Forms
Required forms for submission
Sweep this entire section with the mouse (click and drag the pointer over all the forms, then Ctrl-C) and paste the forms (control V) into Microsoft Word, MS Write, or MS Wordpad. Then edit the forms to match your particular data. For instance, you may have six authors jointly submitting, or only one author. Eliminate or add “lines” as needed. You can submit the tailored and more pristine “filled-out” forms as attachments to an email.
Reprints of a maximum of three science journal publications should be emailed to us as .pdf attachments provided by each journal. If the journal cannot provide a .pdf file of your publication, have the graphics department of your university or institute scan the publication into Adobe Acrobat Writer. Submitters’ essays are also best sent to us as .pdf file attachments. If Submitters lack Adobe Acrobat Writer software, the Foundation can convert a Word attachment to a .pdf file for you. This greatly facilitates getting submissions to judges in many countries. Signed legal forms and the self-evaluation form should be sent 2-day Priority Mail or over-nighted to us to help authenticate the date of reception. The judging must be completed within two years of delivery of the submission at the Foundation (provided all of the journal papers in the submission have been in print for at least 12 months).
Send submission packets to:
The Origin-of-Life Science Foundation, Inc., 113 Hedgewood Dr., Greenbelt, MD 20770-1610
The Self-Evaluation Form (# 1) is very similar to what the judges will use. Study and fill this form out carefully. The essay is also important to explain to busy judges how your journal papers address the major issues of life-origin found on the self-evaluation form.
Form # 1 Submitters’ Self-Evaluation
The Foundation expects no submission to score all “10’s.” These guidelines are provided merely to help submitters and judges focus on the derivation of prescriptive information (bioinstruction) as a part of gene and code emergence. Also of interest below are some of the most challenging and/or neglected areas in previous life-origin research. Please circle one number in each set of 1 – 10 that best describes your submission, with 10 being best.
To what degree does your submission address:
A. how sequences of representational symbols (nitrogen bases) acquired functional phenotypic significance only after being translated into a completely different language (AA sequence)
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B. algorithmic sequence theory’s seeming independence from the laws of physics and chemistry (the fact that aperiodic template sequencing is not determined or ordered by cause-and-effect chemical necessity)
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C. the source of a functional template; the derivation of instructional sequence specification needed to accomplish specific tasks and to achieve essential biochemical function
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D. how so many local functions became integrated into a unified, coherent, symphonic-like concert of cooperative function (metabolism)
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E. how evolution, which has no goal, selected manufacturing processes needed to realize the goal of producing essential end-products/metabolites
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F. the mechanism by which highly directional, multi-step biochemical pathways arose in cases where no selectable phenotypic benefit is realized until the final step in many of those biochemical pathways
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Continuing, the degree to which your
G. mechanism provides Selection Pressure in a prebiotic, chemical- evolutionary environment to overcome the statistical prohibitiveness of mere chance
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H. definition of life conforms to phenomenological (observational, empirical) life as seen in the simplest known “free-living” organisms
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I. model of life-origin fulfills the fundamental “Continuity Principle” of life-origin research (transitional connectivity between your model’s hypothetical “life” and current life: e.g., explaining “genetic takeover”)
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J. model provides adequate mechanism for achieving homeostatic metabolism – the maintenance of a relatively constant internal metabolic environment despite changing external environments and thermodynamic decline.
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K. hypothetical model is empirically accountable (biochemically, thermodynamically, kineticly, physically) in a prebiotic environment
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L. model explains the derivation of homochirality in living organisms
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M. model addresses biochemical problems such as the instability and difficulty with which ribonucleotides are made and activated; exclusively 3’5′ beta-D-ribonucleotide phosphodiester linkages are established rather than 2’5′ or 5’5′; deleterious cross-reactions are avoided; hydrolysis is prevented; and other issues of prebiotic plausibility.
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N. submission silences arguments of all-or-none “irreducible complexity” in evolving molecular machines and larger biosystems
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O. submission demonstrates that the “appearance or inference of design” in biosystems is only apparent rather than real
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How likely would you be to award The Origin-of-Life Prize to your own submission if you were one of its judges?
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___________________________________________ (1st author signature) – date)
Submission form # 2
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_________________ Name(1) – (Prof, Prof Dr, Dr) – Institutional affiliation
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_________________ Name(2) – (Prof, Prof Dr, Dr) – Institutional affiliation
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________________ Name(3) – (Prof, Prof Dr, Dr) – Institutional affiliation
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___________________________________ E mail of first author
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___________________________________ E mail of second author
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______________ Work Phone # (1) ____________ Home phone # (1)
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Best hours to call W: ________________ H: ________________
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_________ Overnight Courier delivery address (no P.O. Boxes) (1)
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Bibliography of the published paper/s included in your submission
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I certify that I have read, and fully understand, all rules of the Origin-of-Life Prize at http//lifeorigin.org on
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______ (date) ___________________________ (author #1 signature)
Form # 3 Certification of Originality
Acceptance of Judges Decision as Irrevocable, Nonconestable, and Final
Agreement to Limitation of Foundation’s Financial Liability to Submitters
- I/we hereby certify that the submitted published work for consideration by the judges of The Origin-of-Life Prize is my/our original work and free of any plagiarism.
- I/we agree to indemnify, release and hold the Foundation harmless for liability or damages resulting rom any and all claims, actions, suits and proceedings, including but not limited to plagiarism claims made by any third party unaffiliated with the Foundation. Once awarded, the Foundation shall make Prize annuity payments to the winner/s as designated in Form #2 unless legally enjoined or otherwise directed to submit such payments to some other person or entity as a result of an order from a court of competent jurisdiction.
- I/we hereby agree to accept the judges’ decision as irrevocable, noncontestible, and final in evaluating my/our submission to the “The Origin-of-Life Prize.” I/We understand that we can resubmit additional submissions provided each new submission includes at least one additional publication, a revised essay, and an additional application fee.
- I/we hereby agree that the maximum financial liability to me/us of the Origin-of-Life Science Foundation, Inc. in connection with my/our submission of any application or applications shall not exceed a grand total of Five Hundred United States Dollars (US $500) per submission. By submitting my/our entry for the Origin-of-Life prize, I/we agree that the Origin-of-Life Prize shall for all intents and purposes be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the State of Maryland, in the United States of America, as those laws are applied to contracts, agreements, and contests entered into and performed entirely in Maryland by Maryland residents. I/we further agree that any suit or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Origin-of-Life Prize shall be commenced in a federal court in the District of Maryland, Southern Division, Greenbelt, or in the Circuit Court of Prince George’s County, Maryland, and each party irrevocably consents to the jurisdiction and venue of such courts.
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First author’s name, signature and date
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Second author’s name, signature, and date
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Third author’s name, signature, and date
Form # 04 Check-off sheet to make sure your submission is complete
- Completed Form # 01
- Completed Form # 02
- Completed Form # 03
- Application fee of $500 U.S. to discourage frivolous submissions.
- A .pdf file email attachment of each English language science journal publication reprint (3 maximum). Publications must be from a naturalistic (non-supernaturalistic), peer-reviewed scientific journal
- A .pdf file or Word attachment of your 2,000-word English-language essay/abstract presenting to the judges why you feel your submitted publications provide adequate mechanism to explain the origin of sufficient prescriptive bioinformation to instruct and produce “life” through natural process.