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Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago
Science Daily ^ | 18 Dec 17 | University of Wisconsin-Madison Researchers

Posted on 12/19/2017 3:14:12 AM PST by SkyPilot

Researchers at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have confirmed that microscopic fossils discovered in a nearly 3.5 billion-year-old piece of rock in Western Australia are the oldest fossils ever found and indeed the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.

An example of one of the microfossils discovered in a sample of rock recovered from the Apex Chert, a rock formation in western Australia that is among the oldest and best-preserved rock deposits in the world. The fossils were first described in 1993 but a 2017 study published by UCLA and UW-Madison scientists used sophisticated chemical analysis to confirm the microscopic structures found in the rock are indeed biological, rendering them -- at 3.5 billion years -- the oldest fossils yet found.

The study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by J. William Schopf, professor of paleobiology at UCLA, and John W. Valley, professor of geoscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research relied on new technology and scientific expertise developed by researchers in the UW-Madison WiscSIMS Laboratory.

The study describes 11 microbial specimens from five separate taxa, linking their morphologies to chemical signatures that are characteristic of life. Some represent now-extinct bacteria and microbes from a domain of life called Archaea, while others are similar to microbial species still found today. The findings also suggest how each may have survived on an oxygen-free planet.

The microfossils -- so called because they are not evident to the naked eye -- were first described in the journal Science in 1993 by Schopf and his team, which identified them based largely on the fossils' unique, cylindrical and filamentous shapes. Schopf, director of UCLA's Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life...

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apexchert; australia; creation; dinosauronark; dinosonark; earth; fossils; geology; godsgravesglyphs; noahsarkdinos; paleontology; science
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To: PIF
I just reread the link. It does not appear to be altered.
21 posted on 12/19/2017 5:40:52 AM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: SkyPilot

Comments on the inaccuracy of the dating method description are numerous. It had to be re-written. It was sort of like writing about a car but describing a motorcycle.


22 posted on 12/19/2017 5:43:28 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: PIF

It’s not the only article on this “news” and Fakebook tried trending it yesterday (Fakebook has trended at least 8 fake Trump stories in 10 days, CDC banned word list, Trump firing Mueller, Trump...)


23 posted on 12/19/2017 5:45:33 AM PST by a fool in paradise (Did Barack Obama denounce Communism and dictatorships when he visited Cuba as a puppet of the State?)
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To: SkyPilot

Insert Helen Thomas photo here.


24 posted on 12/19/2017 6:04:14 AM PST by Uncle Miltie (CW II: One side has over 8 TRILLION bullets and the other side can't decide which bathroom to use.)
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To: Ken Regis

6000 years.


25 posted on 12/19/2017 6:09:09 AM PST by DungeonMaster (Goblins, Orcs and the Undead: Metaphors for the godless left.)
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To: American in Israel; newgeezer
You need chapter and verse cause you are going to look it up in your well worn Bible....right....

LOL, I'm going to use that one!

26 posted on 12/19/2017 6:10:29 AM PST by DungeonMaster (Goblins, Orcs and the Undead: Metaphors for the godless left.)
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To: SkyPilot

Can’t find the quote you used and at the bottom says it was corrected. No biggy.


27 posted on 12/19/2017 6:13:53 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
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To: American in Israel

Your post is total gibberish.

Fossils are formed by the slow mineralization of biologic deposits.

There are two main factors that PREVENT fossils from forming - oxygen (which decomposes the biological material before fossilization can take place) and grinding mountains, which you erroneously claim form fossils.

Floods have nothing to do with fossilization.

You can ignore the Science if you want, but don’t try to mislead Freepers with wildly false information, some actually read these articles to learn.


28 posted on 12/19/2017 6:23:10 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: American in Israel

How did the two kangaroos get from the Arc to Australia? How come there aren’t any kangaroo bones between the near east to Australia?


29 posted on 12/19/2017 6:24:29 AM PST by Republic_Venom (It's time for some Republic Venom!)
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To: canuck_conservative

For some the Bible is a science, medical, historical, and law manual...rational logic can’t speak to them.


30 posted on 12/19/2017 6:27:39 AM PST by Republic_Venom (It's time for some Republic Venom!)
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To: New Jersey Realist
Whether we like to admit it or not we all deny God’s word

You are incorrect.

You may be referring to cultural Christians, but not authentic Christians.

Your description of Christian behavior does not at all match many of the people I know of.

