World's oldest fossils found in Canada, say scientists

[canetoad]

Source: Guardian

Scientists say they have found the world’s oldest fossils, thought to have formed between 3.77bn and 4.28bn years ago.

Comprised of tiny tubes and filaments made of an iron oxide known as haematite, the microfossils are believed to be the remains of bacteria that once thrived underwater around hydrothermal vents, relying on chemical reactions involving iron for their energy.

If correct, these fossils offer the oldest direct evidence for life on the planet. And that, the study’s authors say, offers insights into the origins of life on Earth.

“If these rocks do indeed turn out to be 4.28 [bn years old] then we are talking about the origins of life developing very soon after the oceans formed 4.4bn years ago,” said Matthew Dodd, the first author of the research from University College, London.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/mar/01/worlds-oldest-fossils-found-canada-say-scientists-quebec-haematite-377bn-428bn-years

---

This is a BFD, pushing the age of life on earth almost back to the creation of the planet.

[bravenak]

1. Wow

[ellie]

2. That is so amazing!

[brooklynite]

3. Get thee behind me, Satan!

[canetoad]

4. LOL nt

[tclambert]

18. I can't find any reference to Canada in the Bible, therefore I refuse to believe that Canada exists.

[Throckmorton]

19. A joke I was told once while working is Israel,

Moses was actually told to go to Canada, not Canaan, but his hearing aid batteries were dead, so Canaan here we are.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Oh.

When I saw "world's oldest fossils" I thought they were referring to the
ossified Republican Senators. My bad.

[meow2u3]

14. I was thinking about something else

When I saw "world's oldest fossils", I thought they had Mango Mussolini's cabinet in mind.

[pkdu]

6. Fake News..

life started 6,000 years ago , and Jebus rode around on dinosaurs

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. Waddaya calling Fake News?

[Sunlei]

7. really cool discoveries about iron oxide and the powers of rust!

[get the red out]

8. That is big!

Amazing stuff!!!!!

[COLGATE4]

9. Why, 4.4Bn is older than 4,000!!!

Who would have thought it?

[Orrex]

10. 4.4 billion years? That's almost as long as a baseball game!

k/r

[hibbing]

11. Cool, thanks for posting this n/t

[lagomorph777]

12. Excellent work. Thanks for sharing!

Life is a natural process that is inevitable whenever the conditions fall within a (very wide) range. Currently we believe you need at least a little liquid water and a little energy. As last week's TRAPPIST exoplanets show, that may be a pretty widely available set of conditions.

[ProudLib72]

13. OMG!

Fossils from the Hadean period? I was under the impression that it was difficult just to find rocks that old.

[Marthe48]

16. I read that the Canadian Shield has some accessible oldest rocks in the world

But not as old as those fossils. There are some other exposed rocks of the same kind, maybe Brazil and Australia?

[ProudLib72]

24. I heard Austrailia

But the date was in the same range as these fossils, around 4.5b.

[canetoad]

26. Zircon found in rocks in Western Australia

By zapping single atoms of lead in a tiny zircon crystal from Australia, researchers have confirmed the crystal is the oldest rock fragment ever found on Earth — 4.375 billion years old, plus or minus 6 million years.
http://www.livescience.com/43584-earth-oldest-rock-jack-hills-zircon.html

[ProudLib72]

29. Probably what I was thinking of

I have a pretty good book about fossils found in different periods/eras. There is nothing in the book pre-Archean. I can imagine micro-fossil hunters see this as the holy grail.

[Whiskeytide]

17. We'll see a lot more of this, what ....

... with all the melting ice and all.

[BlueJac]

20. What about the Ark?

totally bummed out!

[lordsummerisle]

21. Thanks k&r n/t

[grantcart]

22. also known as the good ole days

billions of years before Trump's

[NastyRiffraff]

23. Wow! I'm gonna follow this story

Amazing news. I don't think scientists thought life formed shortly after the oceans formed. This is huge.

Science!

[jetcat]

25. A problematic claim. While the bacterial speculation has some basis in prior findings,

there's also a pretty good chance these structures are in the family of self-assembling iron oxyhydroxide tubes. See, e.g., http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/472/2195/20160466

[canetoad]

27. Yeah, that makes sense too

From your link:

We propose that some of these structures could be formed through self-assembly via an abiotic mechanism involving templated precipitation around a fluid jet, a similar mechanism to that commonly found in so-called chemical gardens.

A couple of scientist expressed skepticism towards the bottom of the original article. Hopefully the research will continue and a definitive answer is found.

[paleotn]

28. So extremophiles

could have been the first life forms on earth, instead of evolving later to take advantage of tough neighborhoods. Makes sense, since the early earth wasn't nearly the garden spot it is today. Life may not have needed Darwin's warm little pond. In my mind, that increases the likelihood of extraterrestrial life forms outside the goldilocks zones. Makes you wonder what just might be under the ice of Europa and Enceladus.

[lagomorph777]

31. Yes, it's been believed for some time that extremophiles led the way.

We are the children of extremophiles. Apparently there are still many among us. The Reputin party seems to love extremists - doesn't that make them extremophiles?

[paleotn]

32. lol!

Rethugs? That's insulting to extremophiles. Maybe idiotophiles? To not insult any other life form, I think they're a domain unto themselves....Rethugea.

[whistler162]

30. What is McCain doing in Canada?