Rare earth
Subtitle: why complex life is uncommon in the universe
By: Peter Ward, Donald Brownlee.
Contributors: Brownlee, Donald.
Publisher: Copernicus
Published: 2000
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 333
Subjects: Life on other planets; Exobiology
Description: "While it is widely believed that complex life is common, even widespread, throughout the billions of stars and galaxies of our Universe, astrobiologists Peter D. Ward and Donald Brownlee argue that advanced life may, in fact, be very rare, perhaps even unique.".

"Ward and Brownlee question underlying assumptions and take us on a search for life that reaches from the volcanic hot springs deep on our ocean floors to the frosty face of Europa, Jupiter's icy moon.

In the process, we learn that, while microbial life may well be more prevalent throughout the Universe than previously believed, the conditions necessary for the evolution and survival of higher life - and here the authors consider everything from DNA to plate tectonics to the role of our Moon - are so complex and precarious that they are unlikely to arise in many other places, if at all."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Why life might be widespread in the universe; title: Habitable zones of the universe; title: Building a habitable Earth; title: Life's first appearance on Earth; title: How to build animals; title: Snowball Earth; title: The enigma of the Cambrian explosion; title: Mass extinctions and the Rare Earth Hypothesis; title: The surprising importance of plate tectonics; title: The Moon, Jupiter, and life on Earth; title: Testing the Rare Earth Hypotheses; title: Assessing the odds; title: Messengers from the stars.