Origin of Life

    Remember Fantasia, the Disney animated film? In the film, the music from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring pounds away in the background as a molten Earth is hammered by asteroids. Volcanoes erupt - smoke billows, then the rains come and cover the Earth with water. As the music stills life appears out of the primordial ooze. In the film there is a flash of light and an amorphous critter sparkles into life. Following the path of evolution one critter becomes two and then a creature crawls onto the land. Next dinosaurs are shown thundering through a swampy scene. This is the urban myth that every American knows. Disney does it, PBS science shows (Cosmos - Origins) all talk about the primordial soup or prebiotic soup (Prelife). According to the naturalistic scenario, life is relatively easy to create. All that is required is water, the right ingredients (primordial soup), a lightning strike to provide the energy and voile- LIFE.

     In The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin did not address the issue of the origin of life. He only dealt with the transformation of life once it had appeared. Part of his reticence may have been based on two conflicting pieces of information. Vitalism, was the prevailing view in the early Nineteenth Century. It taught that organic compounds contained a life force while inorganic substances did not. Substances that lacked this life force were inert. Scientists studied the fields of organic and inorganic chemistry based on this premise. However in 1828 the German chemist Fredrich Wohler prepared Urea, a component of urine from inorganic substances. This accidental finding blurred the line between living and nonliving matter.

     The theory that living matter was continually being generated from nonliving matter (abiogenesis) had fallen into disrepute, as early as 1668. The Italian physician Francesco Redi had conducted a series of experiments that cast doubt on the theory of abiogenesis. Redi took several wide mouthed jars and placed rotting meat in them. He sealed one of them, placing gauze over the top and left another open. Maggots appeared in the open jar and then flies. No flies appeared in the sealed jar although maggots appeared on the gauze and later flies. Scientists were convinced that larger organisms were created through the procreation of other like animals. The question of microscopic, bacteria remained open. It wasn’t until 1862 that Louis Pasteur performed a series of experiments that were conclusive. He added beef broth to a flask then bent the neck of the flask into what is called a swan neck curvature ( See below). Air and oxygen were allowed into the vessel but not microorganisms. He then heated the broth to sterilize it. No bacteria appeared. In fact the broth remained sterile for years after the experiment. Pasteur’s experiment showed that microorganisms come only from other microorganism.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution would have to provide a means to produce life. It wasn't until 1871 that Darwin advanced the theory that life could have emerged on Earth through chemical processes involving ammonia, phosphates, and other inorganic materials. Ernest Haeckel, the embryologist who supported Darwin, took a slightly different approach to the origin of life. He postulated that there were predecessors to life he called “monera.” These were formless lumps of gel with the capacity for reproduction. T. H. Huxley provided support for Haeckel's hypothesis with the observation of gelatinous lumps in ocean-floor mud. These amorphous masses were interpreted as moneran remains. This protoplasmic theory of the cell was based on what was known about cells. At the time, the cell was thought to consist of a wall surrounding a nucleus and a jellylike protoplasm. Microscopes of the time were able to resolve only these three features. Given this limited view of a cell, the protoplasmic view of a chemical pathway from non-life to life seemed plausible (abiogenesis).

     This theory, met a rapid demise as scientists by the end of the nineteenth century, were able to detect a chemically complex system within the cell. Additional studies indicated that Huxley's “moneran” remains were chemical artifacts. When alcohol was added to the mud samples a calcium precipitate produced the gelatinous “remains”.

     It wasn't until the 1920's that a Russian biochemist Alexander Oparin and a British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane independently revitalized the abiogenesis hypothesis. They proposed that the Earth's early atmosphere was devoid of oxygen and dominated by hydrogen. Their hypotheses were based on the assumption that Earth's early atmosphere was formed from stellar dust and therefore the chief ingredients of the early atmosphere must be hydrogen and hydrogen based combinations; methane (hydrogen + carbon) ammonia (hydrogen + nitrogen) and water vapor (H2O). Their thesis was that when this gaseous mixture was energized (struck by lightning) that prebiotic molecules were formed. These prebiotic molecules accumulated in Earth's oceans where chemical processes gradually created life.

