We are living in a golden age for discoveries about the universe. Over the last few decades, space exploration has revealed that not only are there habitable environments within our solar system, but there are hundreds of millions of exoplanets within our galaxy that could support life. We are on the cusp of discoveries that will revolutionize our understanding of our place in creation. Yet a profound question remains to be answered: are we alone in the universe?
We have never been closer to answering this question. In The Secret Life of the Universe, astrobiologist Nathalie A. Cabrol takes us to the frontiers of the search for life. As a NASA scientist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, Cabrol is a leader in our investigations into the origins of life and our quest to find it beyond our planet. This book’s odyssey begins by seeking out how life began on Earth in order to understand what is necessary for life to emerge elsewhere. What role did our Moon play? And could life on Mars, or another celestial body, have seeded life on Earth? Then Cabrol takes us to the likeliest places for life within our neighbourhood, illuminating what we know about the environments of Venus, Mars, and the Moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and icy Pluto. Finally, we seek life beyond our Solar System, looking at the recent revolution in our night sky: the discovery of billions of exoplanets. Cabrol shares the deepest insights and most provocative theories for how life emerged and if we may ever find an advanced alien civilization. As we learn, with more than 300 million exoplanets that are in the habitable zone of our galaxy, to think that we are alone may be little more than ‘statistical nonsense’.
The Secret Life of the Universe is a comprehensive, authoritative guide to the search for life, a dazzling synthesis of the latest discoveries. This is an exhilarating journey for anyone who has ever looked up at the stars and wondered what might be out there.
About the Author
Nathalie A. Cabrol is a French American explorer and astrobiologist and the director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute. She researches habitability and life beyond Earth, develops science exploration strategies for NASA for Mars and Titan, designs robotic field tests, and leads projects in planetary science and astrobiology. Cabrol documents life’s adaptation to extreme environments and the effects of rapid climate change. She has written over six hundred peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings and has published four books on planetary science. Cabrol also holds the women’s world record for free and scuba diving at altitude. Born in France, she lives in California.
Industry Reviews
‘In this cutting-edge, wide-ranging survey of a truly extraordinary subject, the celebrated scientist Nathalie Cabrol takes us on an odyssey full of astonishing possibility, crossing vast distances and many scales to tell the story of our search for extraterrestrial life. The Secret Life of the Universe weaves together the history of space exploration, planetary science, the changing technological and intellectual frameworks of SETI, and deliberations on the very nature and meaning of life. It’s a mind-altering and exhilarating read for anyone who has ever wondered: are we alone?’
