What Was The First Life on Earth?

We may be lording over the earth now, bending rivers and scaling mountains, studying atoms and splitting DNA, but we humans are relatively new compared to other species, with 200,000 years of existence. It took a few billion years to transform from single to multi cells, and the evolution of life forms, viz the ones we are acquainted with today, came much, much later, say a few hundred millions of years later! So, what was the first life form on earth? Let's find out.

Researchers in 2017 found microfossils, which were around 4.28 years old! The discovery was made along the shorelines of the Hudson Bay, Canada, and it was groundbreaking, as they were positive that the fossils were formed by organisms, and ruled out any non-biological factors at play.

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Now that makes humans sound like earth babies.

The 2.7-2.9 billion year old deposits in South Africa were thought to be the evidence of life-forms originating from hot spring deposits, but a recent discovery suggested otherwise. In 2017, hot spring deposits were found in Pilbara Craton (Australia), which were almost 3.48 billion years old! The researchers were hopeful of further discoveries, as they seem to suggest that contrary to popular beliefs, life form may have originated from hot water springs, instead of just oceans.

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So, billions and billions of years ago, things were a bit different, as you can see now. We humans came much later, and thankfully we didn't meet the same fate as dinosaurs. Sure, we are not as old as those fossilized microorganisms, but isn't it nice to trace our history, thanks to these amazing researchers?

Post Written by - Lopamudra