Unicellular organisms use gravity as an environmental guide to reach and stay in regions optimal for their growth and reproduction. These single cells play a significant role in food webs and these factors together make the effects of gravity on unicellular organisms a fascinating and important subject for scientific study. In addition, they present valuable model systems for studying the mechanisms of gravity perception, a topic of increasing interest in these days of experimentation in space. This book reveals how single cells achieve the same sensoric capacity as multicellular organisms like plants or animals. It reviews the field, discussing the historical background, ecological significance and related physiology of unicellular organisms, as well as various experimental techniques and models with which to study them. Those working on the biology of unicellular organisms, as well as in related areas of gravitational and space science will find this book of value.

Heat and mass transfer is the core science for many industrial processes as well as technical and scientific devices. Automotive, aerospace, power generation (both by conventional and renewable energies), industrial equipment and rotating machinery, materials and chemical processing, and many other industries are requiring heat and mass transfer processes. Since the early studies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, there has been tremendous technical progress and scientific advances in the knowledge of heat and mass transfer, where modeling and simulation developments are increasingly contributing to the current state of the art. Heat and Mass Transfer - Advances in Science and Technology Applications aims at providing researchers and practitioners with a valuable compendium of significant advances in the field.

Habitability of the Universe before Earth: Astrobiology: Exploring Life on Earth and Beyond (series) examines the times and places—before life existed on Earth—that might have provided suitable environments for life to occur, addressing the question: Is life on Earth de novo, or derived from previous life? The universe changed considerably during the vast epoch between the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago and the first evidence of life on Earth 4.3 billion years ago, providing significant time and space to contemplate where, when and under what circumstances life might have arisen. No other book covers this cosmic time period from the point of view of its potential for life. The series covers a broad range of topics encompassing laboratory and field research into the origins and evolution of life on Earth, life in extreme environments and the search for habitable environments in our solar system and beyond, including exoplanets, exomoons and astronomical biosignatures. Provides multiple hypotheses on the origin of life and distribution of living organisms in space Explores the diversity of physical environments that may support the origin and evolution of life Integrates contemporary views in biology and cosmology, and provides reasons that life is far more mobile in space than most people expect Includes access to a companion web site featuring supplementary information such as animated computer simulations

This concise yet comprehensive treatment of the effects of spaceflight on biological systems includes issues at the forefront of life sciences research, such as gravitational biology, immune system response, bone cell formation and the effects of radiation on biosystems. Edited by a leading specialist at the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions by internationally renowned experts, the chapters are based on the latest space laboratory experiments, including those on SPACELAB, ISS, parabolic flights and unmanned research satellites. An indispensable source for biologists, medical researchers and astronautics experts alike. The results of Space flight experiments, ground controls and flight simulations pave the way for a better understanding of gravity reactions in various organisms down to molecular mechanisms. This publication marks also the beginning of a new Space flight era with the construction and exploitation of the International Space Station (ISS) which provides a platform for an in-depth continuation of experiments under weightlessness in Low Earth Orbit and beyond.