searching for a second genesis

One of the new(ish) things I learned at the Royal Society discussion meeting in January is that the "search for a second genesis" is now a unifying theme that covers SETI, extrasolar planets, solar systems exploration, and even the study of extreme environments on Earth. I've explained this philosphy of astrobiology in a shortish news feature, which is out in Current Biology today:

High life
Current Biology, Volume 20, Issue 4, R129, 23 February 2010
doi:10.1016/j.cub.2010.02.005
abstract and restricted access to pdf file


PS: for the same issue, I also wrote a short piece on UK feed-in tariffs, which was merged into the climate change piece:

Climate change attack
Nigel Williams
Current Biology, Volume 20, Issue 4, R125-R127, 23 February 2010
abstract and restricted access to pdf file