The first life appeared on Earth at least 300 million years ago what was previously thought, as a rock, estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old, was discovered in Canada, containing evidence of ancient microbes, and researchers had previously found filaments and small tubes In the rock, which appears to have been made by bacteria, however, not all scientists agree that these structures were of biological origin.
According to the British newspaper, “Daily Mail”, following further comprehensive analysis, the team at University College London discovered a larger and more complex structure within the rock, a trunk with parallel branches on one side regarding one centimeter long, and they also found hundreds of ellipsoids. Next to the tubes and threads.
While some structures can be visualized through chemical reactions by chance, the tree-like trunk with parallel branches was likely biological in origin, the researchers say, this is because no structure created by chemistry alone has been found like it.
The oldest known evidence of life on Earth was a 3.46-billion-year-old rock from Western Australia that contained worm-like microfossils, but now lead researcher Dr. strongly suggests that there were a number of different types of bacteria on Earth between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years ago.”
The team also uncovered evidence of how bacteria obtain their energy in different ways, and found mineral chemical products in the rocks that are consistent with ancient microbes that subsisted on iron, sulfur, and possibly also carbon dioxide and light through a form of photosynthesis that doesn’t include oxygen.
These new findings suggest that a variety of microbial life may have existed on primitive Earth, and they also have implications for the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
