UCLA researchers: Life got started shortly after planet cooled

12 Replies to “UCLA researchers: Life got started shortly after planet cooled”

1. 1
   bornagain says:

   October 20, 2015 at 7:50 am

   as to:

   That said, sometimes these finds fall apart. Consider the case of the Australian chert find: World’s oldest “microfossils” [3.46 bya] are not life forms after all. Researchers working in the abyss of time are working with fragments. So stay tuned.

   Although this finding pushes the OOL back even earlier than thought, making what was already a bad situation even worse for naturalists, the extremely early origin of life on earth was already confirmed by several different lines of evidence other than the discredited 3.46 bya chert microfossils.

   When Did Life on Earth Begin? Ask a Rock (3.85 bya)
   http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/293/

   When did oxygenic photosynthesis evolve? – Roger Buick – 2008
   Excerpt:,, U–Pb data from ca 3.8?Ga metasediments suggest that this metabolism could have arisen by the start of the geological record. Hence, the hypothesis that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved well before the atmosphere became permanently oxygenated seems well supported.
   http://rstb.royalsocietypublis...../2731.long

   U-rich Archaean sea-floor sediments from Greenland – indications of +3700 Ma oxygenic photosynthesis (2003)
   http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004E&PSL.217..237R

   Isotopic Evidence For Life Immediately Following Late Bombardment – Graph
   http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/.....bitofc.jpg

   The Sudden Appearance Of Life On Earth (3.9 billion years ago) – video
   Stephen Mojzsis, a geologist at the University of Colorado, searches for the earliest life forms on the planet by examining minerals in ancient oceanic sediments.
   http://www.scivee.tv/node/2312

   When Did Life First Appear on Earth? – Fazale Rana – December 2010
   Excerpt: The primary evidence for 3.8 billion-year-old life consists of carbonaceous deposits, such as graphite, found in rock formations in western Greenland. These deposits display an enrichment of the carbon-12 isotope. Other chemical signatures from these formations that have been interpreted as biological remnants include uranium/thorium fractionation and banded iron formations. Recently, a team from Australia argued that the dolomite in these formations also reflects biological activity, specifically that of sulfate-reducing bacteria.
   http://www.reasons.org/when-di.....pear-earth

   “We get that evidence from looking at carbon 12 to carbon 13 analysis. And it tells us that in Earth’s oldest (sedimentary) rock, which dates at 3.80 billion years ago, we find an abundance for the carbon signature of living systems. Namely, that life prefers carbon 12. And so if you see a higher ratio of carbon 12 to carbon 13 that means that carbon has been processed by life. And it is that kind of evidence that tells us that life has been abundant on earth as far back as 3.80 billion years ago (when water was first present on earth).,,, And that same carbon 12 to carbon 13 analysis tells us that planet earth, over it entire 4.5662 billion year history has never had prebiotics. Prebiotics would have a higher ratio of carbon 13 to carbon 12. All the carbonaceous material, we see in the entire geological record of the earth, has the signature of being post-biotic not pre-biotic. Which means planet earth never had a primordial soup. And the origin of life on earth took place in a geological instant” (as soon as it was possible for life to exist on earth).
   – Hugh Ross – quote as stated in preceding video at 40:10 mark

   Zircons and The Sudden Origin of Life Following the Late Heavy Bombardment- Dr. Fazale Rana – 2015 video (1:26:00 minute mark)
   https://youtu.be/4mEKZRm1xXg?t=5191

   Late Heavy Bombardment – graph
   http://www.reasons.org/Media/D.....8_0000.jpg

   Origins of Life – Hugh Ross – video (7:00 minute mark late heavy bombardment and extremely early origin of life, 19:00 minute mark diversity of first life, 21:00 no life from Mars, 24:00 minute mark no sugars or complex amino acids in space, 27:00 minute mark impossibility of transporting complex organic molecules to earth on comets, 31:00 minute mark various origin of life chemists debunking each other’s models) – video
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTI5mEiz4O0
2. 2
   bornagain says:

   October 20, 2015 at 7:55 am

   Iron in Primeval Seas Rusted by Bacteria – Apr. 23, 2013
   Excerpt: The oldest known iron ores were deposited in the Precambrian period and are up to four billion years old (the Earth itself is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old). ,,,
   This research not only provides the first clear evidence that microorganisms were directly involved in the deposition of Earth’s oldest iron formations; it also indicates that large populations of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria were at work in the shallow areas of the ancient oceans, while deeper water still reached by the light (the photic zone) tended to be populated by anoxyenic or micro-aerophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria which formed the iron deposits.,,,
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....110750.htm

