From Stars to Life

Manasvi Lingam is Assistant Professor of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences & Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology (USA), with more than 100 papers spanning various physical sciences. He is the lead author of Life in the Cosmos (2021) and he is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Amedeo Balbi is Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy, where he has been teaching astrobiology for the past two decades. With an extensive publication record of more than 100 scientific papers, his research encompasses a wide array of topics in theoretical astrophysics.

• Part I. Astronomical Origins; 1. The foundations of astrobiology; 2. From the Big Bang to molecules; 3. Planet formation and migration; Part II. Earth; 4. Conditions on early Earth; 5. Origin(s) of life on Earth; 6. Co-evolution of life and environment on Earth; Part III. Habitability; 7. Instantaneous habitability; 8. Continuous habitability; Part IV. Astrobiological Targets; 9. Mars; 10. Icy worlds; 11. 'Exotic' life; 12. Detecting and characterising exoplanets; Part V. Detecting Life; 13. Biosignatures; 14. Technosignatures; Part VI. Futures; 15. The future of humankind; References; Author index; Subject index.

'From Stars to Life provides a thorough and wide-ranging insight into many processes in astrobiology, especially giving an introductory text to many quantitative aspects of the science, from the formation of stars to the major transitions in biological evolution. This book should be useful for advanced students and it provides a useful set of problems to help guide the reader.' Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh