Fossils of microorganisms indicating that the world was the oldest, "life existed in the earth 3.5 billion years ago" is reported

Evidence was shown that the fossil microbial fossils found in Western Australia are "organisms". The researchers, this discovery is "the history of the earth on the, at that time, the first time the data indicate that a variety of organisms were present," we argue that.

SIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositions
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2017/12/12/1718063115.abstract

Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago
https://news.wisc.edu/oldest-fossils-found-show-life-began-before-3-5-billion-years-ago/

Ancient fossil microorganisms indicate a life in the universe is common | UCLA
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ancient-fossil-microorganisms-indicate-that-life-in-the-universe-is-common

Ancient Microfossils Are 3.5 Billion Years Old, Scientists Say
https://www.livescience.com/61232-oldest-known-fossils.html

Quest to Find the World's Oldest Fossils Intensifies With New Result
https://gizmodo.com/quest-to-find-the-world-s-oldest-fossils-intensifies-wi-1821393628

Can not be identified with the naked eyeMicro fossilWas discovered in a study led by Professor J. William Schopf who studies palaeontology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Professor John W. Valley who studies earth science at the University of Wisconsin Madison. It was in 1983 that fossils were excavated for the first time in the western part of Australia, in 1993 when the paper was published in Science, but from other scientists, "It is impossible to conclude that it is a fossil, It seems like a mineral in shape ". Microfossils have an extremely small size of 10 micrometers, which is as thin as 1/8 the size of human hair, making it difficult to conclude whether they are microfossils.


However, in recent yearsSecondary ion mass spectrometryA survey was conducted with a new technique called SIMS, which showed that it was an organic fossil because of the trace of carbon found. The origin of the fossil is estimated to be 3,465 million years ago, Professor Schopf says, "Before 3.455 million years ago, primitive life uses photosynthesis, methane-producing things, methane is used "This is the first data to show that there were diverse organisms at that time in the history of the earth.In our past research we will use sulfur for 3.4 billion years ago It is also shown that organisms were present. "" And this indicates that life must have occurred before that. A primitive life is born and it evolves into a more developed microorganism It is not difficult to do. "


However, relativelyA big fossilYou can easily identify that it is a living thing, but microbial fossils are not. In March 2017Fossils discovering the oldest 4.2 billion years agoAlthough it was reported that it was done, this also has a range of 3.7 billion to 4.3 billion years ago.

The fossils discovered by Professor Schopf and others are fossils that were not as old as the above fossils but were first investigated and described for the first time as having both "morphology of life and earth scientific evidence" Professor Schopf explained.

Investigations using SIMS required exposing the fossil's surface, and researchers needed to crush the fossilized rocks carefully on a micrometer scale. Carbon 12 and carbon 13, which are characteristics of biology and metabolic function, were found when fossils were exposed and scanned and compared with carbon isotopes, but in order to develop this measurement technique It is said that it took ten years.


Professor Dominic Papineau, an earth scientist at University College London who reported the discovery of fossils as "the oldest in the world" in 2017, said Professor Dominic Papineau of the research "The research team did a good job, He has strong evidence that the existence of fossil can not be denied. "Although he showed agreement that fossil is an organism, he consented to the word" world's oldest "claimed by Professor Schopf et al. It looks like it was not there.

Meanwhile, David Wacey, a scientist at the University of Western Australia, told a newly published paper that "This paper includes extended interpretation, it can not be said that it uses statistically strong data, I can not say that "is a view. In addition, Mr. Wacey questioned the editing work of the National Academy of Sciences, since the article has been reviewed by a professor of Professor Schopf, a former student and a research collaborator.