Friday 10 April 2015

Earth’s Beginnings: The Origins of Life

Earth From Space
Earth is the only planet we know of that can support life. This is an amazing fact, considering that it is made out of the same matter as other planets in our solar system, was formed at the same time and through the same processes as every other planet, and gets its energy from the sun.
To a universal traveler, Earth may seem to be a harmless little planet in the far reaches of one of billions of spiral galaxies in the universe. It has an average size star of average brightness and is joined by seven other planets — which support no known life forms — in its solar system. While this may be fitting for a passage from The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams, in the grand scheme of the universe, it would be a fairly accurate description.
However, Earth is a planet teeming with vitality and is home to billions of plants and animals that share a common evolutionary track. How and why did we get here? What processes had to take place for this to happen? And where do we go from here? The fact is, no one has been able to come close to knowing exactly what led to the origins of life, and we may never know. After 5 billion years of Earth’s formation and evolution, the evidence may have been lost. But scientists have made significant progress in understanding what chemical processes that may have led to the origins of life.
There are many theories, but most have the same general perspective of how things came to be the way they are. Following is an account of life’s beginnings based on some of the leading research and theories related to the subject, and of course, fossil records dating back as far as 3.5 billion years ago.

Earth’s Beginnings

Solar System
The solar system was created from gas clouds and dust that remained from the Sun's formation some 6-7 billion years ago. This material contained only about .2% of the solar system's mass with the Sun holding the rest. (NASA graphic, by N. A. Cabrol)
Earth began to form over 4.6 billion years ago from the same cloud of gas (mostly hydrogen and helium) and interstellar dust that formed our sun, the rest of the solar system and even our galaxy. In fact, Earth is still forming and cooling from the galactic implosion that created the other stars and planetary systems in our galaxy. This process began about 13.6 billion years ago when the Milky Way Galaxy began to form.
As our solar system began to come together, the sun formed within a cloud of dust and gas that continued to shrink in upon itself by its own gravitational forces. This caused it to undergo the fusion process and give off light, heat and other radiation. During this process, the remaining clouds of gas and dust that surrounded the sun began to form into smaller lumps called planetesimals, which eventually formed into the planets we know today.
Planetesimals
A large number of small objects, called planetesimals, began to form around the Sun early in the formation of the solar system. These objects were the building blocks for the planets that exist today. (NASA graphic, by N. A. Cabrol.)
The Earth went through a period of catastrophic and intense formation during its earliest beginnings 4.6-4.4 billion years ago. By 3.8 to 4.1 billion years ago, Earth had become a planet with an atmosphere (not like our atmosphere today) and an ocean. This period of Earth’s formation is referred to as the pre-Cambrian Period. The pre-Cambrian is divided into three parts: the Hadean, Archean and Proterozoic Periods.

Pre-Cambrian Period

The Earth formed under so much heat and pressure that it formed as a molten planet. For nearly the first billion years of formation (4.5 to 3.8 billion years ago) — called the Hadean Period (or hellish period) — Earth was bombarded continuously by the remnants of the dust and debris — like asteroids, meteors and comets — until it formed into a solid sphere, pulled into orbit around the sun and began to cool down.

Jupiter Atmosphere

Earth's early atmosphere most likely resembled that of Jupiter's atmosphere, which contains hydrogen, helium, methane and ammonia, and is poisonous to humans. (Photo: NASA, from Voyager 1)
As Earth began to take solid form, it had no free oxygen in its atmosphere. It was so hot that the water droplets in its atmosphere could not settle to form surface water or ice. Its first atmosphere was also so poisonous, comprised of helium and hydrogen, that nothing would have been able to survive.
Earth’s second atmosphere was formed mostly from the out gassing of such volatile compounds as water vapor, carbon monoxide, methane, ammonia, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrochloric acid and sulfur produced by the constant volcanic eruptions that besieged the Earth. It had no free oxygen.
