NATURE’S BUILDING CODE: THE BAUHAUS SCHOOL OF CELL DESIGN
The Earth formed as a planet about 4.5 billion years ago (Ga) and until about 3.8 Ga, its surface was ceaselessly pounded by gravitationally captured material [1]. The impact of meteorites and asteroids, with dimensions of meters to kilometers, frac-tured and heated the emerging land masses, in some...
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Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.554.133 http://www.sfu.ca/~boal/papers/paper98.pdf |
Summary: | The Earth formed as a planet about 4.5 billion years ago (Ga) and until about 3.8 Ga, its surface was ceaselessly pounded by gravitationally captured material [1]. The impact of meteorites and asteroids, with dimensions of meters to kilometers, frac-tured and heated the emerging land masses, in some instances releasing enough energy to vaporize an ocean several thousand meters deep. What form of life could have survived, let along thrived, in such an environment? If the answer to this question is "none", then how long after the end of these hadean times did recognizable life emerge? Not long! Graphite in ancient rocks in Greenland (3.8 Ga) show isotopic abundances consistent with biological processes [2]. |
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