4 replies to this topic

[EVanimations]

http://www.usnews.co...nd-in-australia

 

That's only a billion years after Earth's formation, and before the introduction of oxygen.

This will hopefully fan the fire on the quest for alien life!

[Raklian]

http://www.usnews.co...nd-in-australia

 

That's only a billion years after Earth's formation, and before the introduction of oxygen.

This will hopefully fan the fire on the quest for alien life!

 

Scientists already knew water existed before oxygen in the atmosphere became the norm.

 

It was those microbes and certain organisms that contributed oxygen into the atmosphere while living under the water.

 

Yeah, this is something useful to think about. It tells us extraterristal worlds do not necessarily need oxygen in their atmospheres for life to thrive.

Edited by Raklian, 03 January 2013 - 03:15 PM.

[StanleyAlexander]

It also tells us that life took a very short time to appear.

 

Scientists have discovered older rocks, but Noffke says those rocks have eroded to the point where traces of life are all but impossible to find.

 

Maybe even less than a billion years, if they're right.

 

I can't wait till we've developed a more concrete definition of "life."  If we can pin down the point in history when the first self-replicating organic (or inorganic?) molecules showed up, it will help our perspective.

[Raklian]

It also tells us that life took a very short time to appear.

 

Scientists have discovered older rocks, but Noffke says those rocks have eroded to the point where traces of life are all but impossible to find.

 

Maybe even less than a billion years, if they're right.

 

I can't wait till we've developed a more concrete definition of "life."  If we can pin down the point in history when the first self-replicating organic (or inorganic?) molecules showed up, it will help our perspective.

 

Maybe the definition of life will be fractal - meaning, at the largest scale, the Universe could be considered a living organism. It's the scale.

[StanleyAlexander]

It also tells us that life took a very short time to appear.

 

Scientists have discovered older rocks, but Noffke says those rocks have eroded to the point where traces of life are all but impossible to find.

 

Maybe even less than a billion years, if they're right.

 

I can't wait till we've developed a more concrete definition of "life."  If we can pin down the point in history when the first self-replicating organic (or inorganic?) molecules showed up, it will help our perspective.

 

Maybe the definition of life will be fractal - meaning, at the largest scale, the Universe could be considered a living organism. It's the scale.

I like that because then life isn't some cosmic fluke.