Susan Gaines was trained as a chemist and oceanographer. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous literary anthologies and been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and she is the author of the novel Carbon Dreams. Geoffrey Eglinton is Professor Emeritus at Bristol University, Adjunct Scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and at Dartmouth College. He is the recipient of the NASA Gold Medal, the Royal Society Queens Medal, and the 2008 Dan David Prize. Jürgen Rullkötter is a professor of organic geochemistry and Director of the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, Germany.

1. Molecular Informants: A Changing Perspective of Organic Chemistry ; 2. Looking to the Rocks: Molecular Clues to the Origin of Life ; 3. From the Moon to Mars: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life ; 4. Black Gold: An Alchemist's Guide to Petroleum ; 5. Deep Sea Mud: Biomarker Clues to Ancient Climates ; 6. More Molecules, More Mud and the Isotopic Dimension: Ancient Environments Revealed ; 7. Microbiologists (Finally) Climb on Board ; 8. Weird Molecules, Inconceivable Microbes, and Unlikely Proxies: Marine Ecology Revised ; 9. Molecular Paleontology and Biochemical Evolution ; 10. Early Life Revisited ; 11. Thinking Molecularly, Anything Goes: from Mummies to Oil Spills, Doubts to New Directions