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THE HARTFORD COURANT: Friday, May 9, 1980 W29 cienti ists Searching for Humanity's Ultimate Roots In the beginning, there was what? How did life begin? What was happening on this planet those billions of years ago? A group of scientists with varied backgrounds hope to find the answers to those age-old questions. LOS ANGELES (AP) A few billion years ago back when Earth was new rivers rolled down from barren mountains into great dead seas. Rainstorms squalled and lightning flashed. Lava hissed and spewed from giant volcanoes. Nothing lived on that long-ago Earth.

But the oceans were astir with promise they swirled and simmered a primordial soup held the raw materials of life. Somehow, probably in the first billion years of our world's existence, that promise was fulfilled. A nondescript glob of chemicals crossed some vague and wondrous boundary to become the 1 form and direct its existence. A "fine drizzle" of these nonbiologi-cally produced organic molecules rained continually into the primordial oceans and "it was from these sorts of chemical reactions that life eventually emerged," Schopf says. "But," he notes, "nobody has yet been able to show in the geologic record the existence of organic matter that was made nonbiologically." Organic matter made in a laboratory can be readily distinguished from that made by living things.

But when both varieties are buried in sedimentary rock and given a few billion years to deteriorate, "they both degrade toward the same thing," Schopf says. Proving which is which is a tricky proposition and previous results are not universally accepted. The UCLA-based group plans to recreate a primordial atmosphere, produce some primodial soup and then age it artificially compressing centuries into instants. "We're going to take the stuff we make and age it in the laboratory and we're going to monitor the chemical changes and then compare that with the sorts of stuff we find in very ancient sediments." With modern chemical techniques, the scientists hope to determine the origin of rock-borne organic matter and decide if life was there. Reduced to basics, Schopf says, "If you have a carbon source and an energy source, you can be alive.

Then, if you want to evolve (and advance biologically), you've got to have a way to reproduce and to encode changes in the genetic mechanisms. "That is what life is all about." He says the first living thing was probably an incredibly simple creature that ate the primordial soup, taking carbon from the material that spawned it. Organic matter, collecting in fits and starts, might have formed into "sort of a living oil droplet," Schopf says. "It's possible to envision such systems being alive, but such a thing would never be preserved in the rocks." Eventually though, the droplets would have evolved into simple, but recognizable, cells. Then, as the eons passed, bacteria formed simple one-celled microbes, but creatures with a fantastic ability.

They no longer dined on soup. These special bacteria could take carbon dioxide and other substances from the atmo sphere and use sunlight to break the chemicals apart, releasing energy and producing carbohydrates in a process much like the photosynthesis of green plants. For the first time, organic material was being produced biologically. "Now you have organisms that are no longer dependent on ready-made foodstuffs," Schopf says. "That should have represented a major thing in the history of life." That's another major event the scientists hope to identify and date.

"There are lots of ways that should be represented in the sediments and we hope that if we do the right things, we'll be able to tell when that happened." The first bacteria inhabited a world without oxygen. That began to change when blue-green algae the most primitive of plants learned the secret of photosynthesis, which makes modern life possible. That probably happened about 2 billion years ago. The algae took carbon from carbon dioxide, hydrogen from water and energy from sunlight. The byproducts of this photosynthesis, a vastly more effecient metabolism than the earlier bacterial variety, are carbohydrates and, for the first time on Earth, oxygen.

Not only is life feeding off the environment, life is changing it. The ancient algae, like modern pine trees and seaweeds, "give off oxygen and at that point evolution starts to change," Schopf says. "You change the Earth's atmosphere to one that now has free oxygen. The ecosystem is now established at a microbial level. "You can now have things that can breathe.

"That turns out to be a tremendously important thing." It represents the third goal of the research team. Schopf continues, "It was all at a microscopic level, but the whole Earth's ecocystem was changed into one that is essentially modern. "You've got little trees: these microscopic algae do the same thing as a pine tree (by producing oxygen through photosynthesis). You don't have tigers running around the forest, but you've got bacteria that do exactly the same thing as a tiger: they eat other bacteria." From that microscopic jungle, where even then only the fittest survived, the course of evolution changed as life became larger and increasingly complex until finally, Schopf says, "you get things that are walking around." AP Search for the Beginning through the eons in search of humanity's ultimate roots the very beginning of life. "There's only one place you can go to find out what really happened," Schopf says, "and that's the rock Paleobiologist J.

William Schopf examines a thin section of 3.76-billion-year-old rock in his laboratory at the University of California at Los Angeles. Schopf and 15 other world-class scientists with varied specialties are engaged in an unusual research project, sifting back Just how far back is a much-debated question. "In this business," Schopf says, "there's only one place you can go to find out what really happened and that's the rock record. You have to go to where the evidence is and the evidence was buried in rocks 2 billion, 3 billion and SVz billion years ago." There are few rocks left to look at. None has been found from the Earth's first 800 million years.

