SETI -- the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence -- is undergoing something of a renaissance, and alongside the work of the scientists almost a million PC users round the world are participating in the SERENDIP IV project through the "SETI at…
Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century. A distinguished physicist's exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman, but proved one…
Throughout the twentieth century, from the furor over Percival Lowell's claim of canals on Mars to the sophisticated Search for Extra-terrestrial Intelligence, otherworldly life has often intrigued and occasionally consumed science and the public.…
If extra-terrestrials ever landed on Earth, they would find us extremely strange. Their first intimation of our existence might well be a Super Bowl broadcast or a stray transmission from the Playboy channel. But, of course, they might seem equally…
How did life on earth originate? Did replication or metabolism come first in the history of life? In this book, Freeman Dyson examines these questions and discusses the two main theories that try to explain how naturally occurring chemicals could…
In this classic of biology and modern science, Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (1860-1948), one of the most distinguished scientists of the modern era, sets forth his seminal theory of transformation - that one species evolves into another not by…
A NASA-funded team of scientists has announced that there is evidence of previous life on Mars. This book analyses the results from the meteorite ALH84001, critically interprets the information from the Vikings 1 and 2 space probes to Mars and looks…
Several major breakthroughs have helped contribute to the emerging field of astrobiology. Focusing on these developments, this fascinating book explores some of the most important problems in this field. It examines how planetary systems formed, and…
Wat maakt ons mens? In welke opzichten springen we er écht uit binnen het dierenrijk? En hoe zijn die verschillen ontstaan? Wetenschapsjournalist Govert Schilling onderneemt een zoektocht naar onderscheid en uniciteit.
In deze bundel intrigerende…
De zoektocht naar leven elders in het universum
Het is haast onvoorstelbaar: alleen al in ons Melkwegstelsel zouden zich meer dan tien miljard planeten met leven kunnen bevinden. Het onderzoek naar buitenaards leven is een serieuze wetenschappelijke…