The human quest to know what’s out there
The cosmological distance ladder
Cosmology’s age crisis
The cosmic recipe
The birth of the planet we call home
WHY DO THE PLANETS STAY IN ORBIT?
And why the Moon doesn’t fall down
Gravitational force versus space–time warp
Gobbling monsters, evaporating pin pricks and balls of string
Picturing the Big Bang
WHAT WERE THE FIRST CELESTIAL OBJECTS?
The beginnings of the Universe as we know it
The debate about what holds the Universe together
The most mysterious substance in the Universe
The mystery of how life emerged
The chances of finding we have neighbors
ARE THERE OTHER INTELLIGENT BEINGS?
Is anyone out there?
CAN WE TRAVEL THROUGH TIME AND SPACE?
The possibility of warp drives and time travel
CAN THE LAWS OF PHYSICS CHANGE?
Physics beyond Einstein
ARE THERE ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSES?
Schrödinger’s cat and the implications for us all
WHAT WILL BE THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE?
Big crunch, slow heat death or big rip
IS THERE COSMOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FOR GOD?
The apparent fine tuning of the Universe for human life