module 2

 Darwin's Idea-


    My favorite prediction of Darwin's idea of descent with modification is that earth and life are old. In my previous post, I described life as millions of years old. However, recently scientists have found evidence that life existed as long as 3.42 billion years ago, which is insane (Science Advances et al.). These scientists discovered Putative filamentous microfossils in a hydrothermal vein in South Africa. The filamentous microfossils belonged to a population of bacteria that produced methane, and lived off the nutrients around a hot vent deep in water (Science Advances et al.). Filamentous microfossils are microscopic fossils that only remain due to the keratin content of the original cellular organisms (Science Advances et al.). These filamentous microfossils are so small, they need to be viewed with a microscope, and the average diameter of these microfossils is around 0.5μm to 1.1μm, with the average length being around 10μm to 20μm segments (Science Advances et al.). Carbon dating puts the age of these fossils at around 3.42 billion years old, which is remarkably old (Science Advances et al.). It's hard to say just how old Darwin meant when he stated "Earth and life are old", but I have to imagine that billions of years is at least close to what he meant. While knowing the age of some prehistoric organisms isn't directly a lead that evolution is real, it at least proves one of Darwin's ideas right. The idea that the earth and life are old does support the theory of evolution, as we're able to observe evolution in populations with short lifespans fairly easy. The fact that an organism 3.42 billion years old existed helps to support that evolution happens as the scientists might be able to link it to current day bacteria, or maybe something else further down the evolutionary line. Overall, I think that these findings are strong evidence for both Darwin's idea and the theory of evolution as a whole. I found this scientific article very helpful, and I enjoyed using the database. The fact that there is such a large amount of articles and information available for anyone to lookup and find themselves is amazing, and I enjoyed doing the research for this prompt.



 [email protected], Barbara Cavalazzi orcid.org/0000-0002-5135-9529, et al. “Cellular Remains in a ~3.42-BILLION-YEAR-OLD Subseafloor Hydrothermal Environment.” Science Advances, 14 July 2021, www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abf3963.

Comments

  1. Megan BSeptember 10, 2021 at 7:41 PM

    Great post Ian! I researched the same principle. its interesting how we can use different methods of dating for organic and non organic substances and get similar ages from them. chemistry is amazing.

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  2. Taylor DavisonSeptember 10, 2021 at 9:02 PM

    Hi Ian! Like you I know that the Earth and life are old, but it is extremely hard for me to conceptualize just how old it actually is. Seeing numbers like 3.42 billon years makes our existence feel like a blip on the time line, and it amazes me how we can use theories like evolution to understand the past and future species on our planet.

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  3. Aaron 𓆟September 17, 2021 at 1:45 PM

    Hey Ian! Your mention of the fossilized microorganisms likely inhabiting area near underwater thermal vents made me think of the "Chemical Origin of Life"/abiogenesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis). Interesting theory, for the most part way over my head. Something more interesting to me, along the same lines as carbon dating, is the fact that nuclear testing was so expansive during the Cold War that for a period of time (and maybe even today based on the lifespan of the species) fish were able to be aged by measuring the decreasing amount of 14C in tissues relative to the near doubling of 14C in the atmosphere around 1960 due to nuclear weapons testing.

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