Almost half the book deals with the case for life on Mars, including two chapters about the Viking probes, whose seemingly-conflicting results are fully discussed. A new resolution to the Viking puzzle would require microbial life with an unusual yet credible metabolism, the writers suggest. (But the difference between speculative hypotheses and generally accepted, conservative science is clear throughout the book.) The Mars section also has chapters on the Allen Hills meteorite, water on Mars, and Phoenix and future Mars missions.

Subsequent chapters consider evidence for life or past life on Venus, Europa and other moons, and especially, Titan, where "a separate origin of life would be almost guaranteed because of the extreme unlikelihood of organisms being transported on meteorites between the inner and outer solar system." But this opinion ignores the possibility that water-dependent, carbon-based life is widely distributed in the universe, as we believe. Naturally, we found a few items like this to disagree about. And the pledge of allegiance to darwinism (p 170) seems out of place; was it required to satisfy the orthodoxy committee?

However, there was much more that we like, beginning with the conclusion about Mars: "We believe that the Viking landers found life on Mars and that more recent evidence, especially from Martian meteorites and the discovery of methane on the Red Planet, strongly supports this claim." In general, we welcome the writers' attention to the wide range of issues pertaining to astrobiology, including insights about future missions. The book is well-organized, well-written and appropriately-illustrated. Moreover it is informative, imaginative, and, we think, persuasive. Highly recommended!

After transfer, transposable elements multiply and disperse in the genome, with a range of effects mostly unexplored. We suggest that they are part of the genomic software management system required for cosmic ancestry. In any case, the research team, headed by Cédric Feschotte, concludes,

...The sheer amount of DNA generated by the amplification of the transposons and the myriad ways through which mobile elements can alter the structure and function of genomes support the idea that the exchange of genetic material between host and parasite species could strongly affect genome evolution.

Arrangement of the carotenoid biosynthetic genes (A) in the A. pisum (aphid) genome and (B) in the genome of the fungus Blakeslea trispora. Genes are represented by block arrows with blue for untranslated regions, grey for introns. Exons of carotenoid desaturase genes are red, exons of phytoene synthase/carotenoid cyclase genes are orange, and exons of other genes are green. (Figure and caption adapted from Moran and Jarvik, 2010.)

According to darwinism, genes are supposed to be originally composed by mutation-and-selection. However, in spite of massive, worldwide genomic research, there are few or no convincing examples of such darwinian de novo composing. We think this lack is a crisis for strict darwinism. Meanwhile, examples of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) are piling up. If HGT provides genes with macroevolutionary benefits to aphids, from fungi, the surprise is ongoing. We think this trend points to a way out of the crisis.

The huge impact of lateral gene transfer, often unrecognized, on prokaryote genome evolution has been impressively documented — Say and Fuchs

To explain the distribution of this gene the Germans conclude that it may have been (a) widely distributed but subsequently lost in most lineages, or (b) originally peculiar to Archaea and transferred, very early, twice, to Bacteria. Evidence that explains how it originated is not mentioned. The gene is just already there in the oldest evidence.

We remark, for what it's worth — Subfunctionalization is compatible with both cosmic ancestry and strict darwinism, but it does not compose programs for new functions. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a basic prediction of cosmic ancestry, but surprising to darwinism. Genes with no apparent origin are the rule in cosmic ancestry, and mysterious in darwinism.

...Estimates are now more than 1 billion microorganisms in a liter of seawater or a gram of seabed mud.
Microbial cells in the oceans' water column ...collectively weigh the equivalent of 240 billion African elephants. That's 35 elephants of marine microbes per person.
Responsible for more than 95 percent of respiration in the oceans, members of the microbe family maintain the planet's habitability. Their importance is hard to overstate.
The total number of species of marine microbes, including both bacteria and archaea... is likely closer to a billion.
Many rare species in a sample stand opposite to a few species predominating. Wherever Census researchers looked they found many species in a sample represented by less than one in 10,000 of all individuals, including one-off singletons. Evidently many candidates, now rare, lie in wait to become dominant species if changes favor them.

This last surprise is especially interesting. It supports the supposition that major evolutionary steps depend on genetic programs that are available in the biosphere. Here we see that they could be already installed in separate species that are ready to thrive immediately.

Genes picked up from a microbial hitch-hiker may enable some Japanese individuals to extract otherwise intractable nutrients from seaweed.

"Dietary seaweed therefore is the most probable vector for the contact with marine microbes that led to HGT, as the only porphyran source in human nutrition is nori. Traditionally, nori is not roasted and thus contact with associated marine microbes is promoted through Japanese sushi...."
"The detection of this HGT was possible owing to two favourable factors: Β-porphyranases are absent in terrestrial microbes, and the transfer was relatively recent compared to the millions of years of mammalian gut microbiome evolution."
"The results suggest that ingested bacteria may have provided a valuable genetic resource for gut microbes throughout human history...."
Obviously, horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can be important for symbionts, too.

"Experimentally, we have demonstrated the transfer of entire LS chromosomes through simple co-incubation between two otherwise genetically isolated members of [F. oxysporum].... Spontaneous horizontal transfer of such a large portion of a genome and the direct demonstration of associated transfer of host-specific pathogenicity has not been previously reported."

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) can quickly and powerfully affect evolution. In darwinian theory this capability is a surprise that gets scant attention. In cosmic ancestry HGT is not surprising but essential. Now we see that some fungi (eukaryotes!) can acquire whole chromosomes, ready for immediate use. Wow.