Does Life on Earth stretch back 3.7 Billion Years?

A paper published yesterday in Nature argues, not without some some controversy, that fossils discovered in Canada push back the origins of life on earth to very early in the planet’s history.

The implications for natural history– and the possibility of life elsewhere, given harsh Terran conditions 3.7 billion years ago– are significant.

2 replies on “Does Life on Earth stretch back 3.7 Billion Years?”

    • Some people ask, “might the extremophile only exist because they evolved from something that first evolved in a more conventional life-supporting environment?” Possibly– but these fossils suggest a wider range of environments are not only able to sustain certain forms of life, they may be able to produce certain forms of life.

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