• Members of the previous forum can retrieve their temporary password here, (login and check your PM).

Life on Earth may have started 4.1 billion years ago

Migrated topic.
Bancopuma

Bancopuma

Esteemed member
Senior Member
Senior member
"Geochemists have found probable evidence for life on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago -- 300 million years earlier than previously documented, pushing the origin of life close to when the planet formed, 4.54 billion years ago.

The research suggests life in the universe could be abundant, Harrison said. On Earth, simple life appears to have formed quickly, but it likely took many millions of years for very simple life to evolve the ability to photosynthesize."


Bell, E.A, Boehnke, P., Harrison, T.M. & Wendy L. Mao., W.L. (2015) Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon. PNAS, In Press.

 
Everything in our history seems to be getting older and much more ancient than we previously thought. Certainly one for our history books. 8)

Thanks for sharing.
 
Physicists have speculated that simple life could have existed as early as 10-15 million years after the Big Bang, more than 80 million years before the first stars coalesced through gravity and began to fuse hydrogen.

Given this new evidence, it may seem that life develops quite quickly wherever possible with the right conditions. :)
 
I have never taken the time to understand carbon dating - on a scale of millions, and now billions, of years, that is.
I have never put faith in the whole "human life evolved over billions of years and random chance forces all by itself" idea, either. I have even seen at least one example where a single petrified tree existed through sediment layers that were judged to be millions of years worth apart (the tree needless to say would have been long gone by then, before each layer could form).


I suppose the assumption and faith in the timelessly consistent decay of certain carbon isotopes had not really broken through to me. Catastrophic events like huge earthquakes, volcanos or floods can, i think, really mess with a linear-style of aging. The process of "aging" can be affected (slowed down or drastically sped up) in complex ways that I personally think interfere with the millions of years mentality.

Anyways thats my little rant, my apologies friend.
I am still in agreement that life probably exists elsewhere in the vast cosmos.
But i cant fathom how this all exists without some kind of intelligent, all powerful force or being behind it. Someone who has been there from the beginning, and will always be. Almost identical to the big bang, put in a certain light! Both take faith as well, bottom line.

Any thoughts? I am open to learning so any criticisms and comments anyone has are appreciated.
 
You may find the consciential view of interest.

"In this model, consciousness is not the result of matter-energy. Rather, it is an increasingly intelligent, evolving, complexifying, organizing, ordering principle that manifests through matter-energy as a syntropic, living entity that drives biological evolution, and gives rise and meaning to reality, which is a reflection of it."

 
Back
Top Bottom