Earliest known life forms
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The earliest known life forms on Earth may be as old as 4.1 billion years according to biologically fractionated graphite inside a single zircon grain in the Jack Hills range of Australia. The earlies
Evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life on Earth has been found in hydrothermal vent precipitates.
Zircons in metaconglomerates from the Jack Hills in Australia show carbon isotopic evidence for early life.
Stromatolite fossil showing convex-up structures.
Archaea (prokaryotic microbes) were first found in extreme environments, such as hydrothermal vents.
Abiogenesis
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Abiogenesis or the origin of life is the natural process by which life arises from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothesis is that the transition from
If banded iron formation rocks of Archaean age (like these from Australia) are fossilized stromatolites, they would be among the earliest life-forms.
Modern stromatolites in Shark Bay, created by photosynthetic cyanobacteria
The Cat's Paw Nebula is inside the Milky Way Galaxy, in the constellation Scorpius. Green areas show regions where radiation from hot stars collided with large molecules and small dust grains called "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons" (PAHs), causing them to fluoresce. Spitzer Space Telescope, 2018.