Goldilocks and the Water Bears

Louisa Preston is a UK Space Agency Aurora research Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, and a Lecturer in Space Science at NYU London. She has worked on projects for NASA and the Canadian, European and UK Space Agencies, and was on the science team for the PanCam instrument onboard the ExoMars 2020 rover.Louisa regularly works with the media, having appeared on many episodes of Sky at Night, BBC World Service, Fry and Rutherford and Women's Hour. She has spoken at New Scientist Live, The Royal Institution, the Cheltenham Science Festival and The Lost Lectures, to name a few, and is a TED Fellow. She recently filmed a short documentary on her research for The Telegraph, and has consulted for many popular television science shows. She has penned articles for publications such as The Times, Wired, New Scientist and Vice. Her first book was Goldilocks and the Water Bears, which was published by Bloomsbury Sigma in 2016.@LouisaJPreston

'Highly recommended' Financial TimesToday we know of only a single planet that hosts life: the Earth. But across a Universe of at least 100 billion possibly habitable worlds, surely our planet isn't the only one which, like the porridge Goldilocks sought, is just right for life?Astrobiologists search the galaxy for conditions that are suitable for life to exist, focusing on similar worlds located at the perfect distance from their Sun, within the aptly named 'Goldilocks Zone'. Such a place might have liquid water on its surface, and may therefore support a thriving biosphere. What might life look like on other worlds? It is possible to make best-guesses using facts rooted in science, and by studying 'extremophiles' - organisms such as the near-indestructible water bears, which can survive in the harshest conditions that Earth, and even space, can offer. Goldilocks and the Water Bears is a tale of the origins and evolution of life, and the quest to find it on other planets, on moons, in other galaxies, and throughout the Universe.

Across a Universe of at least 100 billion habitable, earth-like worlds, life cannot be restricted solely to the Earth. Or can it? Read this book to find out the hows and whys of astrobiology - the study of extraterrestrial life.

Across a Universe of at least 100 billion habitable, earth-like worlds, life cannot be restricted solely to the Earth. Or can it? Read this book to find out the hows and whys of astrobiology - the study of extraterrestrial life.

Preface1. A Brave New World2. Life As We Know It3. How to Create a Planet Fit for Life4. The Story of Life5. Alien Worlds on Our Doorstep6. Everything is Relative!7. Searching the Solar System8. Extraterrestrial Worlds: Life Not As We Know It9. Is the Truth Really Out There?10. The Next GenerationEpilogueAcknowledgementsIndex