ASB7
SAVE THE DATE ASB7 – 13-14 September 2017 The seventh biennial conference of the Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB7) will take place in the Berrill Lecture Theatre at the Open University from 13-14 September 2017. Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary topic that brings together many branches of science, including astronomy, astrochemistry, astrobiology technology, biology, chemistry of life, development of life-forms in other environments, exoplanets, extremophiles, geomicrobiology, habitable zones, humans in space, life’s origins, Mars, meteorites, microbial communities, origin of complex...
Read More‘Earth: Evolution of a Habitable World’ (2nd Edition) by Jonathan I. Lunine, Cambridge University Press (2013)
I naively obtained this large, beautiful book thinking I was going to read a story of the Earth’s history. In fact, it is – probably more usefully – a story of methods and measurements. We begin with the basics of the Earth in space, the scale of the universe, magnetism and light: with every step, Lunine takes us through how we know about each of these, who discovered them and when. We go on to use science from many different disciplines to study Earth’s history: the atomic structures of amino acids; radioactivity and isotopes; the histories of other planets and moons in the Solar System;...
Read More‘The Big Bang and God: An Astro-Theology’ by Theodore Walker Jr. and Chandra Wickramasinghe, Palgrave Macmillan (Sept. 2015)
Astrobiology challenges us to ask – and attempt to answer – framing questions about life in the universe. How far does life extend in space and time? Is life integral to existence, or just an accident? Theodore Walker, Jr. and Chandra Wickramasinghe tackle a very narrow slice of this problem. Their focus and transparency are commendable, but by the end, they have only built a bridge from fringe science to contentious theology. From the outset, the authors are clear about their framework. For subject matter, they have chosen the convergence of panspermia, panpsychism, and panentheism....
Read More‘The Drake Equation: Estimating the Prevalence of Extraterrestrial Life through the Ages’, ed: Doug Vakoch, Matthew Dowd, Cambridge University Press
This is a marvellous book. It fills a real need, is well written, enthralling, useful and inspiring. It really made my day to open this book, and I look forward to many hours of learning and enjoyment to come. Even non-experts have heard about the Drake Equation, so the book is not only for experts, but knowledge about it is also useful when talking to a non-expert audience. The Drake Equation for ’N’, the estimate of how many civilisations there may be currently detectable in our Galaxy, has been a remarkable heuristic (something that enables learning) tool for SETI (the Search for...
Read MoreBill Gates on Nick Lane’s “The Vital Question”
ASB committee member and UCL biologist Nick Lane caught the attention of Bill Gates recently when the Microsoft founder came across his book “The Vital Question”. In a blog post about the book, Gates writes that Nick is “…one of those original thinkers who makes you say: More people should know about this guy’s work”. He concludes that the book’s focus on the importance of the role of energy in biology “will be seen as an important contribution to our understanding of where we come from, and where are we going”. The full review can be found...
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