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The 16 papers in this volume are concerned with the study of some of the most primitive bodies of the solar system, including comets, dark asteroids, carbonaceous chondrites and the primeval Earth. Major questions address their organic composition and the role that some of these bodies may have had on the processes of chemical evolution which presumably led to the emergence of life on Earth. The recent discovery of organic molecules in interstellar space, Halley's comet, and other primitive solar system bodies, coupled with the new measurements of deuterium/hydrogen isotope ratios in the amino acids of carbonaceous chondrites is increasing our understanding of the cosmic and prebiotic mechanisms of organic synthesis in the solar system and of the origin of life on Earth. ... Read more

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Examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume.

Considers exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as the basic chemical element, solar energy as the main energy source, or water as the primary solvent and the question of detecting bio- and geosignatures of such life forms, ranging from earth environments to deep space.

Seeks an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to realize this very special state of matter.

Avoids scientific jargon wherever possible to make this intrinsically interdisciplinary subject understandable to a broad range of readers.

Customer Reviews (1)

Useful insights on the potential for life elsewhere
This is not a comprehensive astrobiology text.Instead, it pursues a few key topics to a depth rarely found in other works.These include the definition of life, lessons from the history of life on Earth, possible sources for life, the importance of carbon as opposed to silicon, alternatives to water as a solvent, and signatures of life.It's well worth reading for anyone who is interested in the topic. ... Read more

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How did life originate in the universe? How did it all start after the creation of matter and the formation of elements in the stars? What are the pathways from the first organic molecules in space to the evolution of complex life forms on Earth and perhaps elsewhere? And how will it all end? The Universe itself sets the stage for the very interdisciplinary field of astrobiology that attempts to answer such questions, the central one being: What is the (cosmic) recipe for life? Currently there are only very few known elements in this vast mosaic. This book bridges a gap in the literature by bringing together leading specialists from different backgrounds who lecture on their fields, with close relevance to astrobiology, providing tutorial accounts that lead all the way to the forefront of research. The book will thus be useful for students, lecturers and reseachers alike. ... Read more

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Topics in astrobiology
This is a set of papers primarily of interest to astrobiologists.One might want to use it as part of an astrobiology course for graduate students.

The articles are fascinating.We start with a section on organic material in space.We learn about extrasolar planets, including "hot jupiters."We read a discussion of habitable zones for these extrasolar planets.And we look at a scenario of life being transferred from Mars to Earth.

Next is a section on water: how essential it is for life, and what it would mean to have life without water.We look at the geomorphological record of water-related erosion on Mars, and we see a discussion of tides on Europa.And we look at life in cold water, hot water, and salty water.

Third is a section on radiation and life.That includes magnetic shielding from cosmic rays, ultraviolet radiation, and effects of cosmic rays.The fourth section is about gravity: gravitational effects at the cellular level, and effects of gravity on plants and animals.And the fifth section is about complexity and life: scaling phenomena, molecular self-assembly, and what it would be like to look for fossils in an extraterrestrial environment.The book concludes with a paper about forthcoming space missions relevant to astrobiology.

This book has plenty of useful material for astrobiologists! ... Read more

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Systematically explores the early origins and basic definition of life.

Investigates the major theories of the origins of life in light of modern research with the aim of distinguishing between the necessary and the optional and between deterministic and random influences in the emergence of what we call ‘life.’

Treats and views life as a cosmic phenomenon whose emergence and driving force should be viewed independently from its Earth-bound natural history.

Synthesizes all the fundamental life-related developments in a comprehensive scenario, and makes the argument that understanding life in its broadest context requires a material-independent perspective that identifies its essential fingerprints

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An interesting book about a fundamental question
How did life originate?Well, it's a wide open question.As Popa tells us, an explanation that is missing a critical step won't do.There are plenty of clues.But Popa shows us that there are still many approaches to putting the clues together.