   The origin of photosynthesis so early on earth is certainly not a minor problem for naturalists:

   Evolutionary biology: Out of thin air John F. Allen & William Martin:
   The measure of the problem is here: “Oxygenetic photosynthesis involves about 100 proteins that are highly ordered within the photosynthetic membranes of the cell.”
   http://www.nature.com/nature/j.....5610a.html

   Enzymes and protein complexes needed in photosynthesis – with graphs
   http://elshamah.heavenforum.or.....hesis#2527

   Of note: anoxygenic (without oxygen) photosynthesis is even more of a complex chemical pathway than oxygenic photosynthesis is:

   “Remarkably, the biosynthetic routes needed to make the key molecular component of anoxygenic photosynthesis are more complex than the pathways that produce the corresponding component required for the oxygenic form.”;
   Early Life Remains Complex By Fazale R. Rana (FACTS for FAITH Issue 7, 2001)

   Moreover, entire ‘microbial ecosystems’ are now found to go back at least 3.5 billion years

   3.5 billion-year-old ecosystem found – November 12, 2013
   Excerpt: “Mound-like deposits created by ancient bacteria, called stromatolites, and microfossils of bacteria have previously been discovered in this region. However, a phenomenon called microbially induced sedimentary structures, or MISS, had not previously been seen in rocks of this great age.”
   MISS were created by microbial mats as the microbial communities responded to changes in physical sediment dynamics, Professor Wacey said.
   “A common example would be the binding together of sediment grains by microbes to prevent their erosion by water currents,” he said. “The significance of MISS is that they not only demonstrate the presence of life, but also the presence of whole microbial ecosystems that could co-ordinate with one another to respond to changes in their environment.”,,,
   The team described the various MISS from the ancient coastal flats preserved in the Dresser Formation and found close similarities in both form and preservation style to MISS in younger rocks.
   http://www.sciencealert.com.au.....25003.html

   Geobiologist Noffke Reports Signs of Life that Are 3.48 Billion Years Old – 11/11/13
   Excerpt: the mats woven of tiny microbes we see today covering tidal flats were also present as life was beginning on Earth. The mats, which are colonies of cyanobacteria, can cause unusual textures and formations in the sand beneath them. Noffke has identified 17 main groups of such textures caused by present-day microbial mats, and has found corresponding structures in geological formations dating back through the ages.
   http://www.odu.edu/about/odu-p...../topstory1

   Microbial Mat Ecology – Image on page 92 (third page down)
   http://www.dsls.usra.edu/biolo.....nit2.2.pdf

   ,,,Please note, that if even one type of bacteria group did not exist in this complex cycle of biogeochemical interdependence, that was illustrated on the third page of the preceding site, then all of the different bacteria would soon die out. This essential biogeochemical interdependence, of the most primitive different types of bacteria that we have evidence of on ancient earth, makes the origin of life ‘problem’ for neo-Darwinists that much worse. For now not only do neo-Darwinists have to explain how the ‘miracle of life’ happened once with the origin of photosynthetic bacteria, but they must now also explain how all these different types bacteria, that photosynthetic bacteria are dependent on, in this irreducibly complex biogeochemical web, miraculously arose just in time to supply the necessary nutrients, in their biogeochemical link in the chain, for photosynthetic bacteria to continue to survive. As well, though not clearly illustrated in the illustration on the preceding site, please note that a long term tectonic cycle, of the turnover the Earth’s crustal rocks, must also be fine-tuned to a certain degree with the bacteria and thus plays an important ‘foundational’ role in the overall ecology of the biogeochemical system that must be accounted for as well.
   This following study gives strong indication that the long term tectonic cycle of the entire earth and early bacterial life indeed worked in conjunction with each other:

   Ancient Earth Crust Stored in Deep Mantle – Apr. 24, 2013
   Excerpt: New research,, demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago.,, This indicates that the sulfur comes from a deep mantle reservoir containing crustal material subducted before the Great Oxidation Event and preserved for over half the age of Earth.
   “These measurements place the first firm age estimates of recycled material in oceanic hotspots,” Hauri said. “They confirm the cycling of sulfur from the atmosphere and oceans into mantle and ultimately back to the surface,” Hauri said.
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....132705.htm

   Dr. Ross points out that the extremely long amount of time it took to prepare a suitable place for humans to exist in this universe, for the relatively short period of time that we can exist on this planet, is actually a point of evidence that argues strongly for Theism:

   Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity By Hugh Ross
   Excerpt: Brandon Carter, the British mathematician who coined the term “anthropic principle” (1974), noted the strange inequity of a universe that spends about 15 billion years “preparing” for the existence of a creature that has the potential to survive no more than 10 million years (optimistically).,, Carter and (later) astrophysicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler demonstrated that the inequality exists for virtually any conceivable intelligent species under any conceivable life-support conditions. Roughly 15 billion years represents a minimum preparation time for advanced life: 11 billion toward formation of a stable planetary system, one with the right chemical and physical conditions for primitive life, and four billion more years toward preparation of a planet within that system, one richly layered with the biodeposits necessary for civilized intelligent life. Even this long time and convergence of “just right” conditions reflect miraculous efficiency.
   Moreover the physical and biological conditions necessary to support an intelligent civilized species do not last indefinitely. They are subject to continuous change: the Sun continues to brighten, Earth’s rotation period lengthens, Earth’s plate tectonic activity declines, and Earth’s atmospheric composition varies. In just 10 million years or less, Earth will lose its ability to sustain human life. In fact, this estimate of the human habitability time window may be grossly optimistic. In all likelihood, a nearby supernova eruption, a climatic perturbation, a social or environmental upheaval, or the genetic accumulation of negative mutations will doom the species to extinction sometime sooner than twenty thousand years from now.
   http://christiangodblog.blogsp.....chive.html

   Verse:

   Isaiah 45:18-19
   For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, who is God, who formed the earth and made it, who established it, who did not create it in vain, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘seek me in vain’; I, the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.”
3. 3
   News says:

   October 20, 2015 at 8:06 am

   Oh, bornagain77, lots of lines of evidence confirm a very early origin of life. But due to the problem of abyssal depths of time, some may get discredited, so one oughtn’t to lean too hard on one, rather on the pattern – much thanks to you for setting it out!
4. 4
   awstar says:

   October 20, 2015 at 8:36 am

   Another domino falls:
   Surprising source for ancient life biomarker found
   http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_.....101915.php

   “Scientists will have to take on a much more nuanced interpretation of what this molecule is telling us about life on early Earth,” she said.
5. 5
   bFast says:

   October 20, 2015 at 9:43 am

   Over on next big future, http://nextbigfuture.com/2015/.....fe-41.html
   they are discussing this same article. They, of course, have less inherent spin than this site does, as their site is not focused on origins issues. The commenters over there seem to believe that life originating unguided on this planet has become significantly harder to believe. They seem left with panspermia or ID. Hmmm.
6. 6
   ppolish says:

   October 20, 2015 at 10:14 am

   So instead of “primordial soup” we have “instant soup”, Yes, science has a lot of “rethinking” to do.
7. 7
   Zachriel says:

   October 20, 2015 at 10:22 am

   ppolish: So instead of “primordial soup” we have “instant soup”

   The Earth’s crust formed about 4.4 billion years ago, shortly followed by an atmosphere and oceans. If the results are correct, life is about 4.1 billion years old. That means “instant soup” only took about 300 million years. You know what they say, a watched pot never boils!
8. 8
   ppolish says:

   October 20, 2015 at 11:24 am

   Who was “watching the pot” Zachriel?
   And 300 million (probably less than that) is undeniable fast per scientific consensus – “instant soup” is a better description sorry,
9. 9
   bFast says:

   October 20, 2015 at 12:16 pm

   Zachriel, “That means “instant soup” only took about 300 million years.”
   Hmmm, a week ago it was 600 million years. The time available has been cut in half. However, we still have to fit the cooling of the “just formed earth”, presumably an unimaginably hot place, into the mix. Not many millennia left. Don’t worry, your theory is in good hands. Denial is a powerful force.
10. 10
    bornagain says:

    October 20, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    As briefly pointed out in post 2, although the origin of photosynthesis so early on earth is certainly not a ‘minor’ problem for naturalists:

    Scientists unlock some key secrets of photosynthesis – July 2, 2012
    Excerpt: “The photosynthetic system,, is nature’s most elaborate nanoscale biological machine,” said Lakshmi. “It converts light energy at unrivaled efficiency of more than 95 percent compared to 10 to 15 percent in the current man-made solar technologies.,, “Photosystem II is the engine of life,” Lakshmi said. “It performs one of the most energetically demanding reactions known to mankind, splitting water, with remarkable ease and efficiency.”,,, “Water is a very stable molecule and it takes four photons of light to split water,” she said. “This is a challenge for chemists and physicists around the world (to imitate) as the four-photon reaction has very stringent requirements.”
    http://phys.org/news/2012-07-s.....hesis.html

