Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Introduction : a roadmap to fata morgana / Wladyslaw Altermann -- Nanosims opens a new window for deciphering organic matter in terrestrial and extraterrestrial samples / D.Z. Oehler et al. -- Disentangling the microbial fossil record in the Barberton greenstone belt : a cautionary tale / M.M. Walsh and F. Westall -- Looking through windows onto the earliest history of life on Earth and Mars / D. Wacey, et al. -- Models for silicate fossils of organic materials in the astrobiological context / V.M. Kolb and P.J. Liesch -- Microfossil phosphatization and its astrobiological implications / Shuhai Xiao and J.D. Schiffbauer -- Proterozoic unicellular and multicellular fossils from India and their implications / V.C. Tewari -- Microbial communities of stromatolites / B.P. Brendan et al. -- Biosedimentological processes that produce hot spring sinter biofabrics : examples from the Uzon caldera, Kamchatka Russia / J.C. Goin and S.L. Cady -- Cyanobacterial mat features preserved in the siliciclastic sedimentary record : paleodeserts and modern supratidal flats / H. Porada and P.G. Eriksson -- Deciphering fossil evidence for the origin of life and the origin of animals : common challenges in different worlds / J. Antcliffe and N. McLoughlin -- Microorganisms in the ancient terrestrial subsurface -- and in outer space? / H. Stan-Lotter et al. -- Evidence of ancient microbial life in an impact structure and its implications for astrobiology : a case study / T. Hode et al. -- Phylogenomic dating and the relative ancestry of prokaryotic metabolisms / C.E. Blank -- Fossil microorganisms at methane seeps : an astrobiological perspective : astrobiology of methane seeps / R. Barbieri and B. Cavalazzi -- Endoliths in terrestrial arid environments : implications for astrobiology / N. Stivaletta and R. Barbieri -- Magnetotactic bacteria and their potential for terraformation / I.I. Ardelean et al. -- Paleontological tests : human-like intelligence is not a convergent feature of evolution / C.H. Lineweaver -- Cosmic life forms / A. Grandpierre -- Astronomical and astrobiological imprints on the fossil records : a review / J. Chela-Flores et al. -- Do impacts really cause most mass extinctions? / D.R. Prothero -- Irradiation of icy cometary analogs : its relevance in reference to chemical evolution and the origin of life / M. Colin-Garcia et al. -- The big bang at time zero / P.R. Bahn and S.H. Pravdo -- Molecular imprints of reaction network : living or non-living / A. Matsuno -- The ALH84001 case for life on Mars / A.F. Davila et al. -- Preservation windows for paleobiological traces in the Mars geological record / D.C. Fernández-Remolar et al.