There are plenty of approaches that are being pursued today.Popa tells us about many of them.Still, let's remind ourselves of some of them.One is to look for fossil evidence and DNA evidence of our earliest ancestors.Say that these turn out to be hyperthermophiles.Use that information, as well as the stability properties of RNA and DNA, to deduce the environment life originated in.A second idea is to look at the way we synthesize RNA (or DNA) today.Use that information to speculate about how the first RNA and DNA evolved.A third idea is to look at the self-assembly properties of entities for clues.A fourth idea is to note the similarity of ATP and the nucleic acid adenine.Assume this is no coincidence!A fifth idea is to do all sorts of experiments with collections of monomers and see if they arrange themselves into replicating strings.A sixth idea is to concentrate on computer simulations of all this.Computer simulations of the origin of replication show that there are some dangers, such as the "selfish RNA catastrophe," the "short-circuit catastrophe," the "population collapse catastrophe," and simply the risk of too many replication errors.Draw conclusions from the fact that these hazards were successfully avoided.A seventh idea is to at least answer the question of what came first, replication, metabolism, or cellularization.And so on.It seems that there is a great deal we aren't at all sure of.

Popa starts with the issue of the issue of the development of cellularization, metabolism, and replication.He asserts that since all are needed for life, they must have evolved together, not serially.He states that the ATP coincidence probably is unimportant, with ATP's use as an energy carrier being a late development. And he takes on the mathematical modelers by stating that they generally omit first order effects by not tracing the energy flow and the degradation of the evolving entities.

The issues Popa dwells on most are the energy sources, bioinformation, chirality, and the origin of specificity (as opposed to "metabolism" or "homeostasis").Of these, the part on chirality was the most interesting to me.Popa discusses the implication that life's chirality implies the existence of some large-scale chiral driver, such as rotating vortices or asymmetries in right and left circularly polarized light.

There's also quite a bit of useful material about the definition of life.Popa is right to make the point that "life" and "living entities" are not at all synonymous.

Anyway, it is an interesting book about a tough problem: I'm glad I can just read about it and don't have to solve it! ... Read more

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This book examines the origins, development and fate of intelligent species in the observable part of our universe. It scrutinizes what kind of information about extraterrestrial intelligent life can be inferred from our own biological, cultural and scientific evolution and the likely future of mankind. There is emphasis on the geological conditions and consequences of life's conquest of land as the pre-condition for the emergence of life with our type of technical intelligence.

Customer Reviews (4)

A book I had been waiting for!
I am rarely emphatic about scientific books, but this one is different. A very dense and comprehensive treatment of the subject, extremely well structured and nothing missing from the index! I particularly like the clarity of the figures. Hardly a book for people without a scientific background, but if you do have the background, go for it: it's like a refresher course and an update for many things you learnt at university years ago, with lots of astronomy and biology, but too little geology! Altogether, a very enjoyable read.

Well-organized and easy to read
I truly enjoyed reading this book.It is carefully written, has an enormous amount of up-to-date information, and covers the subject reasonably well.Astrobiology is a relatively new subject, and this is one of the best books about it.I was very impressed by the amount of material Ulmschneider was able to cover in only 250 pages and how clearly he explained everything.He went through the origin of the chemical elements, planet formation, the threat of planetary migration, the search for extrasolar planets, planetary atmospheric instabilities, theories on the origin of life on Earth, the evolution of life, the threats to the Earth's environment from the existence of life (such as the Huronic glaciation), the search for extraterrestrial life, and much more. That included some speculative material, some of which I found dubious.But that does not detract from the overall value of this book.

Impressive, though technical and mathematical
In this densely written book, Heidelberg University professor Peter Ulmschneider covers a remarkably wide range of questions related to extraterrestrial life and intelligence, and does so with convincing authority.His work,part of Springer's Physics and Astronomy series, has the flavor of a university textbook, with numerous graphs, tables, and diagrams, and a few equations.Readers will need either a basic knowledge of science or a willingness to learn while reading.

Part I, about planets, discusses the origin of chemical elements, planet formation, the search for extrasolar planets, and planets suitable for life. Part II, about life, begins at the most basic level of organic chemistry, then moves on to a condensed discussion of biological evolution on Earth.A much briefer chapter provides a quick overview of thesearch for extraterrestrial life.Part III, on intelligence, takes an unusual approach by beginning with the future of Humankind, emphasizing human expansion into the solar system and possible threats to our survival.Ulmschneider argues that, by thinking about our own future development, we can gain insights into the nature of extraterrestrial intelligence.He concludes his book with a discussion of extraterrestrial intelligent life, briefly noting some of the proposed explanations for the Fermi Paradox.