About 4.1 billion years ago, the Earth’s surface — or crust — began to cool and stabilize, creating the solid surface with its rocky terrain. Clouds formed as the Earth began to cool, producing enormous volumes of rainwater that formed the oceans. For the next 1.3 billion years (3.8 to 2.5 billion years ago), the Archean Period, first life began to appear and the world’s landmasses began to form. Earth’s initial life forms were bacteria, which could survive in the highly toxic atmosphere that existed during this time.
Toward the end of the Archean Period and at the beginning of the Proterozoic Period, about 2.5 billion years ago, oxygen-forming photosynthesis began to occur. The first fossils were a type of blue-green algae that could photosynthesize.
Earth's Atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere was first supplied by the gasses expelled from the massive volcanic eruptions of the Hadean Era. These gases were so poisonous, and the world was so hot, that nothing could survive. As the planet began to cool, its surface solidified as a rocky terrain, much like Mars' surface (center photo) and the oceans began to form as the water vapor condensed into rain. First life came from the oceans. Source: NASA, NWS
Some of the most exciting events in Earth’s history and life occurred during this time, which spanned about two billion years until about 550 million years ago. The continents began to form and stabilize, creating the supercontinent Rodinia about 1.2 billion years ago. Although Rodinia is composed of some of the same land fragments as the more popular supercontinent, Pangea, they are two different supercontinents. Pangea formed some 225 million years ago and would evolve into the seven continents we know today.
Free oxygen began to build up around the middle of the Proterozoic Period — around 1.8 billion years ago — and made way for the emergence of life as we know it today. This increased oxygen created conditions that would not allow most of the existing life to survive and thus made way for the more oxygen-dependent life forms.
By the end of the Proterozoic Period, Earth was well along in its evolutionary processes leading to our current period, the Holocene Period,  or Anthropocene Period, also known as the Age of Man. Thus, about 525 million years ago, the Cambrian Period began. During this period, life “exploded,” developing almost all of the major groups of plants and animals in a relatively short time. It ended with the massive extinction of most of the existing species about 500 million years ago, making room for the future appearance and evolution of new plant and animal species.
About 498 million years later — 2.2 million years ago — the first modern human species emerged.
(Compiled with the assistance of a broad range of science and research resources and review by Dr. Jack C. Hall, Director of Environmental Studies, UNC Wilmington)

Did You Know?

homo habilis
The first modern human being was called homo habilis, the first of the homo genus. This species developed stone tools for use in daily life. Homo habilis means “Handy Man.” He existed from about 2.2 to 1.5 million years ago. There are earlier species related to modern man, called hominids. The images show the skull shape and probable appearance of homo habilis.
The Pre-Cambrian Period — accounts for about 90 percent of Earth’s history. It lasted for about four billion years until about 550 million years ago.
About 70 percent of the world’s land masses were created in the Archean Era, between 3.8 and 2.5 million years ago. Rodinia, widely recognized as the first supercontinent, formed during the Proterozoic Era, about 2.5 billion years ago.
It is believed that the oldest human family member was discovered in Ethiopia and lived 4.4 million years ago. It was named “Ardi,” short for Ardipithecus ramidus
  • During the Holocene Period, the descendants of Homo Habilis became “too handy” and created machines capable of once again changing the atmosphere of Planet Earth through injection of extremely large amounts of carbon dioxide and other polluting chemicals into the atmosphere itself…and the waters of the ocean. Equally important “nuclear explosive” compounds were developed and began to be utilized in disturbances known as wars.  These two factors combined nearing the end of the “Human Episode” and Planet Earth once again faced a “major extinction”.  This “Holocaust” occurred only a short geologic time period ago…and galactic scientists
    must now wait for nuclear radiation to decline before further investigating the results of the Nuclear Period upon life that once existed and thrived on Planet Earth.
    (Galactic Ency Article 14.3b)
  • H2kil_21
    is this possible? how about the divine theory?
    • Nicholette
      My hypothesis is that Christians (of which, I am) and Scientists are both correct, they just need to stop fighting and combine their theories.
      I just think Earth time and God time are different.
      For Example:
      When I play a video game, one hour in my house is or day in my virtual world. This allows me (the goddess of the game) to watch over my little world (the game).
      According to the Bible, God created the world in 7 days.
      Scientists say: 5 billion years.
