Homework #2 ---- Question #4

As of this year paleontologists have discovered the oldest known fossil known to our earth. It was an isua stromatolite that was determined to be 3.7 billion years old. At that point in time the oldest known fossil was 220 million years old. The stromatolite was found on the edge of Greenland’s icecap. Outside of the excitement of the discovery of a living fossil well before one was known, there were other implications that one can extrapolate about prehistoric life. We have common theories of the nature of the earth 3.7 billion years ago. Because we have an understanding of these conditions, these newly found fossils broaden the scope of the complexities of life, and the environments that life can be harvested in. The conditions Earth was in when the fossils were dated have similarities to the environment we know Mars has had in the past. Because of these parallel similarities we can better understand if and when mars could have inhabited living cells. Not only was the stromatolite alive during Mars like conditions, but was different than discovered prehistoric life, in that it was more than a single celled organism, but were communities of microbes in complex ecosystems. This understanding illuminates more understanding to the possibility of life on Mars or other planets.

Stromatolite fossil found in Greenland

Taking this information, we can conduct studies and experiments in order to further understand life in on our planet and the possibility of it off our planet. To further understand the nature in which life lives in harsh climates, we could take stromatolite found on earth or organisms that are similar, and place them in extreme environments mimicking those of other planets or moons and observe the impact it has on life. Doing this could broaden the understanding of how life could have or does survive in different kinds of environments in our universe.

Stromatolite 

Reference:

http://astrobiology.com/2016/09/scientists-discover-37-billion-year-old-fossils.html