    Femtosecond snapshots of photosynthetic water oxidation – July 9, 2014
    Excerpt: researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Working at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s most powerful x-ray laser, the researchers were able to take detailed “snapshots” of the four photon-step cycle for water oxidation in photosystem II, a large protein complex in green plants. Photosystem II is the only known biological system able to harness sunlight for the oxidation of water into molecular oxygen.,,,
    “Knowing how this happens is important for understanding the design principles used in natural photosynthesis,” Yachandra says.
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....140254.htm

    Enzymes and protein complexes needed in photosynthesis – with graphs
    http://elshamah.heavenforum.or.....hesis#2527

    Evolutionary biology: Out of thin air John F. Allen & William Martin:
    Excerpt: The measure of the problem is here: “Oxygenetic photosynthesis involves about 100 proteins that are highly ordered within the photosynthetic membranes of the cell.”
    http://www.nature.com/nature/j.....5610a.html

    Although the origin of photosynthesis so early on earth is certainly not a ‘minor’ problem for naturalists/materialists, I would like to point out another ‘minor’ problem for naturalists.
    Recently it has been found that photosynthesis uses quantum coherence in order to achieve such amazing energy efficiency as is displayed in photosynthesis:

    Uncovering Quantum Secret in Photosynthesis – June 20, 2013
    Excerpt: Photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and some bacteria, have mastered this process: In less than a couple of trillionths of a second, 95 percent of the sunlight they absorb is whisked away to drive the metabolic reactions that provide them with energy. The efficiency of photovoltaic cells currently on the market is around 20 percent.,,,
    Van Hulst and his group have evaluated the energy transport pathways of separate individual but chemically identical, antenna proteins, and have shown that each protein uses a distinct pathway. The most surprising discovery was that the transport paths within single proteins can vary over time due to changes in the environmental conditions, apparently adapting for optimal efficiency. “These results show that coherence, a genuine quantum effect of superposition of states, is responsible for maintaining high levels of transport efficiency in biological systems, even while they adapt their energy transport pathways due to environmental influences” says van Hulst.
    http://www.sciencedaily.com/re.....142932.htm

    The problem that quantum coherence presents for naturalists/materialists is that coherence is a ‘non-local’ effect:

    Coherence and nonlocality
    Usually quantum nonlocality is discussed in terms of correlated multiparticle systems such as those discussed by John Bell in his famous 1964 theorem and then later clarified by GHZ, David Mermin and others.
    But more striking and significant is the qualitative nonlocal phenomena associated with coherent states,,,,
    In fact, theoretically these two kinds of nonlocality have precisely the same basis: the unmeasured singlet state uncovered by EPR is a coherent ‘pure state’ despite its spacial extension, and when the parts are realized in a measurement (a la Bell) this coherence is harvested or cashed in.
    Whereas the “EPR” connections are ephemeral and fragile, some forms of nonlocal coherence are robust.
    http://www.nonlocal.com/hbar/n.....rence.html

    The ‘minor’ problem that quantum non-locality presents to materialistic explanations is that one cannot appeal to a within space-time materialistic cause in order to explain the effect of quantum non-locality, but one is forced to appeal to a beyond space and time cause in order to explain quantum non-locality.

    Looking beyond space and time to cope with quantum theory – 29 October 2012
    Excerpt: “Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,”
    http://www.quantumlah.org/high.....uences.php

    Moreover, the ‘minor’, non-local, problem for materialists/naturalists goes much deeper than merely photosynthesis.
    In fact, it is now found that quantum non-locality is in every DNA and protein molecule.
    In learning this, first it is important to learn that ‘non-local’, beyond space and time, quantum entanglement (A. Aspect, A. Zeilinger, etc..) can be used as a ‘quantum information channel’,,,

    Quantum Entanglement and Information
    Quantum entanglement is a physical resource, like energy, associated with the peculiar nonclassical correlations that are possible between separated quantum systems. Entanglement can be measured, transformed, and purified. A pair of quantum systems in an entangled state can be used as a quantum information channel to perform computational and cryptographic tasks that are impossible for classical systems. The general study of the information-processing capabilities of quantum systems is the subject of quantum information theory.
    http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qt-entangle/
11. 11
    bornagain says:

    October 20, 2015 at 5:02 pm

    And this beyond space and time, ‘non-local’, quantum entanglement/information is now found in every DNA and protein molecule:

    Classical and Quantum Information in DNA – Elisabeth Rieper – video (Longitudinal Quantum Information along the entire length of DNA discussed at the 19:30 minute mark; at 24:00 minute mark Dr Rieper remarks that practically the whole DNA molecule can be viewed as quantum information with classical information embedded within it)
    https://youtu.be/2nqHOnVTxJE?t=1176

