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CONTENTS Preface 1 The Unfinished Revolution The Audacity of the Greeks Thinking Deeply About Nature From Atoms to Worlds The Man Who Displaced the Earth Witnessing the Birth of Science How We Know What We Know We Are All Scientists From Patterns to Understanding The Toolkit of Science Better Living Through Logic Does Science Have Limits? The Copernican Revolution The Reluctant Revolutionary The Mystic of Many Worlds Cementing the Heliocentric Model Worlds in Collision Master of the Universe Modern Cosmology Herschel Scans the Skies Better Telescopes, Better Technology Hubble and the Nature of the Nebulae Welcome to the Expanding Universe Einstein Gives Shape to Gravity Big Bang Enigmas of the Universe Enhancing our Senses Extending the Reach of the Eye Detecting Invisible Waves Exotic Messengers Our Place in the Universe Space: A Toy Model Time: A Toy Model The Emergence of Astrobiology Chemistry is Cosmic The Nature and Evolution of Life Astronomy and the Vastness of Space Astrobiology Grows Up 2 Life¿s Origins Cosmic Chemistry Helium and the Big Bang The Stuff of the Universe Cauldron of the Elements Cycles of Life and Death Deep Time Everyday Time Time Using Gravity Atoms and Time The Clocks in the Rocks First Traces of Life The Art of Reading Rocks Finding the Oldest Rocks A Time Capsule of Life Body Fossils Trace Fossils Molecular Fossils Life¿s Early Frontier Life in a Bottle The Miller-Urey Experiments Ingredients from Space The Nature of Life Life Uses Energy Life Battles Disorder Life Stores Information The Mechanism of Evolution How Did Life Start? An Intelligent Designer? From Atoms to Molecules RNA is Special The First Replicator The First Cell The Birth of Evolution One Earth Gaia An Intricate Dance 3 Extreme Life The Tree of Life Appearances Can Be Deceiving Phylogenetic Trees Intimate Strangers The Unity of Life A Genetic Bazaar Our Distant Ancestors Protists are Neat The Father of Extreme Life Champion Extremophiles Almost Invulnerable Cute but Tough Redefining Normal Some Like it Hot Living at the Edge Lost Worlds Meet the Titans of Toxicity Strategies for Survival Extreme Industries Miniature Industrialists The Midas Touch Photocopying DNA Tiny Superheroes to the Rescue A Conspiracy of Germs Cosmic Hitchhikers Riding the Interplanetary Shuttle A Thimbleful of Stardust Living Among the Stars How Strange Can Life Be? Chance and Necessity Life 1.1 Life 2.0 Exploring the Biological Landscape Artificial Life Life in a Computer A-Life Life Beyond Biology Welcome to the Singularity 4 Shaping Evolution Birth of the Earth Clues from the Crime Scene Collapse of the Solar Nebula From Dust Bunnies to Planets Collisions and Catastrophes The Primeval Earth Impacts Weighing the Odds Tunguska The Big One Hunting Space Junk Rocks from the Sky Meteorites for the Masses Cosmic Influences on Life The Fickleness of Stars Star Death The Ultimate Cataclysm Living with Radiation Life in Other Neighborhoods The Evolving Biosphere Changing Sun and Atmosphere Carbon and the Earth¿s Crust Snowball Earth Violent Change is Normal Shaping Life on Earth The Evolving Planet Darwin¿s Brilliant Idea Variation and Evolution The Role of Chance Life¿s Common Solutions Tolerating Imperfection Landmarks in Evolution The Power of Networking Life Surges The Emergence of Brains 5 Living in the Solar System How Special is the Earth? The Rare Earth Hypothesis Habitable Zones What We Mean by Habitable Rare or Inevitable? Mythic Mars The Mars in Each of Us Mars Attacks Canals on Mars Exploring the Red Planet Mars Up Close A Kinder, Gentler Mars The Little Rovers That Could Life on Mars Where the Water Went Martian Microbes? Wanted, Dead or Alive Greening the Red Planet The Value of Planets Earth¿s Evil Twin The Goddess of Love Welcomes You Greenhouse Life at the Edge Mysteries of Titan Sirens of Titan Patience and Romance Cassini and Huygens Pay a Visit What We Saw on Titan Could There be Life on Titan? Water World The Ice Floes of Europa Voyages to Europa Signs of Life Biomarkers Living in the Neighborhood 6 Distant Worlds Wobbling Stars Why Finding Planets is Hard The Man Who Harvests Planets Hot Jupiters Strange New Worlds Copernicus Redux Needle in a Haystack Transiting Planets Gravity Lends a Hand Playing the Odds Growing Planets Complexity and Chaos Forging Exoplanets Water Worlds Detecting Earths How to Find Clones of Home Big Glass Cheating the Atmosphere A Plethora of Planets Upcoming Missions The Promise of TPF Cutting to the Chase Travel to the Stars The Fastest Thing There Is Bigger and Bigger Fireworks New Technologies Between Science and Science Fiction Our Future in Space NASA Goes on a Diet Bring on the Robots The Experience of Space Your Next Vacation? Dreams of Other Worlds 7 Are We Alone? Where Are They? Fermi¿s Provocative Question Maybe the Question is Moot Belief Systems and Conspiracies The Absence of Space Tourists Opening Pandora¿s Box Cosmic Coincidences Fine-Tuning in Nature Is Life Surprising? Enter the Multiverse The Drake Equation Motivating the Search The Boy or Girl of Your Dreams The Optimists Weigh In Lost in Space Potentially Living World Counting Stars with Planet Stuff Potentially Life-Bearing Rocks Intelligence and Technology Defining Intelligence How We Got So Smart Is Intelligence Inevitable? The Aliens Among Us The Role of Technology Timing is Everything The Doomsday Hypothesis Room at the Bottom The Number of Companions Communicating in the Cosmos SETI Pioneers Beating the Odds Current Searches The Medium is the Message Why Are We So Lonely? Our Post-Biological Future Super Civilizations Reality and Simulation At One With the Cosmos Companionship or Loneliness? The Search for Meaning Credits Notes Reading List Media Resources Index
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication:
Life -- Origin.
Exobiology.
Life on other planets.