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A guide to understanding the formation of life in the Universe The revised and updated second edition of Astrobiology offers an introductory text that explores the structure of living things, the formation of the elements required for life in the Universe, the biological and geological history of the Earth, and the habitability of other planets. Written by a noted expert on the topic, the book examines many of the major conceptual foundations in astrobiology, which cover a diversity of traditional fields including chemistry, biology, geosciences, physics, and astronomy. The book explores many profound questions such as: How did life originate on Earth? How has life persisted on Earth for over three billion years? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? What is the future of life on Earth? Astrobiology is centered on investigating the past and future of life on Earth by looking beyond Earth to get the answers. Astrobiology links the diverse scientific fields needed to understand life on our own planet and, potentially, life beyond. This new second edition: Expands on information about the nature of astrobiology and why it is useful Contains a new chapter “What is Life?” that explores the history of attempts to understand life Contains 20% more material on the astrobiology of Mars, icy moons, the structure of life, and the habitability of planets New ‘Discussion Boxes'to stimulate debate and thought about key questions in astrobiology New review and reflection questions for each chapter to aid learning New boxes describing the careers of astrobiologists and how they got into the subject Offers revised and updated information throughout to reflect the latest advances in the field Written for students of life sciences, physics, astronomy and related disciplines, the updated edition of Astrobiology is an essential introductory text that includes recent advances to this dynamic field.

Food texture has evolved to be at the forefront of food formulation and development. Food Texture Design and Optimization presents the latest insights in food texture derived from advances in formulation science as well as sensory and instrumental measurement. This unique volume provides practical insights for professionals who are starting in the field as well as experts looking to enhance their knowledge or expand into new areas. The first part of this book presents case studies on formulating products in a broad variety of applicationsegments, such as cheese, ice-cream, baked goods, gluten-free products, low-fat/non-fat dairy products and more. Challenges related to maintaining texture while optimizing nutritional content, cost, flavor and other attributes of the food product are investigated. The book also highlights the importance of texture design and optimization in several types of food products and demonstrates how experts have applied this knowledge in the industry.Part two provides an overview of the latest advances in tools and techniques for food texture design and optimization, focusing on the use of instrumental techniques, the application of sensory techniques, and the use of marketing and consumer insight tools in the design and optimization of food products. The ability to use advanced characterization techniques in this field is critical for both new and established practitioners in tackling the problems they face. Food Texture Design and Optimization serves as an important reference for technical practitioners on how to adopt advanced techniques in food texture research. This information is invaluable in reviewing establish the state of the art in this field and providing a minimum recommended standard for food formulators.

Colloidal systems are important across a range of industries, such as the food, pharmaceutical, agrochemical, cosmetics, polymer, paint and oil industries, and form the basis of a wide range of products (eg cosmetics & toiletries, processed foodstuffs and photographic film). A detailed understanding of their formation, control and application is required in those industries, yet many new graduate or postgraduate chemists or chemical engineers have little or no direct experience of colloids. Based on lectures given at the highly successful Bristol Colloid Centre Spring School, Colloid Science: Principles, Methods and Applications provides a thorough introduction to colloid science for industrial chemists, technologists and engineers. Lectures are collated and presented in a coherent and logical text on practical colloid science.