Habitability of the Universe before Earth: Astrobiology: Exploring Life on Earth and Beyond (series)

Habitability of the Universe before Earth: Astrobiology: Exploring Life on Earth and Beyond (series) examines the times and places-before life existed on Earth-that might have provided suitable environments for life to occur, addressing the question: Is life on Earth de novo, or derived from previous life? The universe changed considerably during the vast epoch between the Big Bang 13.6 billion years ago and the first evidence of life on Earth 4.1 billion years ago, providing significant time and space to contemplate where, when and under what circumstances life might have arisen. No other book covers this cosmic time period from the point of view of its potential for life. The series covers a broad range of topics encompassing laboratory and field research into the origins and evolution of life on Earth, life in extreme environments and the search for habitable environments in our solar system and beyond, including exoplanets, exomoons and astronomical biosignatures. Provides multiple hypotheses on the origin of life and distribution of living organisms in spaceExplores the diversity of physical environments that may support the origin and evolution of lifeIntegrates contemporary views in biology and cosmology, and provides reasons that life is far more mobile in space than most people expectIncludes access to a companion web site featuring supplementary information such as animated computer simulations INDICE: Arguments For and Against Life Before Earth 1. Life before Earth 2. Earth before life 3. Galactic panspermia, multiple origins of life and selection effects: can we constrain the parameter space? 4. The habitability of our evolving galaxy 5. N-body simulations and galactic habitability 6. Astrophysical and cosmological constraints on life 7. Gravity and life 8. Galactic distribution of chirality sources 9. Radiation as a constraint for life in the universe 10. Primitive carbon: Before Earth and much before any life on it 11. Origins of galactic organic matter 11. Geochemical energy sources in the early universe 12. Mars-like soils on Earth: Implications for a habitable Mars and exoplanets 13. Quantifying the biogeochemical niche space of life 14. The when and where of liquid water in the history of the universe 15. Occupied and empty regions of the space of extremophile parameters 16. The intelligence of structured matter: A theory of structural evolution and interaction of matter 17. Habitats for the origin of cybernetic purpose and pathways for its evolution 18. Is symbiosis as one of evolution's engines inevitable? The gigayear transition from microbial to macroscopic organisms and the concept of progress in evolution 19. The stoichiometric evolution of life in the universe 20. The time-dependent Drake equation 21. Why on theoretical grounds it may be likely that 'life' exists throughout the universe 22. Are we the first? 10 billion years of evolution before Earth 23. Life before its origin on Earth: Implications of a late emergence of terrestrial life

• ISBN: 978-0-12-811940-2
• Editorial: Academic Press
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 450
• Fecha Publicación: 01/10/2017
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés