Life older than previously thought.

[Lost_BMW]

Interesting finds reported here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-209...

[Eric Mc]

Only 760 million years.

I thought they had traced life back to about 3.5 billion years.

[deeen]

Eric Mc said:

Only 760 million years.

I thought they had traced life back to about 3.5 billion years.

This is described as the earliest animal life, I guess plant life or the first single cell that was some form of "life" is the older figure.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

Only 760 million years.

I thought they had traced life back to about 3.5 billion years.

That's more like the age of the planet.

[Caruso]

Eric Mc said:

Only 760 million years.

I thought they had traced life back to about 3.5 billion years.

I think that's the oldest rocks which are 3.8bn. Most of the crust has been recycled through tectonic processes or weathering more recently than that.

[dodgyviper]

550 Million years was thought to be the limit for quite a while

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion

[Lost_BMW]

Eric Mc said:

Only 760 million years.

I thought they had traced life back to about 3.5 billion years.

I think that was for the earliest dated simple / single cell/ bacterial type forms?

This sounds like a more complex form. Seven hundred and sixty million years of evolution to peak at..


.. humans. And wasps. What a waste of time

Edited by Lost_BMW on Friday 10th February 21:37

[Eric Mc]

That's always been my understanding too.

Even though MOST of the earth's crust has indeed been recycled many times over through the plate tectonics process, there are some areas of the great continental shields where very, very ancient crust is still visible near the surface. Parts of Canada, South Africa and Australia have surface rocks that go back to around 3 billion years ago - and some of these rocks contain fossils of single celled life forms.

I got the book "First Life" last Christmas and it goes through the development of early life.

[Halb]

If First Life isn't too stodgy, I may give it a go.

I remember some of the life that is discussed in SoD, blobs and things, where stuff went from having an inside and outside to also having a 'within'.
Need to reread it.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Science_of_Discworld

[Eric Mc]

I have to say, it is a bit stodgy.

[Simpo Two]

A self-replicating molecule is the hard bit, then you have to get from prokaryotic cells to eukaryotic cells. Then you get lots of the latter to work together as a community, then form a single organism, then you're home and dry

[Halb]

Is that a census map of Huyton to Moss Side?

[Lost_BMW]

Halb said:

Is that a census map of Huyton to Moss Side?

Would that be the posh part of the third city then?

[BuzzLightyear]

Shall I be the first to suggest you just ask MBH?