Bioastronomy

This book collects together a selection of the best paperspresented at the Third International Bioastronomy Symposiumheld in 1990. The subject is bioastronomy, the search forlife in the universe, andthe book is devided according tothe five main stages of life as recognized by this newbranch of science: cosmic organic, prebiotic, primitivebiological, and advanced. Thereader will find here the mostrecent results obtained by top specialists from all over theworld on hot topics such as the formation and discovery ofplanets, organic chemistry in meteorites and comets,prebiotic chemistry in the atmosphere of Titan, the searchfor primitive life in the permafrost of Mars, and, SETIitself, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Complemented by live discussions each presentation formsa review of the state-of-the-art treatment of a particulararea and also looks toward those developments inbioastronomywhich will surely be realized in the next fewyears.