      What if (slightly under) 1 Billion Years on Earth is just a day in Heaven?
      • http://www.facebook.com/pitheos Derek Dean
        What reason do you have to suggest that Genesis is an allegory and not an ancient myth, like other ancient myths during the time which tried to explain their world?
        Further, why should we take myths seriously when it comes to science?
        • Vivienne Eggers
          What reason Derek do you have to think that ancient myths are actually not ‘real’? They symbolic or allegorical telling of a story about historic events is perhaps the most memorable way to transfer information from generation to generation. It is now well known that many so called ‘myths’ are stories actually based on real events or descriptions – many distorted at the time of Patriarchal uprising 3000 years ago when it became unsafe to pass on knowledge from earlier matriarchal flood survivors – or simply because the information became distorted and subverted as it was ‘forbidden’ and needed to fit in with new political dogma and control. Our society and its education is based on this propaganda. some of it valid – much of it not or half distorted.
      • truth
        thats what the Quran says. days in heaven are very long compared to Earth
      • me
        even better yet… factor in einstein’s relativity. if you’re traveling in space really really close to the speed of light for one day and then you slow down and head back to earth – your friends back on earth could be millions of years dead and gone. so if god said i created the universe in 7 days, maybe in our relative time it was millions of years!
        • Dan
          I could take that theory, but saying that the earth was created before all stars (the 4th day), which were added to mark day and night and seasons, is really hard for me to believe. And those who still strongly believe the earth is only 6000 years or so old are totally lost in my opinions.
    • Kevin
      Divine theory? That’s just a theory. This is more of scientific fact so I believe they are trying to educate rather than indoctrinate into Easter Bunny theology. I’d guess you’re a Christian? They usually feel the need to ram that down the throats of everyone else even though the Bible is a proven disaster of lies. As for a God, sure, might be one that caused Evolution but if ya think the God writes books or has a need to “inspire” humans to write for it then forget science and become a monk.
  • Ginghy
    so was Homo Hablis the first member of the human family covered by religion let only Christianity? The idea of attempting to reconcile science and religion is rediculous. Do all the time shifting you want—–2 million years vs. 2 thousand years and ask yourself if our early relatives qualify to be saved?
  • http://twitter.com/agustinant #om
    “The first fossils were a type of blue-green algae that could photosynthesize.” This is not correct if we attend to actual classification. They are bacteria (Cyanobacteria). Confusing algae with bacteria is also common with “Spirulina”, that many people feed thinking they are algae… Thanks for the Web!
  • http://www.facebook.com/debra.roesser Debra Roesser
    now i am confused i always thought god created earth ,so how is there a b..c. if god created the earth when was god born///???????
    • QuestionEverything
      B.C. was traditionally linked to the approximate birth of christ. According to the scriptures, god existed long before that. But the fact that you are confused leads me to question whether the religious teachings you’ve been subjected to are in any way tied to reality.
    • http://en.pcfavour.info Naeem Moavia Siddiqui
      Time is nothing…. It is used for our (human’s) understanding only…. And time depends on relativity and speed….. God wasn’t born….. Free from the limitation of time…. There is no past, no present and no future…. Scientifically, we say…. matter, cannot be produced or destroyed but transforms….. According to some saying…. Nothing exists but the God…. So everything was created by God from His Own Body (we say to understand)…. a part of God…. God is not a personality I think….. He is something out of our mind…. He’s the whole universe….. He experiences everything in us and in all the living and non-living things….. We’re too weak to go out of our solar system….. And, surely, too too weak to talk or face God…… Yes God created the whole universe including earth……. Time does not exist for God because He is everywhere, every time experiencing a lot of things at a time…. Experiencing past, preset and future at a time…. because in no time He is everywhere in the whole universe….
  • joe
    Earth was created 4.5 million years ago and 8.64 billion
    years after the big bang. god didnt know that so he said 2 days…the Hindu
    myth says god day is 4.32 billion years which is a pretty ridiculous number for ancient people to contemplate.
