Life probably arose on Earth some 3.5 to 4 billion years ago, but all records of the momentous event have vanished—here on the Blue Marble, at least. Traces of our lost origin story might instead be buried on the Moon, according to new research published in the journal Astrobiology.
“Unlike the Earth, the Moon has been geologically quiet for billions of years, meaning there is a good chance these organic and volatile records remain relatively intact,” Richard Matthewman, the study’s lead author, told me.
Last summer, scientists concluded that escaped chunks of Earth could have brought fossil microbes to the Moon. But whether such critters could then be preserved for eons, creating a useful archive of early Earth life, remained unknown. Now we have evidence that they can. Matthewman and colleagues discovered that organic molecules can remain intact, possibly for a very long time, if they get trapped beneath ancient lunar lava flows.
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-origins-of-life-could-be-buried-on-the-moon?
[Abstract]: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2014.1217
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @04:31AM
Pretty sure whatever 'life' there was back then was incinerated when earch collided with the "other earth" and the chunks which floated away ended up consolidating and formed the moon. So theoretically there might be some evidence... if you drill down to its core.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday January 30 2015, @05:26AM
Pretty sure whatever 'life' there was back then was incinerated when earch collided with the "other earth" and the chunks which floated away ended up consolidating and formed the moon. So theoretically there might be some evidence... if you drill down to its core.
I thought that as well, but the more I read it, I think they may be suggesting ejecta from impacts or volcanoes on earth may have reached as far as the moon. Finding them there would seem to be a daunting task.
The best dates for the moons formation are 4.5 billion years ago. [extremetech.com]
On the other hand, the earliest life on earth is speculated as being 3.55 billion years ago [americanscientist.org], well after the moon was formed.
Maybe I got it all wrong, but that suggests they weren't talking about life that predates the moons formation.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Friday January 30 2015, @07:45AM
Logically impossible? Or only temporally infeasible? Or physically unlikely?
I, for one, no, wait, this is serious, am buried on the moon. Take a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristarchus_(crater) [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 3, Informative) by sudo rm -rf on Friday January 30 2015, @10:46AM
There might be some evidence, but it may be contaminated by lifeforms that evolved since then. Here comes my obligatory [soylentnews.org] link: radiopanspermia [wikipedia.org] (although in this case it is more about Lithopanspermia, see next paragraph in wiki article)
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 30 2015, @07:56PM
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Saturday January 31 2015, @11:16AM
Pretty sure whatever 'life' there was back then was incinerated when earch collided with the "other earth"
"Pretty sure"? Oh, well, someone on the internet says they're "pretty sure" about something, that's good enough for me to dismiss a scientific paper.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday January 30 2015, @04:37AM
If so, the moon may have evidence. Evidence that we know no non-spacefaring entity has messed with.
Given the "evolution" rate on Earth, this evidence may be millions of years old.
For all I know, our society may slip back into upheaval, re-enter some sort of stone-age only to emerge several thousands of years to where we are now.
I consider the mysteries of the Sumerians, as well as ancient artifacts no-one has yet explained to my satisfaction.
Even if we take a giant step backwards ( Star-trek type scenario where people become ignorant as machines take over the work of sustaining a populace, then political upheaval destroys the machines, leaving us without the knowledge for our own survival), it could conceivably take millions of years to restart our civilizations, but the remnants of our moon missions will still be there, leaving those future astronauts great cause for puzzlement.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by nyder on Friday January 30 2015, @06:02AM
So you are one of those Ancient Alien Theorist I hear so much about on the Ancient Aliens show?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday January 31 2015, @12:33AM
I admit its a pet theory as I ponder the evidence.
I get the idea our religions are tied into it as well.
Another pet theory is that the aliens are forced by relativistic physics to time travel when space traveling, so that visits from them - from their perspective, are a matter of days, but the instances of their visits on earth are separated by time gaps of thousands of years. That one is seeded from a phrase in the Bible about a day with God being a thousand years of man.
The legends concerning the Sumerians and the Anunnaki puzzle the hell out of me.
I do not know what to make of it, so I speculate and conjecture a lot.
I am just trying to integrate the signal out of the noise.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by gnuman on Friday January 30 2015, @06:02AM
Star-trek type scenario where people become ignorant as machines take over the work of sustaining a populace, then political upheaval destroys the machines, leaving us without the knowledge for our own survival
I think you misspelled "The Foundation type scenario".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @06:09AM
If it took millions of years to restart civilisation, it wouldn't be our civilisation, nor would those who restarted it be us. In millions of years, evolution would have gone on and the people would likely no longer be human.
That said, how hard do you think it is to grow food? Not particularly hard, in temperate climates. We're not going to forget that, and we're not going to forget how to build things.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Friday January 30 2015, @09:59AM
Correct. Our current civilisation went from bashing rocks together to supercolliders in just a few tens of thousands of years, we won't need millions to restart - especially when you consider that will be books, texts and artefacts to help relearn what was lost. Also, they will benefit from all the mining that we've done, pulling valuable elements up from the depths, purifying them and leaving them on the surface in the form of goods and machines and so on.
THe main problem thay are likely to face is fuel - we've burned up all the easy to get coal and oil and gas. Kick-starting civilisation without a ready power supply would be challenging.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @01:32PM
Also, they will benefit from all the mining that we've done, pulling valuable elements up from the depths, purifying them and leaving them on the surface
Yes, all that wonderful lead!
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 30 2015, @02:32PM
Coal/Oil/Gas comes after burning plants (for steam) and hydro. So they'll be able to generate electricity just fine but they'll lack a high density (and portable) energy source. In the Ringworld series there were primitive cars that ran on biofuels (grasses i think). It would be interesting to see how a society develops without fossil fuels.
I'm not excusing our society from extracting all the easy to get fossil fuels though.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 30 2015, @06:58PM
but they'll lack a high density (and portable) energy source
There's always oil and its equivalents like biofuels and coal-based synthetic fuel.
I'm not excusing our society from extracting all the easy to get fossil fuels though.
I sure am though. There's clearly not much we could do with fossil fuels that we just leave in the ground.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 30 2015, @07:49PM
I doubt a smoker would smoke 800 cigarettes in a day because it would be a waste to leave them in the cupboard : )
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday January 30 2015, @07:57PM
I doubt a smoker would smoke 800 cigarettes in a day because it would be a waste to leave them in the cupboard : )
Oil consumption scales better than individual cigarette consumption does.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Friday January 30 2015, @08:10PM
Agreed. Current oil based problems are still very localized. Smog and acid rain for example.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @03:29PM
Say dinosaurs had a civilization for a few thousands of years to the same level and time frame that we have now. How likely we are to see the evidence on earth...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 30 2015, @07:22AM
that's no moon... it's space monolith
(Score: 1) by KrimZon on Friday January 30 2015, @06:35PM
Proof that we definitely did go to the moon if we were able to bury the origins of life there.