Yeah,,,, what I see in this is a reporter, making more of something than what the scientist actually said
"The fossilised bubbles and layered rock are evidence of microbes that would be the oldest known life-forms on land – beating the previous record holder by 580 million years.
Their existence supports the idea that what could have been the ultimate ancestor of all life first emerged from something akin to what Charles Darwin famously described as a “warm little pond” on land."
What the abstract said was:
"However, missing from the caldera model were surface manifestations of the volcanic-hydrothermal system (hot springs, geysers) and their unequivocal link with life......These findings extend the known geological record of inhabited terrestrial hot springs on Earth by ∼3 billion years and offer an analogue in the search for potential fossil life in ancient Martian hot springs."
What I believe they are talking about,,, (the scientists) is a couple things,,,, first,,, It is unlikely that life began in an oxygen rich environment,, oxygen is chemical that breaks down things,, not creates them,,,, (long story short),,,, however Oxygen MUST be present for life to continue (at least as we now know and understand life today) everything breathes air, and needs oxygen ,,,, even bacteria,,,,
So,,, there are now in existence,,, volcanic pools,, geyers, salt baths and even acid pools,,, that we have found now that do support life, which is different that what we would have thought,, ie "darwins warm pool",,,, in fact the pool may have been an acidic, oxygen free pool,,,, like you find on Mars,, now,,, so mars an earth have some similarities...
However, in organic chem, "similar" means nothing,,, for instance take an organic hexagonal "benzene" ring,,, it "bends a certain way due to electric forces of electrons,, and "phenyl" carbon molecules in positions around the ring.. there are 6 positions on the ring, the positions are calle iso, ortho, and meta,, Iso is right next to each other and is least stable,, ortho has a carbon between them and meta are at either ends of the molecule,,,,
In a certain chemical "polymer" if the hydrocarbons attached to the ring are together you have the fibers in your tires, "Polyarimid fibers",,,,,,, if you put them in ortho position they are now Nomex cloth, and are fireproof,,, in the meta position they are bulletproof,, and you know that substance as Kevlar...
The interesting thing,, and what my chemical point is,,, each of those substances,, contains the exact same chemicals, in the same amounts and weights,,, empirically,, they are the same chemical,,,,,,,,,very very similar..
It is the "shape" or the "arrangement,,, lattice as they say in the abstract" ie their position,,,, that makes them completely different,,,, same goes with monkey and human DNA,,,, empirically exactly the same,,, arrange them different and you get a chimp,, not a human,,,, there is no "thing" called "similar".....
Hope that kind of explains it, without putting you to sleep,,,, this is why I didnt stay in chem,, its really cool,,, but chicks DO NOT dig it.......
lindajoy wrote:
Science does have a staggering effect in bringing about more to consider.. I suspect it is why nothing can be taken for granted or accepted as fact.. Always challenging to learn and discover more, fascinating it is...
The intrigue also begs the question~~ Why Mars??!Why don't we concentrate on our world before measuring it against Mars ...I understand Mars is believed to be closest to Earth in atmosphere etc..But I'd still like to know what ours was?? And its impact to the Universe etc..
Do you believe these bubbles contained represent life 4 billion years ago??
This is also interesting..
"The rocks contain tantalising signs of activity such as “ancient ripple marks and piles of rock fragments deposited during an ancient storm”, Dr Allwood said.
She cautioned that structures which look similar to stromatolites can form without any living organisms, saying it had been “notoriously difficult” to establish signs of life in the few rocks that remain from the Earth’s “infancy”.
“The discovery … will no doubt also spark controversy,” Dr Allwood wrote.
“There are no organic or cellular remains … [but there] are fairly credible hallmarks of microbial activity.”
She said the discovery could have significant implications for the search for extraterrestrial life.
“If these are really the figurative tombstones of our earliest ancestors, the implications are staggering,” Dr Allwood wrote.
“Earth’s surface 3.7 billion years ago was a tumultuous place, bombarded by asteroids and still in its formative stages.
“If life could find a foothold here, and leave such an imprint that vestiges exist even though only a minuscule sliver of metamorphic rock is all that remains from that time, then life is not a fussy, reluctant and unlikely thing.
“Give life half an opportunity and it’ll run with it. Our understanding of the nature of life in the Universe is shaped by how long it took for Earth to establish the planetary conditions for life.
“Suddenly, Mars may look even more promising than before as a potential abode for past life.”
Science does have a staggering effect in bringing ... (
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