The oldest sedimentary rocks, found in Greenland, are 3.8 billion years old. The record of life is now well established through microfossils back to about 2.3 billion years. Still older rocks reveal microscopic bubble or rod- ancient rocks what scientists like to call "the primordial soup." The recipe for this special broth calls for an ocean that's spiked with simple organic matter the molecules of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from which life is made. Generally accepted theories, based on laboratory experiments, revolve around early Earth's probable atmosphere an inhospitable mixture of hydrogen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane gas and ammonia. Energy from lightning or from the sun would rearrange some of those chemicals to form molecules that could in turn form DNA and proteins the master molecules of life that dictate its Scientists Use Dormant Volcano In Hawaii as Sky-Watching Site nisi living imug.

From such unfeeling chemicals, Earth eventually filled with a teeming diversity of life, from microbes to men. Today, billions of years later, an international team of scientists is searching the eons for humanity's ultimate roots the very beginning of life The search', says UCLA paleobiologist J. William Sehonf. "pops ripht to the heart of man's curiosity. Man wonders who he is and where he came from and how he got here and how it all began." Schopf and 15 other world-class scientists with specialties ranging from geology and mineralogy to microbiology and astrophysics are combining their diverse talents 'to find out "how it all began" and when.

The unusual research project, which began last summer, is to last 15 months. Schopf, 38, is financing the ambitious project with a $150,000 research grant that came with an Alan T. Waterman Award he won in 1977. The annual National Science Foundation award was authorized by Congress to honor some of the nation's top young scientists. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is adding another $150,000 for the project.

NASA has an abiding interest in whether life could form on other planets. Schopf is among a handful of researchers who have successfully rummaged through great spans of time for proof that the story of life reaches far, far back into Earth's 4.6 billion-year history. Physicist Challenged On Theory SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) Light holds the ultimate speed record of all things in the universe, or does it? For 75 years, most physicists have generally interpreted Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity as excluding a faster-than-light effect. However, recent experiments in particle physics have raised puzzling questions in which separate subatomic particles exhibit apparently instantaneous communication. A recent article in the journal Scientific American says five of eight recent experiments in the field of quantum mechanics point in the direction of this phenomenon.

Maverick physicist Jack Sarfatti, a leader in the'new physics," says this is no surprise to him. Sarfatti, 40, says he has worked out the mathematics to show that not only does a superluminal (beyond light) channel of communication exist, but that mankind can harness it and reap benefits that are now only dreamed of. "Almost all physicists think that any kind of faster-than-light communication violates Einstein's theory of relativity," he says. "I'm saying that isn't correct." "I'm saying they have not looked carefully at what Einstein's theory is actually saying when you include quantum theory. When Einstein developed relativity in 1905, quantum theory was just coming along." "What I've succeeded in doing is using group theory, which is the deepest mathematical expression of the quan tum mechanics, which gives a deeper conception of what geometry means.

What I've been able to show recently is that when you look at Einstein's theory from this deeper point of view, it has the faster-than-light effect in it." Part of the reason Sarfatti has trouble getting physicists to "bother to read" his work is that he is a dropout from academia (he taught at the University of California, San Diego), is slow to admit his mistakes and leads an admittedly "bohemian" existence in San Francisco's North Beach, hanging out in espresso coffee houses and working on his theories or talking with a small group of followers. Particle physicist Henry Stapp of the University of California's Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, says "quantum mechanics does seem to require some superluminal connection," but adds thathe says Sarfatti's earlier ideas on the subject "were completely without merit" and they argued for a year before Sarfatti admitted it. Stapp and Brian Josephson of Cam- -bridge University, the youngest man ever to win the Nobel Prize, also say the faster-than-light effect may be linked to what Josephson calls "the higher abilities of In other words, paranormal powers such as. ESP, telepathy and precognition. ments related to reduced oxygen intake.

It is no place for the very young or the elderly. "We require an astronomer to acclimatize for one night down below before making observations," says Sidney Wolff, associate director of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii. "Down below" is the observatory support facility, Hale Pohaku, located at the elevation on the mountain. Other problems at this elevation are the occasional blizzards and snowdrifts that close the access road for days at a time and the rare days when the wind whips up to over 100 mph, sending inadequately secured equipment tumbling down the mountainside. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a consortium of American universities, has decided that Mauna.

Kea would be the best location for its planned radio telescope, the polished metal dish which would measure 84 feet across. "We should know by the end of summer "of 1980 if it'll be funded," says Mark Gordon, the observatory's project manager. If it is funded and local requirements are met, 1981 would be used to prepare for the construction which would take three years with the telescope ready for operation by May of 1985, said Gordon. "It would be the foremost radio tele-Scope in the world," he says. This array of scientific hardware is.

exploring the origin and fate of the universe, along with seeking to determine if life on Eearth is unique or universal. Hawaii optical telescope and a $10 million, 118-inch National Aeronautics and Space Administration infrared telescope. They join the University of Hawaii's 10-year-old, 88-inch optical telescope and two 24-inch instruments. The Canada-France-Hawaii telescope is the product of a consortium, with Canada and France providing the money and Hawaii the site. The United Kingdom and NASA lease their observatory sites from the state and share in the costs of operating the Hale Pohaku support facility down the mountain.