     Oparin and Haldane disagreed over the exact process. Oparin stated that the transition from prebiotic to life occurred through a system of protein aggregates. Haldane proposed that the transition from non-life (prebiotic) to life occurred through self-replicating molecules. Their theories must be understood in the light of a naturalistic philosophy that there is nothing other than matter. Therefore an evolutionary view of creation must only use naturally occurring chemicals and chemical pathways.

     The Oparin-Haldane hypothesis remained a theoretical construct that was untested until the 1950's. A graduate student, Stanley Miller under the guidance of his adviser, Harold Urey, tested the theory. Miller assembled a closed glass apparatus, pumped out the air and replaced it with methane, ammonia, hydrogen and water to simulate the hypothesized early Earth atmosphere. The experiment is prominently depicted in most science texts. (See Figure below). Miller then heated the water and circulated the gases past an electric spark to simulate lightning. By the end of the week, the water was deep red and turbid so Miller removed some of the chemical residue. Getting no prebiotic material Miller adjusted his apparatus and re-ran the experiment. The second time he identified glycine and alanine, two of the simplest amino acids, among the residue.

The experiment was a stunning breakthrough. It appeared that Stanley Miller had proven that a chemical pathway existed to generate prebiotic molecules. It was thought that if an experiment can produce two amino acids (even an extremely small amount) in just a few weeks then surely over millions of years prebiotic molecules could accumulate in the Earth's oceans. Keep in mind that Miller did not cook up living cells. His chemical broth only generated two of the precursors to molecular proteins (i.e. alanine 1.7%; glycine 2.1%).      Cosmos was a lavish PBS production written and produced in 1978-1979. Episode two ends with a Hollywood style recreation of the Miller-Urey experiment. It looks like the inside of Dr. Frankenstein’s lab. Smoke billows and threatens to hide the scientist as he slowly makes his way through a complex apparatus adjusting knobs. Finishing his preparation he initiates the spark mechanism and a clear globe fills with a reddish looking fluid within seconds. Sagan proudly proclaims that  the process produced a rich complex of molecules, proteins and nucleic acids.  “ Life is easy to make,” declares Carl Sagan.     

A molecule is two or more atoms bonded together. Almost all biomolecules (biological molecules) are made up 6 essential elements; carbon (C), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), hydrogen (H), phosphorous (P), and sulfur (S). By arranging these elements and other biological elements (e.g., chlorine, sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium and iron) it is possible to assemble a large number of molecules. Much like the alphabet where a fairly small number of letters are used to build words and later sentences, specific elements can combine to create biologically meaningful structures. The building blocks of proteins are amino acids. Which is why scientists were so elated when Miller's experiment produced even a small amount of amino acids.

CHIRALITY

Any theory which attempts to explain amino acids presence must account for molecular chirality. 

Chirality or handedness, occurs in any molecule that has four different chemical groups attached to a central carbon atom. Nineteen of the twenty amino acids and the two sugars (ribose and deoxyribose) that are building blocks of RNA and DNA are chiral compounds. The amino acids in proteins are all left-handed configurations, (except the simplest one, glycine which lacks any symmetry). 

      An example may help to explain the importance of chirality. We need sugar in our diet. However if we eat the mirror image, molecules that contain the same atoms, only in the left hand configuration we would starve. The body can only metabolize those in the right hand configuration. 

      In nature biological processes produce right-handed and left-handed configuration in equal proportions. This 50- 50 result is called “racemic.” Laboratory experiments demonstrate that the presence of racemic mixtures of amino acids and sugars strongly inhibit the formation of amino acids and nucleotide chains. The synthesis of a DNA or RNA strand that consists of right-hand ribose or deoxyribose is halted by the presence of a single left-handed configuration for either sugar. Additionally, one wrong-handed amino acid incorporated into a protein is enough to disrupt the folding of the protein. Without the precise folding of a protein it can never function properly. 

