Vital dust: life as a cosmic imperative

* Introduction The Age of Chemistry * The Search for Origins * The First Catalysts of Life * The Fuel of Emerging Life * The Advent of RNA The Age of Information * RNA Takes Over * The Code * Genes in the Making * Freedoms and Constraints The Age of the Protocell * Encapsulating Life * Turning Membranes into Machines * Adaptation to Life in Confinement * The Ancestor of All Life * The Universality of Life The Age of the Single Cell * Bacteria Conquer the World * The Making of a Eukaryote * The Primitive Phagocyte * The Guests that Stayed The Age of Multicellular Organisms * The Benefits of Cellular Collectivism * The Greening of the Earth * The First Animals * Animals Fill the Oceans * Animals Move Out of the Sea * The Web of Life * The Virtues of Junk DNA The Age of the Mind * The Step to Human * The Brain * The Workings of the Mind * The Works of the Mind * Values The Age of the Unknown * The Future of Life * The Meaning of Life