origin of life

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The History of Everything

April 18, 2009 in creationism, humour by admin | No comments

This blog is entitled “Wonderful Life” mostly because I find the world around me wonderful, in part because of what we do know of its origins, but also because of what we don’t (yet) know.  I don’t need to have any invisible creator to have instigated, directed or interfered in any way in the origins of life.  I noticed that PZ Myers of Pharyngula has posted this diagram (God’s timeline) of the history of the Universe (seen from a human perspective), comparing the scientific and creationist explanations: Read the rest of this entry »

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Geological evidence pushes back the origins of multicellular life

February 6, 2009 in origins of life by admin | 1 comment

This week’s Nature includes a brief paper that concludes that multicellular life originated about 100 million years earlier that previously known. The work places sponges in the Cryogenian period, >635 million years ago, prior to the Ediacaran period. See Flies & Bikes for more on this paper.  Formally, of course the paper suggests that either demosponges were there, or an ancestor – but still, more evidence of the antiquity of life on Earth!

Love et al (2009) Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongidae dueing the Cryogenian period. Nature 457; 718-723. doi:10.1038/nature07673 (subscription required)

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