    Once the 2 myths are combined it suggests earth was created 8.64 billion years after the big bang
    Life was created about 3.5 billion years a ago. Before life was created
    nature, god or aliens, chose, cut, shaped, four different phosphates, 4 real and physical DNA Letters, 4 different complex molecules of specific shape, size and weight, that were paired (2+2, AT, GC) then used/combined by someone or due to series of yet inexplicable accidents to physically write programs for different energy manufacturing systems and unique replication systems that determine varied but limited options for growth and behavior.
    Since letters were created before life and since it happened
    once and never again suggests life was intelligently designed…BUT VERYONE wants to believe that nature created letters and wrote million of complex programs by accident..Really? how?…Tell that to silicon valley…tell them they should try nature creation system – accident…nature does so much better than it.
    • Vivienne Eggers
      that’s because the assumption is made that everything by nature is ‘accidental’ ‘random’ and without ‘intelligence’. If a cell in the human body could look out at other cells in the body system – I am sure he/she/it would also think their purpose unique and all worlds outside their view are disconnected, void and without ‘intelligence’.
      We should remember that if humans are made from the molecule – the DNA letters, phosphates or any other materials ‘of Earth’ then we too are simply small cells, atoms, electrons – whatever -components of a much greater whole – that ‘whole’ Earth is also a micro component of a greater whole – that universe a component of much greater universes – that infinity exists within us and external to us as a transient point of reference. We are just a particle of divine cosmos beyond the smallness of intellectual comprehension.
  • Elizabeth Sarah Morata
    When will scientist believe that the human species are different from the animal and plant species? When will Biology separate living things into: man, plants and animals? There are so many obvious reasons why man is man and animal is animal. Man is provided with intelligence, dignity, the power of speech, reading, writing and become leaders. It takes only 8 to 10 years to finish a course in sciences and become expert, yet why it took thousands of years and still mankind is not substantially feed with the right information regarding the ‘evolution/creation’ of man? The best consultant in these questions that scientists cannot solve is the Creator, Himself. Scientists or learned men are greatly honored people even in the Book of divine guidance revealed 1500 yrs ago. I hate ‘missing links’. It gives me a feeling of hunger in my mind, unstable. Question marks without the right answers are silent poison.
    When I consulted Al Qur’an, I became stable. Even if i were not a scientist, I understand now that everything is created to favor man, the Family or Tribe of Adam. More on this in a soon to be published book. “ECOLOGY, IN THE LIGHT OF AL QUR’AN”, “THE MACRO-ECOLOGY” and “UNIVERSAL PSYCHOLOGY USING WISDOM PART I, II, III and IV”and “THE DIAGNOSIS OF THE ‘SICK EARTH’ are new topics that can help man understand the reason for the existing things to come into being. It is a well planned creation by the ALL-WISE, ALL-KNOWING CREATOR with a definite purpose.
    • ChildofGod
      My question is, why do we human and animal species reproduce,
      instead of just continue to emerge? You said “the first modern human species
      emerged”. You scientist need stop
      disrespecting God, you will one day answer to Him.
  • Jc Dels Santos
    Ugh… No… This is not what i was finding… So, how did we survive those things that were in the Earth??? How can we live in that too much heat?? Don’t tell me, we were once Bacteria’s, don’t kid me :3… If the Earth was really formed that way, why is the earth the only one who has a atmosphere and all, and you claim that there is another earth-like with atmosphere in another solar system and has a population of humanity, give me some evidences… I believed God’s Theory or Sayings than this….Explain me.. I will come back and see your so-called *theory* which was just made up… It wasn’t even explained here, how life was created… So you want to tell me that we were made up from atom’s to beings?????? Or should i say that we just transported in the earth by extraterrestrial beings.. I will come back to see your T.H.E.O.R.Y
    • anonymous
      You are so right man
    • anonymous
      How do we know what happened when we weren’t there?
    • nospecialperson
      you realize that every planet has a different atmosphere.
