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New vestiges of the first life on Earth discovered
- gtsnexp 2y agoVahrenkamp's discovery of living stromatolites on Sheybarah Island is a big deal for anyone interested in ancient life. It’s amazing to see how these organisms, which were some of the first to oxygenate our planet, are still around in extreme environments. This find could teach us much about how life began and survived on Earth. Plus, the idea of growing stromatolites in an aquarium and studying them up close is pretty exciting.I wonder what it would take to commercialize these organisms to the general public.
- ssklash 2y agoSort of like pre-historic Sea Monkeys. I think that would be super cool to be able to grow at home.
- kstrauser 2y agoHow confident are we that these aren’t new organisms that arose from the same mechanisms that birthed the ancient ones? That is, are we sure these don’t resemble the first kinds of life because they were formed recently themselves?
- Terr_ 2y ago> How confident are we that these aren’t new organisms that arose from the same mechanisms that birthed the ancient ones? Having genetic similarity to other organisms would be a good clue that it's not some separate parallel biogenesis. Of course, another way to look at it is that they both did arise the same way... From a parent even older. :p
- w10-1 2y agoIt sounds like there's a many-thousand-square-km area to search for 15-cm patches, which would be difficult to do for humans (in extreme heat). But a well-designed drone trained to visually recognize candidates would be a great service, and would minimize environmental disruption. Some enterprising (resume-builder) could directly contact the researcher in question...
- thangalin 2y agoMy coffee table photobook may be of interest for anyone wanting a brief introduction to the advent of life on Earth. * https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf https://impacts.to/downloads/lowres/impacts.pdf * https://impacts.to/ https://impacts.to/ There's a timeline showing approximately when stromatolites make an appearance, relative to the start of the Universe.
- closewith 2y agoLooks great. BTW the price is significantly higher when I click through to buy than it is on your site.
- thangalin 2y agoThanks for letting me know. It looks like Blurb upped their prices.
- wesammikhail 2y agoThat is one hell of a beautiful PDF. Amazing work!
- aaroninsf 2y agoPanspermia has entered the chat! https://earthsky.org/space/perseverance-stromatolites-microbialites-life-rock-features-on-mars/ https://earthsky.org/space/perseverance-stromatolites-microb...
- fnordpiglet 2y agoBy the way, for those confused, Ga means “giga annum” which is a fancy way of saying “a billion years.”