My theory is that life on earth (and on other planets throughout this galaxy and others is relatively common both in forms we know of and in other forms we don't know about yet.
So, my theory is that life on earth sprang up and eventually resulted in the dinosaurs. Our ancestors on Mars and Maldek (now the asteroid belt) didn't come to earth much because they didn't want to be eaten by large dinosaurs. However, they might have had hunting expeditions to earth if they could eat dinosaur for the rich of Mars and Maldek (this would be previous to 65 million years ago when they nuked Maldek in a war (proven by the Soviets in the 1970s when they sent a probe to the asteroid belt but suppressed by worldwide religions in the news then). So, when a piece of Maldek destroyed by a nuclear war in the form of an asteroid hit earth and conveniently killed all the largest dinosaurs (that didn't live in the sea) humans could then safely or relatively safely live here on earth then and not be eaten by big dinosaurs. So, since the atmosphere mostly was blown off of Mars and Maldek was gone, the richer survivors of Maldek (likely the aristocracy and ruling class) in space lifeboats and survivors rich and poor from Mars came to earth who were too poor to go back to previous solar systems humanoids originated from in the first place. This is my theory. So, the life on earth and the life from Maldek and Mars intermingled here on earth ever since.
Scientists have discovered what they say could be fossils of some of the earliest living organisms onEarth. They are represented by tiny filaments, knobs and tubes in Canadian ...
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Image copyrightM DoddImage caption
Ancient life: These clumps of iron and filaments show similarities to modern microbes
Scientists have discovered what they say could be fossils of some of the earliest living organisms on Earth.
They are represented by tiny filaments, knobs and tubes in Canadian rocks dated to be up to 4.28 billion years old.
That
is a time not long after the planet's formation and hundreds of
millions of years before what is currently accepted as evidence for the
most ancient life yet found on Earth.
The researchers report their investigation in the journal Nature.
As with all such claims about ancient life, the study is contentious. But the team believes it can answer any doubts.
The
scientists' putative microbes from Quebec are one-tenth the width of a
human hair and contain significant quantities of haematite - a form of
iron oxide or "rust".
Matthew Dodd, who analysed the structures at
University College London, UK, claimed the discovery would shed new
light on the origins of life.
"This discovery answers the biggest questions mankind has asked itself - which are: where do we come from and why we are here? Image copyrightDominic PapineauImage caption
This bright red "concretion" of iron-and silica-rich rock contains the features interpreted as microfossils
"It is very humbling to have the oldest known
lifeforms in your hands and being able to look at them and analyse
them," he told BBC News.
The fossil structures were encased in quartz layers in the so-called Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt (NSB).
The NSB is a chunk of ancient ocean floor. It contains some of the oldest volcanic and sedimentary rocks known to science. The team looked at sections of rock that were likely
laid down in a system of hydrothermal vents - fissures on the seabed
from which heated, mineral-rich waters spew up from below.
Today,
such vents are known to be important habitats for microbes. And Dr
Dominic Papineau, also from UCL, who discovered the fossils in Quebec,
thinks this kind of setting was very probably also the cradle for
lifeforms between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years ago (the upper and lower
age estimates for the NSB rocks).
He described how he felt when
he realised the significance of the material on which he was working: "I
thought to myself 'we've got it, we've got the oldest fossils on the
planet'.
"It relates to our origins. For intelligent life to
evolve to a level of consciousness, to a point where it traces back its
history to understand its own origin - that's inspirational." Image copyrightCredit: Matthew DoddImage caption
Iron-rich tubes from the Quebec rocks provide additional evidence for life
Any claim for the earliest life on Earth attracts
scepticism. That is understandable. It is often hard to prove that
certain structures could not also have been produced by non-biological
processes.
In addition, analysis is complicated because the rocks in question have often undergone alteration.
The NSB, for example, has been squeezed and heated though geological time
At
present, perhaps the oldest acknowledged evidence of life on the planet
is found in 3.48-billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. Image copyrightDominic PapineauImage caption
The fossils were discovered by Dominic Papineau in
an area of Quebec that was deep under the sea billions of years ago
This material is said to show remnants of
stromatolites - mounds of sediment formed of mineral grains glued
together by ancient bacteria.
An even older claim for stromatolite
traces was made in August last year. The team behind that finding said
their fossil evidence was 3.70 billion years old.
Nonetheless, the
UCL researchers and their colleagues say they have worked extremely
hard to demonstrate the greater antiquity for their structures.
Dr
Papineau does concede though that the idea of metabolising
micro-organisms using oxygen so soon after the Earth's formation will
surprise many geologists. Image copyrightWALTER MYERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYImage caption
Artwork: Life appears to have started hundreds of millions of years after the formation of Earth
"They would not consider that there were organisms
breathing oxygen at this time. It brings back the production of oxygen
on the Earth's surface, albeit by tiny amounts, to the beginning of the
sedimentary record," he said.
Prof Nicola McLoughlin from Rhodes University, South Africa, was not connected with the research.
She commended the scholarship but felt the data presented by the UCL-led team fell short.
"The morphology of these argued iron-oxidising filaments from Northern Canada is not convincing," she told BBC News.
"In
recent deposits we see spectacular twisted stalks, often arranged in
layers, but in the highly metamorphosed rocks of the Nuvvuagittuq belt
the filaments are much simpler in shape.
"The associated textural
and geochemical evidence of graphite in carbonate rosettes and
magnetite-haematite granules is careful work, but provides only
suggestive evidence for microbial activity; it does not strengthen the
case for the biogenicity of the filaments."
She also said the
maximum age of the rocks had proven to be very controversial, and that
the true age was more likely to be closer to the 3.77-billion-year age.
Part of the interest in ancient life is in the implication it has for organisms elsewhere in the Solar System. "These (NTB) organisms come from a time when we
believe Mars had liquid water on its surface and a similar atmosphere to
Earth at that time," said Mr Dodd.
"So, if we have lifeforms originating and evolving on Earth at this time then we may very well have had life beginning on Mars."
If
that is the case then, according to Dr Papineau, recent Nasa rover
missions to the Martian surface may have been looking for signs of life
in the wrong places.
He said that the Mars Exploration Rovers
(MER), Spirit and Opportunity, and the more recent Curiosity robot
mission had overlooked areas that might have had rocks produced by
hydrothermal vents.
"On the surface of Mars there have been missed
opportunities. The MER Opportunity in 2003 found promising formations
but there was no analysis. And the Spirit rover went straight past
another near the Comanche outcrop in Gusev crater."
The suggestion
that life had already arisen "just" a few hundred million years after
the Earth had formed is intriguing in light of debates about whether
life on Earth was a rare accident or whether biology is a common outcome
given the right conditions.
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