Origins and Evolution of Life: An Astrobiological Perspective (Cambridge Astrobiology, Series Number 6) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052176131X ISBN 13: 9780521761314

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Book Description

Devoted to exploring questions about the origin of life, its evolution and possible existence beyond Earth, this text examines the latest research on the conditions and processes that led to the emergence of life. This highly interdisciplinary book will appeal to a broad array of scientists.

About the Author

Muriel Gargaud is a research scientist at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, CNRS-Université Bordeaux 1, and is vice-president of the Société Française d'Exobiologie, which is associated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

Purificación López-García is a research director at the CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, and leads a research team exploring microbial diversity and evolution in different ecosystems, including extreme environments.

Hervé Martin is Professor at the Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans at the Université Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand. He has been in charge of several international research programs on the geochemistry and geodynamic processes on early Earth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 052176131X
• ISBN 13: 9780521761314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 546
• Editor: Gargaud Muriel, López-Garcìa Purificación, Martin Hervé