Table of Contents

I Organic Material in Space and Habitable Zones.- 1 From Molecular Clouds to the Origin of Life.- 2 The Diversity of Extrasolar Planets Around Solar-Type Stars.- 3 Habitable Zones in Extrasolar Planetary Systems.- 4 Viable Transfer of Microorganisms in the Solar System and Beyond.- II Water and Life.- 5 Water, the Spring of Life.- 6 Geomorphological Record of Water-Related Erosion on Mars.- 7 Europa’s Crust and Ocean: How Tides Create a Potentially Habitable Physical Setting.- 8 Permafrost Model of Extraterrestrial Habitat.- 9 Microbial Life in Terrestrial Permafrost: Methanogenesis and Nitrification in Gelisols as Potentials for Exobiological Processes.- 10 Life in Cold Lakes.- 11 Hyperthermophilic Microorganisms.- 12 Halophilic Microorganisms.- III Electromagnetic Fields, Radiation and Life.- 13 Martian Atmospheric Evolution: Implications of an Ancient Intrinsic Magnetic Field.- 14 The Ultraviolet Radiation Environment of Earth and Mars: Past and Present.- 15 Ultraviolet Radiation in Planetary Atmospheres and Biological Implications.- 16 Environmental UV Radiation: Biological Strategies for Protection and Avoidance.- 17 Life under Conditions of Ionizing Radiation.- IV Gravity and Life.- 18 Graviperception and Graviresponse at the Cellular Level.- 19 Gravistimulated Effects in Plants.- 20 Gravitational Zoology: How Animals Use and Cope with Gravity.- V Complexity and Life.- 21 Scaling Phenomena and the Emergence of Complexity in Astrobiology.- 22 Molecular Self-Assembly and the Origin of Life.- 23 Search for Morphological and Biogeochemical Vestiges of Fossil Life in Extraterrestrial Settings: Utility of Terrestrial Evidence.- VI Forthcoming Space Missions Relevant for Astrobiology.- 24 Space Activities in Exo-Astrobiology.- List of Contributors.

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"[...] written for people with a strong background in science. I nonetheless found it a joy to read and I would strongly recommend it to those who wish to know the latest in the scientific search for ET." (Neil English, Astronomy Now, Aug. 2003) "[...] Astrobiology challenges science in unique ways, in particular the well-known problem of identifying life when we only have one prototype to work from, and I am sure that newcomers to this field and established workers will both find this book very rewarding." (International Journal of Astrobiology, 2002) "It is a real pleasure to come across a volume like Astrobiology." (Biologist, 2002)