Goldilocks and the Water Bears

The Search for Life in the Universe

Louisa Preston (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Goldilocks and the Water Bears

The Search for Life in the Universe

Louisa Preston (Author)

Online Access / Resources

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ~~$18.90~~ $13.23

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) $18.90

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) $18.90

Quantity

In stock

$13.23 RRP $18.90 Website price saving $5.67 (30%)

Add to basket

Add to wishlist

AudioTest BB- US,AU,CA 30%

Read on any device, including Android, Apple & Kindle

Description

'Highly recommended' Financial Times

Today we know of only a single planet that hosts life: the Earth. But across a Universe of at least 100 billion possibly habitable worlds, surely our planet isn't the only one which, like the porridge Goldilocks sought, is just right for life?

Astrobiologists search the galaxy for conditions that are suitable for life to exist, focusing on similar worlds located at the perfect distance from their Sun, within the aptly named 'Goldilocks Zone'. Such a place might have liquid water on its surface, and may therefore support a thriving biosphere.

What might life look like on other worlds? It is possible to make best-guesses using facts rooted in science, and by studying 'extremophiles' – organisms such as the near-indestructible water bears, which can survive in the harshest conditions that Earth, and even space, can offer.

Goldilocks and the Water Bears is a tale of the origins and evolution of life, and the quest to find it on other planets, on moons, in other galaxies, and throughout the Universe.

Preface

1. A Brave New World
2. Life As We Know It
3. How to Create a Planet Fit for Life
4. The Story of Life
5. Alien Worlds on Our Doorstep
6. Everything is Relative!
7. Searching the Solar System
8. Extraterrestrial Worlds: Life Not As We Know It
9. Is the Truth Really Out There?
10. The Next Generation

Epilogue
Acknowledgements
Index

Product details

Published	Jun 16 2016
Format	Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition	1st
Pages	288
ISBN	9781472920089
Imprint	Bloomsbury Sigma
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Louisa Preston

Louisa Preston is a UK Space Agency Aurora researc…

Preston's accessible writing style, enthusiasm, and optimism succeed at informing as well as tickling readers' imaginations.

Publishers Weekly
A solid, absorbing background to what makes life possible.

Kirkus Reviews
Ably distilling complicated science into digestible portions, Preston's balance of wonkiness and wide appeal is also 'just right' and suited for anyone who's interested in the Curiosity rover's exploits on Mars and wants to learn more.

Booklist
Preston surveys the emerging field of astrobiology with scholarly depth and layman accessibility . . . Goldilocks and the Water Bears brings a lofty, sometimes exaggerated topic down to Earth in an enjoyable way.

Tobias Mutter, Shelf Awareness
Fascinating . . . It's a compelling book to read at this moment, as man-made climate change is throwing planetary systems off balance. In her brief history of the Earth, and of the other rocks that hurtle around space with us, Preston shows just how very lucky we are to live on a planet that is--for now at least--just right.

VICE