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Scientists May Have Found the Earliest Evidence of Life On Earth (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes with news that UCLA scientists have found evidence that life likely existed on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million years earlier than previously thought. Science reports: "When did life on Earth begin? Scientists have dug down through the geologic record, and the deeper they look, the more it seems that biology appeared early in our planet's 4.5-billion-year history. So far, geologists have uncovered possible traces of life as far back as 3.8 billion years. Now, a controversial new study presents potential evidence that life arose 300 million years before that, during the mysterious period following Earth's formation. The clues lie hidden in microscopic flecks of graphite—a carbon mineral—trapped inside a single large crystal of zircon. Zircons grow in magmas, often incorporating other minerals into their crystal structures of silicon, oxygen, and zirconium. And although they barely span the width of a human hair, zircons are nearly indestructible. They can outlast the rocks in which they initially formed, enduring multiple cycles of erosion and deposition."
link to article
The link is there. You wouldn't know it by looking at it but "(sciencemag.org)" is actually a clickable link. UX ftw!!!
Right that's what I get for viewing on my mobile device before coffee. Still it's the traditional poorly referenced third party article instead of the actual source article but what else do you expect?
Haven't found any scientific article yet but here is the news page from UCLA:
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/relea...
In short, they found graphite in a crystal and the graphite has a carbon 12 to carbon 13 ratio which indicates biological origin.
So, the current status is "plausible" but if someone comes up with another explanation it is "busted".