       Ribose and deoxyribose (DNA and RNA) are all right-handed configurations. Homochirality (i.e., same handedness) has a unique function in DNA. WITHOUT homochirality, genetic material cannot copy itself. Two complimentary strands of DNA cannot bind with each other into the crucial double helix unless all the nucleotides are of the same handedness. (p. 124 – Origins of Life). This requirement means that homochirality must have existed before the origin of proteins, DNA, and RNA. In other words, there had to be a reservoir of exclusively left-handed amino acids and exclusively right-handed sugars (ribose and deoxyribose) to begin building amino acids which form biological proteins and DNA, RNA. 

      The question then becomes is there a chemical process that would drive racemic mixtures into homochirality. The short answer is NO. All attempts to synthesis amino acids and sugars in laboratory simulations produce racemic balance. Left to her own devises "Mother Nature" only creates a 50/50 ratio of molecular handedness. A laboratory experiment using UV light successfully produced a 20 percent excess of left-handed amino acids. These results were not achieved by creating more left-handed amino acids but by destruction. Depending on the direction of the rotation of the polarization, either right-handed or left-handed configurations were destroyed. The result merely reflected the survival rate. (Origins of Life, p.125). 

       The formation of key elements (i.e., amino acids, DNA and RNA), is not possible using a naturalistic scenario. The shallow sea that contained all the “right stuff” is a myth. The homochirality needed to combine prebiotic material into amino acids and DNA does not occur randomly in nature. The scenario that evolutionists have offered as a chemical pathway to the creation of a living organism is littered with impossibility. 

Oxygen-Ultraviolet Paradox

      The presence of oxygen shuts down prebiotic chemistry. When free oxygen, even in minute amounts, is found in the atmosphere, in open water or in subterranean water the chemical processes necessary to create prebiotic compounds shuts down. In the ultimate irony the absence of oxygen would also stop prebiotic chemistry. Without oxygen Earth's atmosphere would not have an ozone layer. Without an ozone layer ultraviolet radiation from the sun as well as supernova eruptions would penetrate not only Earth's atmosphere but the upper layers of the ocean and lakes. Ultraviolet radiation breaks apart the chemical bonds of prebiotic molecules. It is a strong Catch-22. The presence of oxygen stops the chemical pathways for the formation of prebiotic chemistry and the absence of oxygen allows ultraviolet radiation to destroy any organic compounds that were formed.

      With the atmosphere of Earth unable to support prebiotic molecule production researchers have sought other sources to create the building blocks of life. Today's volcanoes produce water, carbon dioxide, and sulfur dioxide, which cannot support prebiotic molecular synthesis. However since volcanoes release compounds from deep within Earth's mantle it was thought the ancient volcanoes might have produced a different chemical profile. Studies indicate that the materials erupted from ancient volcanoes were the same as those of today. This information eliminates volcanoes as a possible source for prebiotic material.

     The discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents and exotic life forms in a place long considered sterile stimulated great excitement. It also raised the possibility of it being the source of prebiotic molecules. These vents are the only places on Earth with the necessary hydrogen-rich and oxygen-free environment to facilitate the production of prebiotic compounds. Laboratory experiments simulating the chemically harsh environment modeled after the vents attempted to form amino acids. Stanley Miller led a teams of researchers who found that at 660 degrees, a temperature that these vents can and do reach the amino acids were cooked in only a few minutes. Additionally sugars, an essential part of building DNA and RNA, were destroyed within seconds when the water temperature reached 480 degrees. Again laboratory testing indicated that polypeptides (chains of amino acids) survived for as little as a few minutes at this temperature. RNA molecules were rendered useless (hydrolyzed) within minutes at 480 degrees and within seconds if the temperature reached 662 degrees (all of these measurements are given in Fahrenheit).

     DNA or RNA were not formed at deep-sea vents.  Laboratory experiments were conducted in which DNA, RNA and other molecular compounds were introduced into experimental conditions that simulated those at the deep-sea vent.  Molecular decomposition outstripped composition at hydrothermal vents.

