The stardust revolution

the long version

"In 1957, as Americans obsessed over the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite, another less noticed space age was taking off. That year, astrophysicist Fred Hoyle and colleagues solved a centuries-old quest for the origin of the elements, from carbon to uranium. The answer they found wasn't on Earth, but in the stars. Their research showed that we are literally stardust. The year also marked the first international conference that considered the origin of life on Earth in an astrophysical context. It was the marriage of two of the seemingly strangest bedfellows--astronomy and biology--and a turning point in what award-winning science journalist Jacob Berkowitz calls the Stardust Revolution. In this captivating story of an exciting new science, Berkowitz weaves together the latest research results in this revolution to reveal a dramatic new view of the twinkling night sky--not as an alien frontier, but as our cosmic birthplace. Stardust scientists aren't probing the universe's physical structure, but rather its biological nature. Evolutionary theory is entering the space age. Like opening a long-hidden box of old family letters and diaries, The Stardust Revolution offers us a new view on where we've come from and brings to light our journey from stardust to thinking beings." -- Publisher's description.