Complex life on Earth is older than we thought, new theory claims

Life on Earth. Where did it come from? How long has it existed here? While we’re still searching for the answers to one of those questions, scientists think they might have discovered the answer to the other. Most experts believe that the complex life on Earth began around 635 million years ago. However, a new theory is challenging that.

Researchers, including Professor Ernest Chi Fru at Cardiff University, have recently highlighted the new theory after studying unexplained formations found in Franceville, Gabon. Scientists aren’t sure if the formations are fossils or not, and it has raised some serious questions about whether or not they could be some of the original signs of life on Earth.

If the formations are fossils, then they appear to date back to around 2.1 million years ago. Roughly 1.5. billion years earlier than scientists believed complex life on Earth could have existed. However, the theory also says that the organisms were still very simple and that they were restricted to an inland sea and didn’t spread.

Image source: Tawanboonnak / Adobe

Of course, eventually, these organisms died out. Leaving an empty place for life as we eventually came to know it to settle in and grow. Of course, proving all of this is an entirely different matter. But, if the researchers can prove that their theory is right, then it will fundamentally change our planet’s timeline.

Doing that will give us even more depth in the history of our little blue marble in the great sea of darkness, which is the universe. What’s most intriguing about the theory and these formations is that these first possible pieces of complex life on Earth appear to have had circumstances similar to when life bloomed in the Cambrian period, 635 million years ago.

It very well could have stimulated the simpler life forms into becoming more complex and intricate, even if they did eventually die out without spreading very far. However, the findings have not been accepted by all scientists. So, we’ll have to wait to see exactly how the researchers proceed with their theory. For now, the theory is published as part of a paper in Precambrian Research.

The post Complex life on Earth is older than we thought, new theory claims appeared first on BGR.

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Complex life on Earth is older than we thought, new theory claims originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 29 Jul 2024 at 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.