How long did you believe there was life in Earth? According to some scientists, it could appear much earlier than some previous studies predicted: there is at least 3.75 billion years. The find was published in a magazine the science achievementswhich analyzes filaments possibly left behind by bacteria in rocks, not only points to the conditions of existence on our planet, but may also open hypotheses about life elsewhere in the universe due to the speed of its emergence.

A team of experts in charge of the study analyzed a fist-sized rock estimated to be between 3.75 and 4.28 billion years old, cut it into pieces as small as 100 microns, equivalent to a thousandth of a millimeter, and noticed traces of structural material created by bacteria .

“These structures are all very unique, and this indicates a biological rather than a chemical origin, which strengthens the possibility of the presence of microbes in the analyzed material,” the authors of the study emphasized, according to Correio Braziliense.

The stone was found in a region called the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt in Quebec, Canada. “The region is an ancient system of hydrothermal vents where cracks in the seafloor allow iron heated by terrestrial magma to pass through,” they explained the location.

The discovery confirms the thesis about life outside the Earth

The materials analyzed, pointing to a sign of early life, were a kind of stem – full of branches, a series of curved spheres and tubes. According to Dominic Papineau, a researcher at University College London and one of the research team members, there are similarities between a trunk and an ordinary tree and the rate at which microorganisms arose after the formation of the Earth – about 300 million years later. .- may be promising for the hypothesis of life on other planets.

“From a geological point of view, this is fast. Approximately one rotation of the Sun around the galaxy, ”he told the British newspaper The Guardian. “[Isso] very important because it tells us that it takes very little time for life to appear on the surface of the planet.”

“Very quickly after the Earth formed, there was microbial life that probably fed on the iron and sulfur in these hydrothermal vents. If life occurs relatively quickly, under the right conditions, it increases the likelihood that life exists elsewhere.” . “

In addition to their origin, the researchers also found evidence of how the bacteria in these rocks obtained energy, one of which was the presence of mineralized chemical by-products used by microorganisms that live on iron, light, sulfur and carbon dioxide to carry energy. outside of photosynthesis.

Fossils with signs of life on Earth, which were the oldest before discovery, were found in Western Australia and are about 3.46 billion years old, that is, 290 million “younger” fossils in Canada, now they are the oldest materials on the planet. .

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Source: Correio Braziliense.