Life on Earth Gets New Starting Date

“If life arose relatively quickly on Earth”, Hedges wrote in an email, “then it could be common in the universe”. What the zircon shows is “the Earth by 4.1, 4.2 billion years ago was basically behaving like it is today”.

“Twenty years ago, this would have been heretical; finding evidence of life 3.8 billion years ago was shocking”, said Mark Harrison, co-author of the research and a professor of geochemistry at UCLA.

“With the right ingredients, life seems to form very quickly”, Harrison noted.

The new research suggests that life existed prior to the massive bombardment of the inner solar system that formed the moon’s large craters 3.9 billion years ago.

Scientists had long established that the Earth was dry and barren during that period.

A group of researchers led by Elizabeth Bell have studied small fragments that were captured and conserved in zircons, which are small minerals that are formed from molten magmas or rocks. And, as a matter of fact, the study author argues that this theory actually fits better into the accelerated timeline required with his own genetic research. They resemble quite a lot to the imitation diamonds. When zircon cools, it captures and preserves materials from its surroundings, in essence serving as a time capsule. That’s 300 million years earlier for life to pop up than previously thought.

The scientists were able to spot 656 of these zircons consisting dark dots. These were recovered and researchers carefully analyzed 79 of them with Raman spectroscopy, a method that exhibits the molecular and chemical structure of prehistoric microorganisms in 3D. Inside of one of these grains, scientists discovered what they call a “chemo-fossil”, or a mixture of carbon isotopes.

An ancient zircon crystal unearthed in Western Australia may hold evidence that life appeared on the planet 4.1 billion years ago, or about 300 million years earlier than previously thought, according to a team of US researchers.

Our planet formed about 4.5 billion years ago, but it’s anyone’s guess when life appeared.

The carbon contained in the zircon has a characteristic signature – a specific ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-13 – that indicates the presence of photosynthetic life. “Harrison and his team have challenged us now to think deeply about just how ancient the biosphere could be and to find new ways to explore a cryptic record of it”, Mojzsis says.

The confirmation of the research will not only change the understanding of life on Earth but will also change the perspective regarding extraterrestrial life.