The characteristics of the mountain-top make it ideal for an observatory. At this altitude, the air is dry. and thin, greatly reducing the refraction caused by the atmosphere on light waves from space. The nightly below-freezing temperatures assure virtually no heat-related distortion. And being in the tropics, it gives astronomers a much wider view of the universe, covering most of the stars visible from Earth's southern hemisphere.

It also is located only 40 miles from the international airport at Hilo, less than a two-hour drivein the four-wheel-drive vehicles required to negotiate the switchbacks on the steep, unpaved road to the summit. But many factors making the site ideal for observing the distant universe make it uncomfortable for the astronomers and their supporting staff of computer experts, engineers and maintenance personnel. At this altitude, the astronomers and their visitors are plagued with lightheadedness, headaches and nausea, ail MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (AP) Almost overnight, this dormant volcano has become the home of the world's most modern and sophisticated array of telescopic instruments, probing the farthest galaxies in hopes of unlocking the secrets of the universe and possibly even life itself. Scattered across several acres of the barren cinder wasteland on the summit of Hawaii's highest mountain are domes containing two of the world's largest infrared telescopes, two large optical telescopes and two smaller instruments. Before Congress is a National Science Foundation budget request for $30 million to build the world's most advanced radio telescope at the Mauna Kea complex.

"With a radio scope, we would cover the whole spectrum. If an event would occur, the power we have on Mauna Kea would be ideal to cover it," says Colin Humphries, project manager for the United Kingdom's recently dedicated 150-inch infrared telescope, the world's largest. There are other optical telescopes larger than the ones found on Mauna Kea, including a 238-inch instrument in Russia and a 197-inch telescope at MountMt. Palomar in California. But in terms of total viewing area, meaning the combined surface area of the primary mirrors on all the telescopes located here, Mauna Kea is unsurpassed.

Besides the $5.2 million United Kingdom ilnfrared tTelescope, there is a 144-inch, $30 million Canada-France- shaped features and other evidence that suggest simple cells. "We've got a few microfossils," Schopf says, "but we're not too sure. Some of them look to me like they might be fossils. Some of them I'm sure are not. "So the question is still: What in the world was going on back then?" That's what Schopf and his colleagues from the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany and Puerto Rico are trying to find out.

Schopf says the group's primary goal is to determine just when something actually began to live. To do that, the team hopes to detect in that, not only does a supcrliminal (beyond light) channel of communications exist, but that mankind can. harness it and reap benefits that are now only dreamed of "So I'm not contradicting relativity, I'm actually extending it," says Sarfatti, who adds that the superluminal effect may be at "the very basis of the physical mechanism of our consciousness." "Once one understands that, then a lot of the controversy over paranormal phenomena has to be looked at afresh from this richer quantum mechanical geometry that is able to account for these weird kinds of telepathic or pre-cognitive effects that people have re- ported through the centuries and of which there is a lot of good data," Sarfatti says. "That all begins to make sense within the framework of modern quantum physics, including Einstein's theory, when it's properly explained. Its a world view shift." College Gets Grant BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) At Bowling Green State University, a government grant was received to establish a special bus service to transport students to the new campus recreation center so they could get some exercise.

jjlj Solved Math Problem For 75 years, most physicists have generally interpreted Albert Ein-. stein's special theory of relativity as. excluding a faster-than-light effect. Physicist Jack Sarfatti says he has. worked out the mathematics to show But they disagree with Sarfatti that the effect is controllable.

"I say I think we can also use it," responds Sarfatti. "It involves something called the reciprocity principle of Hermann Weyl and something called Young patterns. There's not much more I can say without getting mathematical, but there is something in the group theory approach to quantum mechanics which indicates to me that that's the clue to how to control this superluminal effect." Sarfatti's computations are based on the mathematical ideas of "group theoryy' as formulated by German mathematician Felix Klein at Erlanger University in 1872. "In other words, what I'm saying is that I now have a quantum mechanical extension of Einstein's theory of relativity which shows in a very clear way to a mathematical physicist who would bother to read it and there are a lot of physicists who don't want to even know it because it seems like it's breaking dogma that actually when Einstein's theory is properly formulated in this bigger frame of reference it has this faster-than-light effect right there at the very basis of it. View Out of This World Domes housing the United Kingdom 'Infrared Telescope, left, and the observatory of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy are ajnong installations on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The 1 dor mant volcano, considered by scientists to be the premier observatory site in the world, has become the home of the world's most modern and sophisticated ar--ray of telescopic instruments.