The Search for the Earliest Life

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to http://to.pbs.org/DonateEons ↓ More info below ↓ More than 4 billion years ago, the crust of the Earth was still cooling and the oceans were only beginning to form. But in recent years, we’ve started to discover that, even in this hellish environment, life found a way. Produced for PBS Digital Studios. Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet? Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/eonsshow Twitter - https://twitter.com/eonsshow Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/eonsshow/ References: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/scientists-may-have-found-earliest-evidence-life-earth http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-oldest-rocks-20151031-story.html http://www.pnas.org/content/112/47/14518.full.pdf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4664322/ http://www.nature.com/news/oldest-traces-of-life-on-earth-may-lurk-in-canadian-rocks-1.22685 http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature24019 http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n1/full/ngeo2025.html https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248449490_Isotopic_composition_of_reduced_and_oxidized_carbon_in_early_Archaean_rocks_from_Isua_Greenland http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301926803001037?via%3Dihub https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rohana_Chandrajith/publication/223475080_Biogenic_Graphite_as_a_Potential_Geomarker-Application_to_Continental_Reconstructions_of_Pan-African_Gondwana_Terrains/links/581cb8ac08aea429b291f1ab/Biogenic-Graphite-as-a-Potential-Geomarker-Application-to-Continental-Reconstructions-of-Pan-African-Gondwana-Terrains.pdf https://books.google.com/books?id=2OUFwR3NrpkC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=rubisco+%22carbon-12%22&source=bl&ots=AMNNemQLIV&sig=oQJYXozXNbA7ayyA8sduUmnEass&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjc2fvWi9_WAhVL6iYKHXcLBtYQ6AEIVDAI#v=onepage&q=rubisco%20%22carbon-12%22&f=false https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjc2fvWi9_WAhVL6iYKHXcLBtYQFghKMAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.werc.usgs.gov%2FfileHandler.ashx%3FFile%3D%2FLists%2FProducts%2FAttachments%2F2841%2FCarbon%252013%2520Carbon%252012%2520Ratios%2520in%2520Photosynthesis.pdf&usg=AOvVaw2yqu2FWl-3PjH_pgmokFRq https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/sep/27/carbon-found-in-395bn-year-old-rocks-is-remnants-of-ancient-life-say-researchers https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-10/mu-esl092717.php http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Tree_of_Life/Stromatolites.htm http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html https://nai.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2013/10/Cooler-Early-Earth-Article.pdf