Is life older than I expected?

1999/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Paleontologia
• Arkeologia

The first living forms on the surface were prokaryotic cells that appeared 3.8 million years ago and did not have the DNA molecule inside a nucleus. Eukaryotic cells, with DNA inside the nucleus, appeared only 1.7 million years ago. But Professor Jochen Brocks' discoveries in Australia can override this theory. In the archaeological zone Pilbara Craton have been located inside clays of 2.7 million years, organic substances produced by eukaryotic cells. Thus, eukaryotic cells are a million years older than expected.

In the same area, cyanide algae from the same time were found, the first that were able to perform photosynthesis, supposedly 1.9 million. The process of photosynthesis began 800 million years earlier than expected, according to Australian geologists, when its realization was not possible in the Earth's atmosphere.