    • Vivienne Eggers
      Well we DO have extra-terrestrial origins. Life as we ‘know it’ formed – first Earth out of the same gases and matter as other ‘extra-terrestrial beings’ or planets. The atmospheric layer parted, dispersed or cleared sufficiently to allow the infusion of light from extra-terrestrial stars, planets and cosmic influencers. When our post-flood ancestors tell the cosmogony of the formation of Earth – their symbolic representation of our origins is in fact quite accurate – it is only that we modern humans don’t understand the richness of the heritage and the knowledge that was held. We read or hear it as children stories or words of primitive ignorants. We are ‘stardust’ after all. That light energy that travels billions of light years to reach our visual field has actually penetrated our Earth atmosphere with matter – energy. This is how early life began and it is how we continue to be impacted – if we were still sensitive enough to know this. Perhaps soon we will – as surgeons and scientists improve laser and other technologies that utilise the energy factor and the butterfly effect of light waves.
  • theodore yuan
    wow! it is so cool! <3
    • andre
      yeah! you’re right!
  • trisha das
    thank u it was a very helpful article thank u once again.
  • Ollolloopollolol
    Lol
  • TheTruthinFaithandLife
    the Earth was not made in any that way. It WAS created by GOD. here are some facts of how it happens to be true that God made the earth. the Bible. How could the earth have been made from gas and dust, or rocks colliding, if there was NOTHING? here is something I’d like people who think that this theory they’re sayings is true to answer, ‘If the earth was made by gas and dust or rocks colliding, then how was the universe made if there was nothing?’.
    God made the Earth perfect for us to live in.
    • Ben Cartwright
      Who made God?
    • ERIC P.
      a HUMAN DEVELOPED THE BIBLE TO CREATE LAW ON THE EARTH AND THERE HOPE THAT PEOPLE WOULD BELIEVE IN A HIGHER BEING SO THEY WOULD QUIT BREAKING THE LAW. THE BIBLE NEVER MENTIONS DINOSAURS BUT WE HAVE PROOF THEY WERE HERE. THEY DONT TALK ABOUT CAVE MEN OR HOMOSAPIENS BUT WE KNEW THEY WERE HERE. YOU SEE WHEN THEY CREATED THE BIBLE NO ONE FOUND BONES OF ALL THESE DIFFERENT SPECIMEN SO THEY DIDNT KNOW THEY EXISTED. NOT ONE BODY HAS BEEN FOUND OF DISCIPLES OR ADAM AND EVE OR NO EVIDENCE EXISTS TO SUGGESTS THE BIBLE IS TRUE. YOU PEOPLE WANT TO BELIEVE LIFE AFTER EARTH EXISTS BUT IT HAS BEEN FALSELY TOLD IN FAIRYTALES YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD. NO ONE WAS AROUND BACK THEN TO KNOW IF ANYTHING FROM THE BIBLE EXISTED BUT THERE IS PROOF OF EVOLUTION HERE SO I TEND TO BELIEVE FACTS NOT A BOOK SOMEONE WROTE TO CONTROL PEOPLE FROM STEALING LYING AND CHEATING. WE HAVE MANY BOOKS NOWADAYS THAT DO THE EXACT THING ONLY NOW THERE CALLED LAW BOOKS.
      • Don B
        The bible does mention and describe them in detail.you obviously never read the bible. Read the book of job .I think its in chapter 40
        • me
          he’s right… there are several parts that describe huge creatures. the instance in job that don refers to provides an excellent description.
      • Mike Turn
        So how did life form? At what point it didn’t exist, and then it did? Did it pop out of nothing? How did that happen? And where did those gas clouds that created the sun and the earth come from? At some point they weren’t there and then they were. Did they pop out of nothingness as well? How? How does that occur? These are important points that evolutionists seem to just skip over.
      • unkown
        just wow
  • TheTruthinFaithandLife
    For the theory that people evolved into humans from Ape’s, it is TOTALLY NOT TRUE. How could we have gotten THOUGHT, and KNOWLEDGE and LANGUAGE? God made Adam, and Eve, in his own image.
    • lope
      Please, before Adam and Eve there were only the animals of modern time (as the bible describes them). Why does the bible not describe the dinosaurs or single celled animals before them? The creation of man seems to be totally incomplete because there is no mention of animals like Homo Habilis. Your creator seems to incomplete to a flaw. Or, maybe he is trying to hide his mistakes?
