Table of Contents
Prologue vii
Fred Hoyle obituary in the Biochemist xv
Preamble and 1999 status report by Hoyle and Wickramasinghe xix
Part I Recent Reviews 1
Chapter 1 Life as a cosmic phenomenon: 1. The socio-economic control of a scientific paradigm 3
Chapter 2 Life as a cosmic phenomenon: 2. The panspermi trajectory of Homo sapiens 23
Chapter 3 Panspermia: Evidence from astronomy to meteorites 35
Chapter 4 DNA sequencing and predictions of the cosmic theory of life 57
Chapter 5 The astrobiological case for our cosmic ancestry 69
Chapter 6 Interstellar grains: 50 years on 91
Part II Papers from 2000-2014 111
Chapter 7 The dilemma of influenza 113
Chapter 8 Cross-linked hetero aromatic polymers in interstellar dust 119
Chapter 9 A bacterial "fingerprint" in a Leonid meteor train 123
Chapter 10 Interstellar transfer of planetary microbiota 127
Chapter 11 The long road to panspermia 151
Chapter 12 Radiation pressure on bacterial clumps in the solar vicinity and their survival between interstellar transits 161
Chapter 13 Bacterial morphologies supporting cometary panspermia: A reappraisal 169
Chapter 14 Cometary impacts and ice-ages 181
Chapter 15 A cosmic prevalence of nanobacteria? 193
Chapter 16 Liquid water and organics in comets: Implications for exobiology 199
Chapter 17 The Universe: A cryogenic habitat for microbial life 219
Chapter 18 The interpretation of a 2175A absorption feature in the gravitational lens galaxy SBS0909+532 at z = 0.83 241
Chapter 19 On the possibility of microbiota transfer from Venus to Earth 249
Chapter 20 The origin of life in comets 259
Chapter 21 Progress towards the vindication of panspermia 265
Chapter 22 Physical, chemical and mineral properties of the Polonnaruwa stones 279
Chapter 23 Viva panspermia! 317
Part III Papers from 1990-2000 323
Chapter 24 The Universe and life: Deductions from the weak anthropic principle 325
Chapter 25 Miller-Urey synthesis in the nuclei of galaxies 341
Chapter 26 Infrared evidence for panspermia: An update 347
Chapter 27 An integrated 2.5-12.5 um emission spectrum of naturally-occurring aromatic molecules 367
Chapter 28 The case against graphite particles in interstellar space 371
Chapter 29 Biofluorescence and the extended red emission in astrophysical sources 375
Chapter 30 Some predictions on the nature of Comet Halley 381
Chapter 31 A model of the 2-4 um spectrum of Comet Halley 387
Chapter 32 The astonishing redness of Kuiper-belt objects 393
Chapter 33 Very small dust particles (VSDP's) in Comet C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake) 397
Chapter 34 Eruptions of Comet Hale-Bopp at 6.5 AU 401
Chapter 35 Infrared radiation from Comet Hale-Bopp 407
Chapter 36 Towards an understanding of the nature of racial prejudice 411
Chapter 37 Influenza - evidence against contagion: Discussion Paper 415
Chapter 38 The case for life as a cosmic phenomenon 423
Part IV Papers from 1980-1990 431
Chapter 39 Biological activity in the early solar system in its outer regions 433
Chapter 40 An object within a particle of extraterrestrial origin compared with an object of presumed terrestrial origin 443
Chapter 41 The viability with respect to temperature of micro-organisms incident on the Earth's atmosphere 445
Chapter 42 The spectroscopic identification of interstellar grains 453
Chapter 43 Diatoms on Earth, comets, Europa and in interstellar space 465
Chapter 44 A model for interstellar extinction 497
Chapter 45 A unified model for the 3.28 urn emission and the 2200 A interstellar extinction feature 507
Chapter 46 Aromatic hydrocarbons in very small interstellar grains 515
Chapter 47 Convergence to God? 523
Chapter 48 Comets as a source of interplanetary and interstellar grains 541
Part V Papers from 1970-1980 549
Chapter 49 Formaldehyde polymers in interstellar space 551
Chapter 50 Formaldehyde polymers in comets 557
Chapter 51 Primitive grain clumps and organic compounds in carbonaceous chondrites 569
Chapter 52 Spectroscopic evidence for interstellar grain clumps in meteoritic inclusions 575
Chapter 53 Calculations of infrared fluxes from galactic sources for a polysaccharide grain model 579
Chapter 54 On the nature of interstellar grains 599
Chapter 55 Organic molecules in interstellar dust: A possible spectral signature at λ2200 A? 615
Chapter 56 Identification of the λ2,200 A interstellar absorption feature 621
Chapter 57 Comets, ice ages, and ecological catastrophes 625
Part VI Prospects for the Future 631
Chapter 58 Are biological entities isolated from the lower stratosphere (22-27 km) outgoing from Earth or incoming from space? 633
Chapter 59 The transition from Earth-centred biology to cosmic life 645
Chapter 60 Rosetta images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Inferences from its terrain and structure 661
Chapter 61 Rosetta studies of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Prospects for establishing cometary biology 671
Epilogue 685