      Not only do deep-sea hydrothermal vents make poor candidates for the synthesis of prebiotic molecules they would ultimately destroy them. Miller's team pointed out that all the water in the oceans is destined to be circulated through the vent over the course of 10 million years. Water is recycled into the mantle of the Earth where it would vaporize any prebiotic molecules.

Space Age Answers

      Researchers, having exhausted the terrestrial cupboard, have gone spacey, literally. Meeting dead-ends in the early Earth's atmosphere scientists have found hope in space debris. Spurred by the discovery of simple preorganic compounds in meteorites and comets scientists have begun evaluating the possibility that prebiotic material was formed in space and transported to Earth via comets, meteorites and grains of interstellar dust. The human mind is ever optimistic and in 1992, Christopher Chyb and Carl Sagan estimated the total delivery to Earth of carbon compounds over the period from 4.5 billion to 3 billion years ago. This represents the time span from the formation of Earth to the time recognized as life's first appearance. They estimated that one million tons of infill occurred at the early date and that the amount dropped to 4,000 tons per year as the bombardment decreased. Much of this data is extrapolated from the Murchison meteorite that was recovered in 1969, around Murchison, Australia. The meteorite was actually a set of fragments with the largest fragment weighing approximately 15 pounds. Analysis found an amino acid concentration of 15 parts per million.

        It is important to discuss the possibility of contamination when considering meteorites. The Nakhla meteorite fell in the Nile River Delta in 1911. The amino abundances were recorded at 20 to 330 parts per billion. What is informative about this discovery is that the fragments were recovered from a depth of 4 to 12 inches in the Nile sediment. When the amino acid percentages were compared to a core sample from the delta in which it was recovered the numbers were the same. The researchers concluded that amino acids in the groundwater penetrated the meteorite's interior, contaminating the findings. This was recognized as a warning to all researchers that contamination from Earth's organic material is rapid and can greatly compromise any results that are drawn from Earth recovered meteorites. According to many researchers the only way to make accurate judgments about the content of meteorites would be to capture a sample in space.

       Comets also contribute to the contents of Earth. The quantity of carbon and carbon compounds brought to Earth by comets is about a hundred times greater than meteorites. Although no amino acids have been found in comets astrochemists have found carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Water makes up 99 percent of a comet's mass. Comets really are frozen snowballs. The discovery of hydrogen cyanide in some comets was seen as useful. Laboratory experimenters can produce amino acids from hydrogen cyanide when combined with the right molecules. However as Stanley Miller pointed out heating hydrogen cyanide to temperatures as low as 212 degrees hydrolyzes it. The hydrogen cyanide becomes reactive with water and forms formate, a chemical dead end. All comets must pass through Earth's atmosphere where they are heated well beyond this temperature if they are not incinerated.

         When scientists talk about being able to create amino acids in a lab we need to remind ourselves that they are working in a laboratory. They have sterile conditions where they are able to blend precise amounts of specific chemicals and control the temperature. A key fact that is often overlooked is they can remove the compound when it is “cooked”. In the real world nature is never that precise or forgiving. When scientists take specific chemicals and create amino acids from hydrogen cyanide (a deadly poison) a very deliberate and careful plan was necessary. An intelligent design was evident.

    One is reminded of a man who said he could create a cake “a naturale” using no outside assistance. When asked to demonstrate his procedure he said that since it would take a long time for the wheat and sugar to grow, but since we all know that they grow he would just use some from the store. Having granted the raw materials for the cake the creative baker stipulated that the exact proportions of each ingredient be placed in a mixing bowl. A handy electric mixer appeared and after a careful blending of the ingredients the batter was poured into a pan that just happened to appear. Stating that heat would be required to bake the cake and a volcano would be a likely natural heat source but too far away for convenience a stove was used to simulate the volcano. Science must be careful that it maintains its credibility. As researchers experimentally replicate what could have occurred naturally it is essential to maintain scientific integrity and not slip into a cross between the story of Stone Soup and the Emperor's New Clothes.