This book is not for casual readers. Because it covers so much territory, the discussions are highly condensed. Nonetheless, Ulmschneider has done an impressvie job. The book includes some small but well-reproduced colored pictures.

a complete picture of astrobiology
This book was so dense with information and so elegantly organized that I found it easier than most recreational reading I do these days. The author explains how one might answer what I consider to be the ultimate question: Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? The author refrains from pontificating his own opinion, but rather provides the background information necessary for the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The basics of planetary science, astrophysics, and biology are presented in the first section, followed by a description of the conditions in which life has evolved, and where elsewhere in the universe we might find such conditons. Part three (the section that I found to be the most fascinating) described the nature of intelligent life and the fate of humanity. As a student studying astrobiology, I found that this book did an amazing job of unifying many of the classes I have taken, and painted a very good picture of Astrobiology as a sigle subject. I would recommend the book to anyone intersted in astrobiology, space exploration, or the future of mankind. The material presented was sufficiently detailed for a student to gain insight, yet presented in such a simple manner that even the casual reader would walk away with and understanding of the contents. ... Read more

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Based on the material delivered at several summer schools, this book is the first comprehensive textbook at the graduate level encompassing all aspects that are associated with the emerging field of astrobiology. Volume I gathers a first set of extensive lectures that cover a broad range of topics, from the formation of solar system to the quest for the most primitive life forms that have emerged on the Early Earth. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Science News, published by Science Service, Inc. on December 20, 2008. The length of the article is 2677 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The hunt for habitable planets: here and now, a new suite of small telescopes are poised to look for Earthlike planets beyond the solar system.
Author: Ron Cowen
Publication: Science News (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 20, 2008
Publisher: Science Service, Inc.
Volume: 174Issue: 13Page: 16(5)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences, published by Mississippi Academy of Sciences on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3901 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Life on Mars: past, present, and future.
Author: Christopher P. McKay
Publication: Journal of the Mississippi Academy of Sciences (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: Mississippi Academy of Sciences
Volume: 48Issue: 3Page: 132(6)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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The “Gale Encyclopedia of Science” is written at a level somewhere between the introductory sources and the highly technical texts currently available. This six-volume set covers all major areas of science and engineering, as well as mathematics and the medical and health sciences, while providing a comprehensive overview of current scientific knowledge and technology. Alphabetically arranged entries provide a user-friendly format that makes the broad scope of information easy to access and decipher. Entries typically describe scientific concepts, provide overviews of scientific areas and, in some cases, define terms.

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This digital document is a journal article from Earth Science Reviews, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The search for extraterrestrial life was recently intensified because of new space missions. As long as life has not been found elsewhere in the universe, the best chances to discover extraterrestrial life are considered to be in the study of meteorites. The finding of traces of life on meteorites has been claimed several times, but all claims so far have appeared unjustified. One of the problems is that it is not known how possible extraterrestrial life developed, nor on the basis of which chemical, biochemical and energetic basis this may have taken place. It is argued that possible traces of life that differ fundamentally from life on Earth will not be recognized with the knowledge we have nowadays; traces of life that do not differ fundamentally from those on earth will not be recognized as extraterrestrial, either because such life may have originated on Earth (and have made a space trip afterwards), or because life on Earth may have come from the same source from where the life forms on the meteorite were derived. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on September 1, 2001. The length of the article is 884 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: GROWING FOOD ON THE FINAL FRONTIER.(production of food crops in space)(Brief Article)
Author: Cutshall Sandy
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2001
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 76Issue: 6Page: 35

Article Type: Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World of Microbiology and Immunology, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 829 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the concepts, theories, discoveries, and pioneers in microbiology and immunology, using a mix of traditional academic and topical articles, this title addresses current ethical, legal, and social issues with special emphasis given to biological warfare and terrorism. ... Read more