Includes bibliographical references.

The evolution of the universe / P. James Peebles, David N. Schramm, Edwin L. Turner and Richard G. Kron -- The first stars in the universe / Richard B. Larson and Volker Bromm -- Exploring our universe and others / Martin Rees -- Searching for life in our solar system / Bruce M. Jakosky -- The fate of life in the universe / Lawrence M. Krauss and Glenn D. Starkman -- Life's rocky start / Robert M. Hazen -- Misconceptions about the big bang / Charles H. Lineweaver and Tamara M. Davis -- The evolution of the Earth / Claude J. Allègre and Stephen H. Schneider -- Uprooting the tree of life / W. Ford Doolittle -- The birth of complex cells / Christian de Duve -- Viral quasispecies / Manfred Eigen -- How cells respond to stress / William J. Welch -- Cell communication : the inside story / John D. Scott and Tony Pawson -- Life, death and the immune system / Gustav J.V. Nossal -- Cybernetic cells / W. Wayt Bibbs -- Rulers of the Jurassic seas / Ryosuke Motani -- The mammals that conquered the seas / Kate Wong -- Breathing life in to Tyrannosaurus rex / Gregory M. Erickson -- Madagascar's Mesozoic secrets / John J. Flynn and André R. Wyss -- Which came first, the feather or the bird? / Richard O. Prum and Alan H. Brush -- The terror birds of South America / Larry G. Marshall -- The evolution of life on the Earth / Stephen Jay Gould -- An ancestor to call our own / Kate Wong -- Early Hominid fossils from Africa / Meave Leakey and Alan Walker -- Planet of the apes / David R. Begun -- Once we were not alone / Ian Tattersall -- Out of Africa again ... and again? / Ian Tattersall -- Who were the Neandertals? / Kate Wong -- Food for thought / William R. Leonard -- Skin deep / Nina G. Jablonski and George Chaplin -- The evolution of human birth / Karen R. Rosenberg and Wenda R. Trevathan -- Once were cannibals / Tim D. White -- If humans were built to last / S. Jay Olshansky, Bruce A. Carnes and Robert N. Butler.