    Classical and Quantum Information Channels in Protein Chain – Dj. Koruga, A. Tomi?, Z. Ratkaj, L. Matija – 2006
    Abstract: Investigation of the properties of peptide plane in protein chain from both classical and quantum approach is presented. We calculated interatomic force constants for peptide plane and hydrogen bonds between peptide planes in protein chain. On the basis of force constants, displacements of each atom in peptide plane, and time of action we found that the value of the peptide plane action is close to the Planck constant. This indicates that peptide plane from the energy viewpoint possesses synergetic classical/quantum properties. Consideration of peptide planes in protein chain from information viewpoint also shows that protein chain possesses classical and quantum properties. So, it appears that protein chain behaves as a triple dual system: (1) structural – amino acids and peptide planes, (2) energy – classical and quantum state, and (3) information – classical and quantum coding. Based on experimental facts of protein chain, we proposed from the structure-energy-information viewpoint its synergetic code system.
    http://www.scientific.net/MSF.518.491

    Quantum coherent-like state observed in a biological protein for the first time – October 13, 2015
    Excerpt: If you take certain atoms and make them almost as cold as they possibly can be, the atoms will fuse into a collective low-energy quantum state called a Bose-Einstein condensate. In 1968 physicist Herbert Fröhlich predicted that a similar process at a much higher temperature could concentrate all of the vibrational energy in a biological protein into its lowest-frequency vibrational mode. Now scientists in Sweden and Germany have the first experimental evidence of such so-called Fröhlich condensation (in proteins).,,,
    The real-world support for Fröhlich’s theory (for proteins) took so long to obtain because of the technical challenges of the experiment, Katona said.
    http://phys.org/news/2015-10-q.....otein.html

    To say that quantum non-locality being found on such a massive scale in molecular biology is merely a ‘minor’ problem for Darwinism, as I have been doing in this post, is a gross understatement on my part. The fact of the matter is that, as far as empirical science is concerned, neo-Darwinism, as far as it is reliant on materialistic/naturalistic, i.e. atheistic, assumptions, is unquestionably falsified as a theory of science.
    Whereas the Theist is doing quite well as far as the scientific evidence is concerned since the Theist has, in fact, posited a beyond space and time cause for life all along.

    Verse and Music:

    John 1:1-4
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

    Moriah Peters – You Carry Me – music
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2H-zQjgurQ
12. 12
    Vy says:

    October 21, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    “If the results are correct, life is about 4.1 billion years old. That means “instant soup” only took about 300 million years. You know what they say, a watched pot never boils!”

    Lol!

    You evodelusionists are amazing! A few months ago, when I told one other like you that there’s evidence that bacteria existed more than 4 billion Darwin years ago, he couldn’t tell me “you don’t understand evolution” fast enough, that and rambling about how the inferred ages of the microbes were wrong. It was quite the experience! I wonder what tune he’ll be singing now, hmm.

    As for … life is about 4.1 billion years old. That means “instant soup” only took about 300 million years, says who?

    This says:

    “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.

    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.

    …

    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.”

    Which might seem all nice and good for the typical Darwinist (missing the “began to cool” not “had already cooled. Anyways, according to this:

    “The oldest known iron ores were deposited in the Precambrian period and are up to four billion years old (the Earth itself is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old). At this very early stage in geological history, there was little or no oxygen in the atmosphere. So the very oldest banded iron formations cannot be the result of O2-dependent oxidation.

    In 1993, bacteria were discovered which do not need oxygen but can oxidize Fe(II) by using energy from light (anoxygenic phototrophic iron-oxidizing bacteria).

    …

    This research not only provides the first clear evidence that microorganisms were directly involved in the deposition of Earth’s oldest iron formations; it also indicates that large populations of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria were at work in the shallow areas of the ancient oceans, while deeper water still reached by the light (the photic zone) tended to be populated by anoxyenic or micro-aerophilic iron-oxidizing bacteria which formed the iron deposits.”

    Which shows that you have life flourishing at >4.1 billion Darwin years ago, making me wonder whether anyone has stopped by to check on the health of the (mythical) first-cell. When did it spontaneously generate? How long did it take to “evolve” into whatever “evolved” into … “evolved” into these newly discovered microbes ( assuming they did exist) and iron oxidizing bacteria??? :-/

    Are you sure <300 million years (which puts it within the time where the water would be more steam than water) is enough for the poison in the soup bowl to vanish,and the spontaneously generated molecules to spontaneously form the mythical first-cell (without, of course, the help of natural selection as prebiotic NS is contradictory) for no reason whatsoever? The story is starting to look more really absurd. Kidding! It was never not absurd, it always comes down to "older/faster/younger/slower than previously thought".

    I bet this is all because "you don't understand evolution", right? 😀