Bioastronomy: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life - The Exploration Broadens (Lecture Notes in Physics) (Lecture Notes in Physics, 390, Band 390)

This book collects together a selection of the best papers
presented at the Third International Bioastronomy Symposium
held in 1990. The subject is bioastronomy, the search for
life in the universe, andthe book is devided according to
the five main stages of life as recognized by this new
branch of science: cosmic organic, prebiotic, primitive
biological, and advanced. Thereader will find here the most
recent results obtained by top specialists from all over the
world on hot topics such as the formation and discovery of
planets, organic chemistry in meteorites and comets,
prebiotic chemistry in the atmosphere of Titan, the search
for primitive life in the permafrost of Mars, and, SETI
itself, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Complemented by live discussions each presentation forms
a review of the state-of-the-art treatment of a particular
area and also looks toward those developments in
bioastronomywhich will surely be realized in the next few
years.