Addresses the most recent 750 million years, starting from the initial dispersal of the oldest well-established supercontinent, Rodinia, and accompanied by dramatic cooling events (Snowball Earths), the onset of modern plate tectonics, unprecedented carbon-cycle fluctuations, rising atmospheric-oxygen levels to modern values, and the rapid evolution of multicellular organisms, including animals.

Aims to identify planets orbiting other stars that potentially are, or have been, habitable. Currently exoplanets are recognized in a wide range of planetary systems. The physical parameters of the central stars and planets are quite diverse, and of the nearly 5000 known planets, as few as 5% are potentially Earth-like in terms of mass and orbital distance.