Tilman Spohn

Muriel Gargaud

Ricardo Amils

Henderson James Cleaves

William M. Irvine

Michel Viso

Philippe Claeys

Maryvonne Gerin

Daniel Rouan

Stéphane Tirard

Now in its third edition the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology serves as the key to a common understanding in the extremely interdisciplinary community of astrobiologists. Each new or experienced researcher and graduate student in adjacent fields of astrobiology will appreciate this reference work in the quest to understand the big picture. The carefully selected group of active researchers contributing to this work are aiming to give a comprehensive international perspective on and to accelerate the interdisciplinary advance of astrobiology. The interdisciplinary field of astrobiology constitutes a joint arena where provocative discoveries are coalescing concerning, e.g. the prevalence of exoplanets, the diversity and hardiness of life, and its chances for emergence. Biologists, astrophysicists, (bio)-chemists, geoscientists and space scientists share this exciting mission of revealing the origin and commonality of life in the Universe. With its overview articles and its definitions the Encyclopedia of Astrobiology not only provides a common language and understanding for the members of the different disciplines but also serves for educating a new generation of young astrobiologists who are no longer separated by the jargon of individual scientific disciplines. This new edition offers ~170 new entries. More than half of the existing entries were updated, expanded or supplemented with figures supporting the understanding of the text. Especially in the fields of astrochemistry and terrestrial extremophiles but also in exoplanets and space sciences in general there is a huge body of new results that have been taken into account in this new edition. Because the entries in the Encyclopedia are in alphabetical order without regard for scientific field, this edition includes a section “Astrobiology by Discipline” which lists the entries by scientific field and subfield. This should be particularly helpful to those enquiring about astrobiology, as it illustrates the broad and detailed nature of the field.

Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

Hervé Martin

Purificación López-García

Thierry Montmerle

Robert Pascal

Jacques Reisse

This review gathers astronomers, geologists, biologists, and chemists around a common question: how did life emerge on Earth? The ultimate goal is to probe an even more demanding question: is life universal? This not-so linear account highlights problems, gaps, and controversies. Discussion covers the formation of the solar system; the building of a habitable planet; prebiotic chemistry, biochemistry, and the emergence of life; the early Earth environment, and much more.

From Suns to Life: A Chronological Approach to the History of Life on Earth

Purificación López-Garcìa

Devoted to exploring questions about the origin and evolution of life in our Universe, this highly interdisciplinary book brings together a broad array of scientists. Thirty chapters assembled in eight major sections convey the knowledge accumulated and the richness of the debates generated by this challenging theme. The text explores the latest research on the conditions and processes that led to the emergence of life on Earth and, by extension, perhaps on other planetary bodies. Diverse sources of knowledge are integrated, from astronomical and geophysical data, to the role of water, the origin of minimal life properties and the oldest traces of biological activity on our planet. This text will not only appeal to graduate students but to the large body of scientists interested in the challenges presented by the origin of life, its evolution, and its possible existence beyond Earth.

An Astrobiological Perspective

Origins and Evolution of Life

First comprehensive, beginning graduate level book on the emergent science of astrobiology.

Volume II

Lectures in Astrobiology

Astrobiology is a remarkably interdisciplinary field. This reference serves as a key to understanding technical terms from the different subfields of astrobiology, including astronomy, biology, chemistry, the geosciences and the space sciences.

Bernard Barbier

Vol I

Troisième volume d'une série réalisée dans le cadre des écoles thématiques d'exobiologie du CNRS, ce livre s'intéresse aux divers environnements susceptibles d'être ou d'avoir été favorables à l'apparition de la vie. Les auteurs, issus d'une large communauté pluridisciplinaire, analysent les stratégies et les moyens à mettre en œuvre afin de déceler les traces de la présence de la vie. La question des tout premiers instants de notre planète est abordée à partir de la disponibilité des éléments biogènes et de la chronologie précise des événements astronomiques majeurs ayant conduit à la mise en place de l'environnement terrestre primitif et de la vie. La présence d'eau liquide apparaît dans l'état actuel des connaissances, indissociable de la vie. Mars où l'eau liquide a existé au début de l'histoire de la planète et Titan, dont l'atmosphère et/ou la surface pourraient représenter un " laboratoire de chimie prébiotique ", constituent des cibles potentielles pour la recherche des traces d'activité biologiques. L'existence des briques élémentaires nécessaires à l'émergence de la vie est abordée successivement du point de vue de la modélisation théorique des molécules astrophysiques présentes dans les nuages interstellaires, du point de vue de la régulation de la vie par l'environnement planétaire, et de façon plus abstraite, mais ô combien révélatrice de la complexité de l'essence même de la vie, du point de vue virtuel. Enrichi d'un glossaire de 910 mots, Des atomes aux planètes habitables est un ouvrage qui s'adresse aussi bien à un public averti que curieux des questions soulevées par l'origine de la vie et par la possibilité de vie " ailleurs ".

Des atomes aux planètes habitables

José Cernicharo Quintanilla

Daniele Pinti

The interdisciplinary field of Astrobiology constitutes a joint arena where provocative discoveries are coalescing concerning, e.g. the prevalence of exoplanets, the diversity and hardiness of life, and its increasingly likely chances for its emergence. Biologists, astrophysicists, biochemists, geoscientists and space scientists share this exciting mission of revealing the origin and commonality of life in the Universe. The members of the different disciplines are used to their own terminology and technical language. In the interdisciplinary environment many terms either have redundant meanings or are completely unfamiliar to members of other disciplines. The Encyclopedia of Astrobiology serves as the key to a common understanding. Each new or experienced researcher and graduate student in adjacent fields of astrobiology will appreciate this reference work in the quest to understand the big picture. The carefully selected group of active researchers contributing to this work and the expert field editors intend for their contributions, from an internationally comprehensive perspective, to accelerate the interdisciplinary advance of astrobiology.

- How did the Sun come into existence? - How was the Earth formed? - How long has Earth been the way it is now, with its combination of oceans and continents? - How do you define “life”? - How did the first life forms emerge? - What conditions made it possible for living things to evolve? All these questions are answered in this colourful textbook addressing undergraduate students in "Origins of Life" courses and the scientifically interested public. The authors take the reader on an amazing voyage through time, beginning five thousand million years ago in a cloud of interstellar dust and ending five hundred million years ago, when the living world that we see today was finally formed. A chapter on exoplanets provides an overview of the search for planets outside the solar system, especially for habitable ones. The appendix closes the book with a glossary, a bibliography of further readings and a summary of the Origins of the Earth and life in fourteen boxes.

Muriel Gargaud

Books

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