31 posted on 12/19/2017 6:33:45 AM PST by Buffalo Bob
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To: Buffalo Bob

People who refer to themselves as “real” or authentic Christians; people who deserve to wear the badge of self-righteousness most Christians confer upon themselves are people who on a regular basis at the very least obey every one of these commands:

• Attend church every Sabbath or more frequently (Deut 5:12).
• Observe all the rules and regulations, sacraments, etc. (Your church).
• Disposed of all your worldly goods for the benefit of the church and the poor (Acts 2:45; Lk 12:33).
• Visit on a regular basis all those incarcerated felons, murderers, etc. (1Peter 3:19; Mt 25:24).
• Forgive everyone who sins against you and never hold a grudge or be angry with anyone (Mt 6:12-15).
• Don’t plan for the future (Mt 6:34).
• Don’t save money (Mt 6:19-20).
• Don’t become wealthy (Mk 10:21-25).
• Don’t work to obtain food (Jn 6:27).
• Give unquestionably to anyone who asks of you even if it’s your last dollar (Mt 5:42).
• Turn the other cheek when someone offends you to allow him to strike you again. (Mt 5:39).
• Judge not (Mt 7:1; Lk 6:37).
• Refuse to divorce your mate unless fornication was involved (Mt 19:9).
• Don’t have sexual urges (Mt 5:28).
• Continuously have sex with your mate (1Cor 7:5) (How you could do this and continuously pray is a mystery to me!)
• Make people want to persecute you (Mt 5:11).
• Let everyone know that you are better than they are (Mt 5:13-16).
• Hate your parents, siblings, and spouse (Lk 14:26).
• Never take a fellow Christian to court (1Cor 6:1).
• Give more than the judgment if you lose a lawsuit, (Mt 5:40)
• Walk two miles if someone forces you to walk a mile, (Mt 5:41).
• Uncover in church if you are a man and cover your head if you are a woman (1Cor 11:5-6).
• Take money from those who have little and give it to those who have a lot (Lk 19:23-26).
• If someone robs you, don’t try to get it back (Lk 6:30).
• Cut your hair closely if you are a man (1Cor 11:14).
• Never wear a lot of jewelry if you are a woman (1Tim 2:9; 1Peter 3:3).
• Fear God (Ps 103:11 plus a lot more).

Do you do all that?


32 posted on 12/19/2017 6:46:12 AM PST by New Jersey Realist ( (Be Nice To Your Kids. They Will Pick Out Your Nursing Home))
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To: Republic_Venom

The Bible is a beautiful and powerful book, but it was never intended as a guide to the Earth’s Geological History.


33 posted on 12/19/2017 6:47:04 AM PST by canuck_conservative
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To: canuck_conservative
The Bible is a beautiful and powerful book, but it was never intended as a guide to the Earth’s Geological History.

Actually, it was. The more science discovers, the better it seems to align with what the Bible says.

34 posted on 12/19/2017 7:01:23 AM PST by Lazamataz (The "news" networks and papers are bitter, dangerous enemies of the American people.)
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To: American in Israel

Gotta have a Noah flood situation to cause mass fossilization.


When one reads the history in Genesis chapter 1 we find that when God created the earth it was covered with water. Can’t be a bigger flood than that. Who’s to say that when dry land was formed it wasn’t removal of water?


35 posted on 12/19/2017 7:12:56 AM PST by New Jersey Realist ( (Be Nice To Your Kids. They Will Pick Out Your Nursing Home))
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To: SkyPilot

So, how did life spring into existence from a hunk of iron rock floating in space after it had been heated to around 3000 degrees?

And why can it not be duplicated in a lab?


36 posted on 12/19/2017 7:36:18 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar

“And why can it not be duplicated in a lab?”

Because Harvey Weinstein keeps contaminating the samples.


37 posted on 12/19/2017 7:37:23 AM PST by bar sin·is·ter (Climate Scientology - another example of science fiction morphing into a religious cult)
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To: SkyPilot
James Usser

"James Ussher (or Usher; 4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his identification of the genuine letters of the church father, Ignatius, and for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as "the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October... the year before Christ 4004"; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC according to the proleptic Julian calendar."

38 posted on 12/19/2017 7:56:58 AM PST by blam
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To: blam

Issac Newton examined Ussher’s dating system and could find nothing wrong with it.


39 posted on 12/19/2017 8:01:10 AM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: Candor7

Yeeesh! The eggheads are at it again....Piltdown Man comes to mind.
Tack another million years on while you’re at it.


40 posted on 12/19/2017 8:13:16 AM PST by rusureitflies? (Not much to say, yet.)
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