billionyearold

Rocks made of barium sulfate (known as barite rocks) from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia. Credit: Gerhard HundertmarkTo learn about the first organisms on our planet, researchers have to analyze the rocks of the early Earth. These can only be found in a few places on the surface of the Earth. The Pilbara Craton in Western Australia is one of these rare sites: there are rocks there that are around 3.5 billion years old containing traces of the microorganisms that lived at that time.A research team led by the…

Rocks made of barium sulphate (known as barite rocks) from the from the Pilbara Craton in Western Australia. Credit: Gerhard Hundertmark To learn about the first organisms on our planet, researchers have to analyze the rocks of the early Earth. These can only be found in a few places on the surface of Earth. The Pilbara Craton in Western Australia is one of these rare sites; there are rocks there that are around 3.5 billion…

NASA scientists recently conducted a study on asteroid rocks that their spacecraft took from a distant "potentially hazardous"…

A drill core sample from the Barberton greenstone belt used in the study. The dark layers contain particles of carbonaceous matter, the altered remains from Palaeoarchaean microorganisms. Credit: Manuel ReinhardtThe research team has discovered complex microbial communities in ecosystems dating back over 3 billion years.Microorganisms are believed to be Earth’s earliest life forms, with evidence embedded in rocks that are 3.5 billion years old. These rocks contain geochemical and morphological markers, like specific…

A groundbreaking study by UC Santa Barbara and McGill University has revealed that eukaryotic organisms, including plants, animals, and fungi, were already diverse and complex 1.64 billion years ago, challenging previous assumptions about their evolution. This research, based on newly discovered microfossils, indicates that the diversification of eukaryotes occurred much earlier and under a wider range of environmental conditions than previously thought, offering new insights into the origins and development of complex…

Locality map and stratigraphic column, North Pole Dome. Credit: Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj4789 Researchers from The University of Western Australia examined 3.5 billion-year-old hydrothermal vent sediments and discovered clues about the origin and early evolution of life. The study, by Professor Birger Rasmussen and Dr. Janet Muhling, from…

In the late 1980s, scientist Bernhard Schink predicted that a microorganism could produce energy from phosphite. Decades later, a new species was discovered in a sewage plant, which proved his theory. This organism, which forms a new genus of bacteria, uses phosphite oxidation for energy, a process that could date back 2.5 billion years, providing insights into early biochemical evolution and potential life in extreme environments (Artist’s concept). Credit: SciTechDaily.comBiologists from Konstanz have unveiled a unique…

NASA's Osiris-Rex mission stopped at asteroid Bennu in 2020 and returned samples to Earth in September. Following this historic feat, a…

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission is on the verge of returning samples of rocks and dust from asteroid Bennu, a 4.5 billion-year-old remnant of the early solar system, which will help to understand the role of similar asteroids in the formation of planets and life on Earth. The samples, collected in 2020, are expected to provide insights into the potential impact of asteroids on Earth and aid in future asteroid deflection strategies. These will be examined and stored at NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science…

Artist’s imagination of two primordial eukaryotic organisms of the ‘Protosterol Biota’ on the ocean floor. Based on molecular fossils, organisms of the Protosterol Biota lived in the oceans about 1.6 to 1.0 billion years ago and are our earliest known ancestors. Credit: Orchestrated in MidJourney by TA 2023Researchers have discovered 1.6 billion-year-old eukaryotic organisms, the Protosterol Biota, believed to be Earth’s first predators. These ancient creatures, found through fossil fat molecules in ancient rocks, were…