Bioastronomy the search for extraterrestrial life - the exploration broadens ; proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Bioastronomy, held at Val Cenis, Savoie, France, 18 - 23 June 1990

This book collects together a selection of the best papers presented at the Third International Bioastronomy Symposium held in 1990. The subject is bioastronomy, the search for life in the universe, andthe book is devided according to the five main stages of life as recognized by this new branch of science: cosmic organic, prebiotic, primitive biological, and advanced. Thereader will find here the most recent results obtained by top specialists from all over the world on hot topics such as the formation and discovery of planets, organic chemistry in meteorites and comets, prebiotic chemistry in the atmosphere of Titan, the search for primitive life in the permafrost of Mars, and, SETI itself, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Complemented by live discussions each presentation forms a review of the state-of-the-art treatment of a particular area and also looks toward those developments in bioastronomywhich will surely be realized in the next few years. Opening remarks....Pages 1-2 The creation of free energy....Pages 5-10 Particulate disks around main sequence stars....Pages 11-12 Bursts of star formation in the local galactic disk and their implications for the origin and evolution of life around the sun and nearby stars....Pages 13-16 Testing theories of star formation....Pages 17-18 Towards an estimate of the fration of stars with planets from velocities of high precision....Pages 19-20 On the feasibility of extra-solar planetary detection at very low ratio frequencies....Pages 21-30 The ESO microvariability Key Program and the detection of extrasolar planets and brown dwarfs....Pages 31-32 A proposal for the search of extrasolar planets by occultation....Pages 33-33 Near-term prospects for extra-solar planet detection: The astrometric imaging telescope....Pages 34-35 A search for T-Tauri stars based on the IRAS Point Source Catalog....Pages 36-38 How many single stars among solar-type stars?....Pages 39-43 Habitable planetary orbits around α centauri and other binaries....Pages 44-47 The search for protostars....Pages 48-54 The habitability of Mars-like planets around main sequence stars....Pages 55-61 Planetary accretion debris and IR excesses in open stellar clusters....Pages 62-62 Lithium abundances as a probe of the early evolution of solar-type stars....Pages 63-63 Low-amplitude stellar velocity variations: Other possibilities....Pages 64-67 Some recent developments in interstellar chemistry....Pages 71-79 The formation of long chains of carbon atoms in space....Pages 80-84 Hydrogen cyanide polymerization: A preferred cosmochemical pathway....Pages 85-87 PAHs: Very abundant organic molecules in the interstellar medium....Pages 88-92 Primitive evolution: Early information transfer and catalysis by purines....Pages 93-98 The search for H 2 O in extraterrestrial environments....Pages 99-106 Self-assembly properties of primitive organic compounds....Pages 107-108 Cometary studies: Bioastronomical perspectives....Pages 109-116 Origin of the biosphere of the earth....Pages 117-123 Carbon-rich micrometeorites and prebiotic synthesis....Pages 124-132 Titan's atmosphere probed by stellar occultation....Pages 133-133 Study of transmitted light through Titans atmosphere....Pages 134-135 UV radiation fields in dense clouds: Photochemical effects....Pages 136-138 Prebiotic chemistry in planetary environments....Pages 141-148 Terrestrial accretion of prebiotic volatiles and organic molecules during the heavy bombardment....Pages 149-154 Geophysiology and habitable zones around sun-like stars....Pages 155-162 Exobiological habitats: An overview....Pages 163-172 Habitable zones for earth-like planets around main sequence stars....Pages 173-178 Titan's atmosphere from voyager infrared observations: Parallels and differences with the primitive earth....Pages 179-189 Liquid water and life on early mars....Pages 190-192 New interpretation of crustal extension evidences on mars....Pages 193-193 Martian paleohydrology and its implications for exobiology science....Pages 194-198 Boundaries of the earth's biosphere....Pages 199-200 The impact of technology on SETI....Pages 203-209 RFI surveys at selected radio observatories....Pages 210-216 A 1 Hz resolution RFI survey: Preliminary results....Pages 217-222 The SERENDIP II SETI project: Observations and RFI analysis....Pages 223-228 SETI: On the telescope and on the drawing board....Pages 229-235 Project of ETI signal search at the wavelength 1.47 mm....Pages 236-239 A SETI search technique: Monitor stars to which we have sent signals....Pages 240-243 Radio search for alien space probes....Pages 244-246 Karhunen-Loève versus Fourier transform for SETI....Pages 247-253 On the strategy of SETI....Pages 254-258 Pan-Galactic puise periods and the pulse window for SETI....Pages 259-268 Cosmic background radiation limits for SETI....Pages 269-269 VLBI and interstellar scattering tests for SETI signals....Pages 270-270 A test for the interstellar contact channel hypothesis in SETI....Pages 271-279 The SETI program of the Planetary Society....Pages 280-282 Trying to do science using high spectral resolution SETI prototypes....Pages 283-283 The summit of the CBR at mm wavelengths and other queries....Pages 284-284 The potential contribution of the northern cross radiotelescope to the SETI program....Pages 285-288 A proposal for a SETI global network....Pages 289-291 A search for Dyson spheres around late-type stars in the Iras catalog....Pages 295-298 Gravitational, plasma, and black-hole lenses for interstellar communications....Pages 299-299 SETI through the gamma-ray window: A search for interstellar spacecraft....Pages 300-305 Criteria of artificiality in SETI....Pages 306-310 The antecedents of consciousness: Evolving the “intelligent” ability to simulate situations and contemplate the consequences of novel courses of action....Pages 311-319 Cognition in an African Grey parrot....Pages 320-326 Archaeology in space: Encountering Alien Trash and other remains....Pages 327-332 Biological constraints on interstellar travel....Pages 333-337 A philosophical approach to the extraterrestrial life issue....Pages 338-339 The intrinsic limit to the speed of innovation and its relevance for the question “where are they?”....Pages 340-343 SETI searches with the 70m SUFFA radio telescope....Pages 344-345 Strategy of the mutual search for civilizations by means of probes....Pages 346-346 Connections: Life on Earth and atoms in the Universe....Pages 349-355 From the physical world to the biological universe: Historical developments underlying SETI....Pages 356-363 A possible way for evolution of the intellect of intelligent beings....Pages 364-364 SETI as a science....Pages 365-365 May there be an ultimate goal to the cosmic evolution?....Pages 366-367 Evolutionary approach to the SETI problem....Pages 368-368 Peace among the factions: Cooling tempers in the extraterrestrial life debate....Pages 369-369 The likely organizational order of advanced intelligences....Pages 370-370 The role of comprehensive perception in tradition....Pages 371-374 Technical evolution and positive feedback....Pages 375-375 Contact paranoia and pronoia: An anthropologist looks at SETI....Pages 376-376 The declaration of principles for activities following the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence....Pages 379-386 The consequences of contact: Views of the scientific community and the science media....Pages 387-392 Selection criteria in bioastronomy: Excerpts from a panel discussion....Pages 393-401 Summary of scientific content of the symposium....Pages 402-404 Contains a selection of papers presented at a symposium on the search for intelligent life in the universe. The contributors discuss such topics as the formation and discovery of planets, organic chemistry in meteorites, the search for primitive life in our galaxy and the SETI project. J. Heidmann, M.j. Klein, Eds. Includes Bibliographical References.