Rare Earth Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe /

• Main Authors: Ward, Peter D. (Author), Brownlee, Donald (Author)
• Corporate Author: SpringerLink (Online service)
• Format: Electronic eBook
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY : Springer New York, 2000.
• Subjects: Popular works.; Science.; Astrobiology.; Astronomy.; Popular Science.; Popular Science in Astronomy.; Science, general.

n November 12, 2002, Dr. John Chambers of the NASA Ames - search Center gave a seminar to the Astrobiology Group at the OUniversity of Washington. The audience of about 100 listened with rapt attention as Chambers described results from a computer study of how planetary systems form. The goal of his...

Table of Contents:

• Why Life Might Be Widespread in the Universe
• Habitable Zones of the Universe
• Building a Habitable Earth
• Life’s First Appearance on Earth
• How to Build Animals
• Snowball Earth
• The Enigma of the Cambrian Explosion
• Mass Extinctions and the Rare Earth Hypothesis
• The Surprising Importance of Plate Tectonics
• The Moon, Jupiter, and Life on Earth
• Testing the Rare Earth Hypothesis
• Assessing the Odds
• Messengers from the Stars.