Researchers find hints of life in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks in Australia

[Mike Wehner]

• Understanding when and where life first took root on Earth is something that scientists have struggled with for a long time.
• The best evidence of the beginnings of life comes in the form of molecular signatures in ancient rocks, like those of the Dresser Formation which is located in present-day Australia.
• New research reveals the presence of organic molecules in the rock that is estimated to be approximately 3.5 billion years old.

Earth is the only planet that we know of that has life, and it's also the only planet that we've ever found evidence of past life. With that in mind, you can understand how important it is for scientists to have a good understanding of how life began on our planet, as it would provide a foundation for the study of life's origins on other worlds as well.

Australia's Dresser Formation — an ancient chunk of Earth's crust that is exposed to the surface in the Northwest region of the continent — has provided scientists with evidence of the earliest life on Earth. Now, researchers studying a 3.5 billion-year-old slab of the formation believe they've detected chemical signatures that are essentially the building blocks of life.

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Researchers find hints of life in 3.5 billion-year-old rocks in Australia originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 22 Feb 2021 at 23:28:03 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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