Oldest fossil ever found on Earth dating back 4.2bn years

Fretwired

It’s life, but not as we know it. The oldest fossil ever discovered on Earth shows that organisms were thriving 4.2 billion years ago, hundreds of millions of years earlier than previously thought.

The microscopic bacteria, which were smaller than the width of a human hair, were found in rock formations in Quebec, Canada, but would have lived in hot vents in the 140F (60C) oceans which covered the early planet.

The discovery is the strongest evidence yet that similar organisms could also have evolved on Mars, which at the time still had oceans and an atmosphere, and was being bombarded by comets which probably brought the building blocks of life to Earth.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/03/01/oldest-fossil-ever-found-earth-shows-alien-life-mars-likely/

Winny_Pooh

@siraxeman a stern letter of complaint to the editor methinks?

ToneControl

NASA fabricated the evidence

siraxeman

Winny_Pooh said:

@siraxeman a stern letter of complaint to the editor methinks?

Why ? No people love science fiction! Thought ya knew that?

robgilmo

They say that the earth was pretty inhospitable during this period, wasn't this just after or during the Late Heavy Bombardment when the earth had lakes of lava flowing over it and stuff. I read about this today, interesting stuff. It could well be one of the very first life forms on earth. 

holnrew

Not possible, the earth is only 6000 years old

robgilmo

Really? You know what that means then, there could still be dinosaurs roaming the earth this very day!

siraxeman

no...cos they never existed either. They really have you lot sewn up like a kipper.

MattBanshee

Inb4 someone posts a picture of Keef

Heartfeltdawn

I'm disappointed that this isn't a thread on the House of Lords. 

Gassage

Does this mean @Phil_aka_Pip is coming back to the forum?

jellyroll

Bet those bacteria wish they'd bought Google shares

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

I'm disappointed that this isn't a thread on the House of Lords. 

They are far older and from a galaxy far, far away.

Heartfeltdawn

Fretwired said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

I'm disappointed that this isn't a thread on the House of Lords. 

They are far older and from a galaxy far, far away.

That whole Peers/fossils/Ewoks thing again. 

Hereditary Ewoks given voting rights... 

Ravenous

jellyroll said:

Bet those bacteria wish they'd bought Google shares

Well us buggers have been ripping off and copying their DNA and making unlicensed derivative works ever since, so if they ever find a lawyer and come at us for copyright we're doomed.

Ravenous

By the way, the BBC's page on this tells a different story - they quote one person who reckons the age may be 3.77 bn years, not the headline 4.28bn.  Still an impressive find, but not necessarily as radical as it first seems if the age is in dispute.

TheBlueWolf

What's a few hundred million years? A good find anyway

ESBlonde

Share for Brucie or like for Keef!

menamestom

Ravenous said:

By the way, the BBC's page on this tells a different story - they quote one person who reckons the age may be 3.77 bn years, not the headline 4.28bn.  Still an impressive find, but not necessarily as radical as it first seems if the age is in dispute.

Only a small part of the process has been completed, the work has been published but really needs to be scrutinised and challenged by the scientific community.  Any anomalies will lead to revisions, plus the media like to take any speculation tit bits offered by the research team and mingle them into the actual claim.  Like the headline oldest-fossil-ever-found-earth-shows-alien-life-mars-likely/ is probably a spin on the researchers speculation, that goes beyond any conclusions in the actual paper.  Although this is all speculation because I haven't read it, it's just usually the way it goes....

menamestom

   Winny_Pooh said:

@siraxeman a stern letter of complaint to the editor methinks?

You do realise this is The Fretboard equivalent of saying beetlejuice 3 times?

Please be careful what you summon;)