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ABIOGENESIS. "But we see that plants and animals during their growth continually transform dead into living matter, and that the chemical processes in living matter do not differ in principle from those in dead matter. There is, therefore, no reason to predict that abiogenesis is impossible, and I believe that it can only help science if the younger investigators realize that experimental abiogenesis is the goal of biology.” (Contrary to the maxim: "only life begets life"). https://lnkd.in/exkuKab View in LinkedIn

NEW BRANCH TO TREE OF LIFE. "It opened up a variety of manipulative possibilities—of controlling sex and "creating wholly new organic forms by varying slightly the conditions of development." https://lnkd.in/eQf5Evv View in LinkedIn

IMMENSE DISCOVERY. "E. G. Conklin (now at the University of Pennsylvania), in announcing Herbst's private letter confirming Loeb's work, considered artificial parthenogenesis "one of the greatest discoveries in biology." https://lnkd.in/eQf5Evv View in LinkedIn

BREAKING SPECIES BARRIERS. "The ability to overcome the triploid block can be asymmetric, with offspring viability dependent on whether the maternal or paternal parent had the higher ploidy level." https://lnkd.in/es_dhAz View in LinkedIn

HAUNTING IMAGE. "While most of the more serious journalists pulled back from the idea that Loeb was "manufacturing" life through artificial parthenogenesis, the image of Loeb as Faust or Frankenstein continued through the rest of the decade." https://lnkd.in/eQf5Evv View in LinkedIn

TABOO LINE. "The term “triploid block” has been coined to describe the regular observation that interploidy crosses, specifically between diploids and tetraploids, often result in early hybrid inviability and sterility." https://lnkd.in/es_dhAz View in LinkedIn

THE ELUSIVE PHANTOM. Loeb "told Snyder that his purpose was "to go to the bottom of things. I wanted to take life in my hands and play with it." Snyder described him reaching out, "as if to catch this elusive phantom," as he spoke. "I wanted to handle it in my laboratory as I would any other chemical reaction-to start it, stop it, vary it, study it under every condition, to direct it at my will!" https://lnkd.in/eQf5Evv View in LinkedIn

SPECIES BARRIERS. "Odd-ploidy levels represent a significant challenge to overcome in the formation of polyploids because interploidy crosses often have strong postzygotic reproductive barriers, severely reducing hybrid viability and fertility. However, evidence from both natural and experimental systems has shown that interploidy crosses can sometimes produce odd-ploidy offspring that are viable." https://lnkd.in/es_dhAz View in LinkedIn

ORIGIN OF LIFE. "But we have drawn a great step nearer to the chemical theory of life and may already see ahead of us the day when a scientist, experimenting with chemicals in a test tube, may see them unite and form a substance which shall live and move and reproduce itself." (Loeb). https://lnkd.in/eQf5Evv View in LinkedIn

ODD-PLOIDY TRANSIENTS. "When the formation of polyploids involves fusion of gametes with different ploidy levels (e.g., reduced and unreduced gametes, or between a diploid and a tetraploid), an individual with an unbalanced ploidy level (e.g., a triploid) will be formed. In most cases, these odd-ploidy individuals are a transient phase in polyploid formation, leading to the eventual production of higher ploidy, stable lineages such as tetraploids and hexaploids." https://lnkd.in/es_dhAz View in LinkedIn