Cosmology and the Big Bang 1
1．Thirteen Billiou Years in Half an Hour&Bruce A. Bassett 3
2．The Paradigmn of Inflation&J. García-Bellido 19
3．Cosmology with Varying Constants&C.J.A.P. Martins 41
4．Small Scales,Big Issues for Cold Dark Matter&Andrew J. Benson 59
5．Violence and Black Holes in the Hearts of Galaxies&Carole G. Mundell 77
Probing the Universe 97
6．First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Results:Implications for Cosmology and Inflation&Hiranya Peiris 99
7．Quest for Gravitational Waves&B.S. Sathyaprakash 123
8．Strong-Field Tests of Relativistic Gravity with Pulsars&Michael Kramer 123
9．Gamma-Ray Bursts as Cosmological Probes&Nial R. Tanvir 127
Some Remarks on the Time Scales of Magmatic Processes Occurring Beneath Island Arc Volcanoes&Simon P. Turner 133
The Break-Up of Continents and the Generation of Ocean Basins&T.A. Minshull 153
Properties and Evolution of the Earth's Core and Geodynamo&F. Nimmo and D. Alfè 167
Section 3:APPLIED EARTH SCIENCE 211
Giant Catastrophic Landslides&Christopher R.J. Kilburn 213
Remote Monitoring of the Earthquake Cycle using Satellite Radar Interferometry&Tim J. Wright 229
Human Influence on the Global Geochemical Cycle of Lead&Dominik J. Weiss,Malin E. Kylander and Matthew K. Reuer 245
Natural and Artificial Platinum and Palladium Occurrences World-Wide&Hazel M. Prichard 273
Data Assimilation and Objectively Optimised Earth Observation&David J. Lary and Anuradha Koratkar 293
Afterword&Bill McGuire 311
Index 313