      • eric
        the bible was made by people to control the population from breaking the laws i e the ten commandments. You have to believe in the bible. why would the almighty god let babies die every day and good people die of cancer with no cure. a loving god would not let these things happen. The bible was presented to give people hope instead of knowing they were just going to die. Read about how the bible actually came to be and it will stun you. there is not one proof or evidence that supports the bible come on people. I could tell you the earth was flat 300 years ago and you would believe me. now you know its round. stick to the facts not the lies in a book created by your own people
        • Vinod Kumar Ojha
          god is not something like a super human sitting in heaven. it is pure intelligence and energy encompassing all, if you want evidence of god you will have to experience it, like you experience love, hate beauty. they seems to exist but cannot be comprehended by our 5 sense organs , get into meditation drop all the thoughts and experiance it
  • Chris Robinson
    How did the scientist knows all this number ? please reply
    • Ben Cartwright
      Fox news.
  • Jeremy
    The Cambrian Period began about 540 million years ago. This mistakenly says it began about 525 million years ago.
  • Justin
    You people are ignoring the questions you ask can be answered by any scientist.
  • Emma
    I asked for learning about earths atmospheric gases for kids and this is what I get?!?!?!?!??!?!?! Unbelievable!!!!!!! We didn’t understand this at all.
    • Akaiteddy
      This is obviously not an article for kids.
      • Chris
        I have faith to do but until I do it is only faith that I can as a child’s first steps. I believe I have knowledge to understand therefore I believe I understand and through it justify my faith or lack of.. Who is to judge the will and purpose and workings of GOD. In the beginning our fall was for the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which brings us forward and leaves us as spiritually confused and confounded and trapped now as since then as Satan would have us. You will never have faith if you do not wholeheartedly seek it, and to question or doubt it will void it. The paradox, we thought we could be more than we are with knowledge regardless of GOD. A personal choice of faith is of our freewill it is not collective or debatable but can only be found tested and proved in oneself, those that would question it obviously don’t have it or can’t find it, those that do have it have it. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” and inverse is true unless like like Paul GOD has some greater calling.
        • Pablo
          what kind of mind would think that the Creator is so small that the Creator won’t forgive “sins” without a “Blood Sacrifice?” What kind of Soul would allow another to “Die for their sins”? What kind of person needs the threat of “Eternal Damnation” to behave in a decent manner? What kind of man would live their lives by a book they have no idea who the Author was and as such could have no idea what really inspired them?
          • Chris
            Who is to judge the will and purpose and workings of GOD.
            I don’t know you, and question myself as to whether you actually wrote this or perhaps it was an auto response from my computer, yet in a hundred or thousand or several years we can agree this transpired or did it?.
            Faith is not found in doubt, the devil is in the details as they were in garden and now.
            “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
            I can not give you what you do not want, or perhaps your doubting and I have. Neither can you take what I will not give up, my faith.
            In Jesus
  • jane
    from the initial formation of Earth to the beginning of the Archean Eon, what changes or events were happening that prohibited ALL life form existing
  • Vivienne Eggers
    What an interesting comment thread. Much conjecture about religion and God as there is about scientific knowledge of “history”. HIS story is just that. Prior to 10,000 years ago history was actually her story. It wasn’t about a patriarchal implanted queen sitting on a throne anymore than about a man sitting on a throne with thunderbolts. When we consider ‘time’ as a human we measure by linear passage of light over distance through space. In our genes we hold the memories of our origins as part of Earth. Earth as part of the solar system spinning around the sun up there is of course the early cosmic creation symbol of most early post-flood civilisations. We can be from God and have a scientific material reality. God or Goddess is the energy of consciousness that we personify while in mortal form. Earth was created from that same cosmic consciousness and we are the units or building blocks that have been formed out of Earth constituents. We now know that more than one species of ‘humans’ ancestors lived concurrently – and it is speculated our DNA or gene codes demonstrate humans to be a system of complex virus consolidated – I presume post mushroom and bacterial period. Whatever we ‘were’ – it is certain what we are ‘now’ is neither permanent nor sustainable. It is only our ego that would have the gaul to assume one mortal life is the greatest we can hope for out of existence.
