initiates a chemical reaction, where the alkane is oxidized to a fatty acid.&nbsp;&nbsp;Oxidation releases electrons.&nbsp;&nbsp;One among many possible oxidations is pictured above.&nbsp;&nbsp;With a little more oomph, that carboxylic acid would pop off as carbon dioxide.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, this reaction stops as an alkane chain with a carboxylic acid at the terminus.&nbsp;&nbsp;I call this molecule a &#8220;fatty acid&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the following figure, the two processes are depicted as two dyads.&nbsp;&nbsp;Each dyad exhibits the structure of reagents [turn into] products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide099.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide099.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-8766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide099.png 600w, https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide099-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>0309 Now, theoretically\u00a0<em>a reduction reaction<\/em>\u00a0is close at hand.\u00a0\u00a0If the oil droplet is near a chemical that can accept the electrons, then a coordinated reduction can take place.\u00a0\u00a0For example, the hydrogen ions and the electrons can combine to form 3H<sub>2<\/sub>(g).\u00a0\u00a0Or, atmosphere nitrogen (N<sub>2<\/sub>) can be reduced to ammonia, 2NH<sub>3<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>0302 In section 5.5 of&nbsp;Semiotic Agency&nbsp;and sections 9.4 and 9.5 of&nbsp;Pathways,&nbsp;Alexei Sharov presents&nbsp;a replicator-niche coupling model.&nbsp;&nbsp;Several items are required: water, oil, pigments (in oil), light, and two complementary molecules that are separate in water, yet combine to form an active site when they attach to the surface of an oil droplet. 0304 Here is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"0302 In section 5.5 of&nbsp;Semiotic Agency&nbsp;and sections 9.4 and 9.5 of&nbsp;Pathways,&nbsp;Alexei Sharov presents&nbsp;a replicator-niche coupling model.&nbsp;&nbsp;Several items are required: water, oil, pigments (in oil), light, and two complementary molecules that are separate in water, yet combine to form an active site when they attach to the surface of an oil droplet. 0304 Here is a [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"An Archaeology of the Fall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\"},\"headline\":\"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8)\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\"},\"wordCount\":525,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Book Review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\",\"name\":\"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"An Archaeology of the Fall\",\"description\":\"A Horror Story by Razie Mah\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall","og_description":"0302 In section 5.5 of&nbsp;Semiotic Agency&nbsp;and sections 9.4 and 9.5 of&nbsp;Pathways,&nbsp;Alexei Sharov presents&nbsp;a replicator-niche coupling model.&nbsp;&nbsp;Several items are required: water, oil, pigments (in oil), light, and two complementary molecules that are separate in water, yet combine to form an active site when they attach to the surface of an oil droplet. 0304 Here is a [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763","og_site_name":"An Archaeology of the Fall","article_published_time":"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04"},"headline":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8)","datePublished":"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763"},"wordCount":525,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png","articleSection":["Book Review"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763","name":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8) - An Archaeology of the Fall","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png","datePublished":"2025-02-15T20:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Slide097.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=8763#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Biosemiotics and the Origins of Life on Earth (Part 6 of 8)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/","name":"An Archaeology of the Fall","description":"A Horror Story by Razie Mah","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ad695f570ebd1b2a6f85c4ac5badcd04","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f66383028a15bc9f1f6f30c43ce372a5a073cb8ec7f9069fa5158a183efe4d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8767,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763\/revisions\/8767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}