  • Mike Turn
    During the Proterozoic era, oxygen begins to form creating the conditions for life and then by the Cambrian period life exploded. That’s quite a simplistic explanation, for how did life begin? There was no life, then there was. How did that happen? Did life just pop out of nowhere? For a scientific explanation, this article is sorely lacking in how life began. And while we are at it, what formed that cloud of dust that formed our sun. What created that? Was it not there and then it was, just popping out of nowhere? Again, if this is what passes for science, it’s science for the simple-minded.
    • oligarchynot
      This article is just a general outline explaining the basics. If you want detail, go to a university or a library and prepare to read volumes. Science does not claim to be absolute or fixed; if other scientists discover evidence contrary to our current understanding, and that evidence stands up to scrutiny, then the scientific consensus shifts. Scientists have not discovered exactly when or how life first formed on earth, but they have been able to find evidence for how it progressed once formed and they do know what the chemical makeup needs to be for life to form and thrive. I was looking for information about the missing 2 billion years of earth’s history and this site came up in the search results. I would imagine that life first formed during those 2 billion missing years on earth and that we may never know the answer to the question of when life began. I am personally of the opinion that life existed long before the earth formed and that it is spread throughout the universe, in the form of single-celled life forms or spores, on rocks (meteors, comets), where it lays dormant until conditions are right. Once conditions are right, the dormant organisms come to life and begin the process of learning to cope with their environment, whatever that may be. Since every environment can differ, how life evolves depends on the environment it begins in, and is rarely ever repeated or exactly the same. This in no way interferes with my belief in a spiritual realm. Our current religions are an attempt to describe such spiritual realm, but they were all developed by humans, not God. All life is sacred, in all its various forms. Humans are just one of many life forms and are no more or less important than any other life form. But they are more dangerous.
      • Frank
        Apology for my pore English, not my native language. Its funny to read all comments and what keeps people busy. But I didn’t read anything new. What if sience and religion are both wrong. What if Earth is way much older then wee can recollect. What if the Univers always have been there. Maybe and thats just a simple other theory like all others and all planets are just seeds in a pot of soil we call Univers and life in any form always have excisted. The fact is that we are here and we can only be sure of our young history. I read we humans this and that and diferent then animals. We humans think we are superior but we just are a tiny part of what we call nature, Everything you read or hear is once been written or told by humans, animals do communicate to, just like us only we don’t understand each other, same as if I never learned a bit of English. Maybe if we could understand them a turtle could tell you much more about our past then any other human being. Everything is life, like plants and trees, animals and all equal to us only diference is that we evolved diferently. But we all are part of Nature, we be born out of seeds, we blossom a periode of time, reproduce and die. The prove how and why we are here and how it all came together is irrelevant because we are simply not intellegent enough to figure that out. But a realistic version, also theory and not based on any prove, could be that one ice planet collapsed with a boiling hot planet we call earth now, then there was water and soil, then another one exploded and kept on burning which made materials able to combine, like fungus in many ways, and they all evolved in diferent ways, So you can see the human race as a fungus, spreading around over this planet. All we see is violence in nature and even the univers is a violent invironment. Its all about survival what keeps nature alive.And that goes on now for millions? Billions? Trilions or maybe zilions years in a row. Years, time it all is a invention of the human race, like distance, like everything you learned so far. In the unevolved world when we were all equal in nature there was nothing written. So what ever you want to believe, believe because it does not matter, we are here just to reproduce and vanish and live through in our children. If we look to our planet we can see the prove of how nature act, adjust, continues and fullfill its cicle, time after time. And the Univers is just to big for us to understand, we cant even understand how it came there, all is based on assumptions and only what we can prove is what they digged out from the ground, the fossils. That shows only what transformations this planet went through but doesnt prove anything from before that time and we will never know, its just a to big mistery to comprehend for us Humans, the fungus of this planet. Be Realisic.
  • StudyingScienceDEC
    We Humans are so stupid, we fight among our selves over the most ridicules things, so what if that person thinks differently to another! WHY CAN’T HUMANS JUST accept others ideas! I agree with Nicholette.

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