    The most abundant space debris are microscopic grains of interplanetary and interstellar dust. These grains dump more than a hundred times as much material on Earth as comets and 40,000 times as much as meteorites. Astrochemists have been studying interstellar dust clouds for thirty years. So far they have NOT discovered any amino acids however they have found more than 120 carbon compounds -(e.g., two alcohols, a ketone, two aldehydes and simple carbon rings). Additionally researchers at the Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute determined that amino acids are highly susceptible to UV photo destruction even at relatively low levels. Strong ultraviolet radiation permeates both interstellar and interplanetary space making it impossible for amino acids to survive in ice grains or on the surface layers of asteroids, comets or meteorites. In summary “amino acids have not been detected in interstellar and interplanetary grains because they are destroyed before they can accumulate in the gas phase” (p. 97 - Origins of Life).

     It is important to remember that in any debate the best case scenario is frequently presented without comment. In the debate over the origin of life Chyb and Sagan used a million tons of infill with the clear implication that this tonnage represented viable prebiotic material. Numbers left unattached to specific facts are used and repeated so often they become their own story. As a technologically advanced society we expect scientists to have numbers and data to back up their theories. Numbers can dazzle. They can be impressive but they should be validated by the data.

     To wisely evaluate the claim of a million tons of in-fall we must narrow our search for amino acid to credible sources (comets and meteorites). Given this requirement infill deliveries drop to 2,000 tons per year (4.5 billion years) and 1 ton at the 3.0 billion-year mark. Since no amino acids have been detected in the interstellar grains this source was eliminated. Meteorites are the only proven delivery system for amino acids. Using only meteorites the infill would be reduced to 20 tons at the 4.5 billion-year date and 20 pounds per year for the later date.

     The total mass of the meteorite is NOT biologically significant, therefore calculations must be made to determine the amount of viable material that reached Earth. There has been considerable debate as to whether the Murchison meteorite is typical or atypical in terms of the amount of biologically significant material that is available. Some have argued that it was contaminated as shown by the Nakhla meteorite. There is also the fact that a meteorite needs a full meter of protection (39 inches) to shelter its cargo from galactic radiation.

     Scientists derived a best-case scenario which assumed half of all the meteorites were as rich in amino acids as the Murchison meteorite and that half of them were large enough to protect the material. The resulting calculation determined that a little less than .02 ounces of biologically significant amino acids would have been delivered globally per year. The original number of a million tons cited by Sagan and Chyb used all possible infill from all possible sources. A realistic evaluation must remove unproven sources such as dust grains. It must also assess the possibility of the material being incinerated as it enters the atmosphere. Meteorites are the only proven source of prebiotic material and even that is only in trace amounts. Thus the total tonnage of infill is not 100 percent prebiotic material. The evaluation of how much prebiotic material could be delivered in a viable state - significantly reduces the quantity from the original figure.

      Only half a gram of biologically significant amino acids could have been sprinkled into the oceans each year at the time that life appeared. Even if the delivery of prebiotic material were accumulated without any destruction for the maximum possible time between the last heavy bombardment by asteroids (a sterilization event) and the appearance of life - the concentration of amino acids in the oceans would be less than a hundredth of a quadrillion of a gram per cubic centimeter (Origins of Life, p.99)

     Yet all of this is speculation; based on how much space debris could have fallen; how many amino acids were or were not present; and the possibility of oxygen in the atmosphere. It's all-theoretical. Geo-chemists have developed a direct measure of the quantity of prebiotic material on ancient Earth. Carbonaceous substances (the decay products of once-living organisms) manifest a distinctly lower ratio of carbon-13 to carbon -12 than carbonaceous substances that chemically develop from inorganic compounds. Therefore, a careful measurement of the ratio of carbon-13 to carbon-12 in ancient deposits should yield the amount of prebiotics present on Earth. DRUM ROLL PLEASE

      The results indicate that ALL such carbonaceous deposits were formed from the remains of living organisms. NONE of the deposits formed from prebiotic material. There is direct evidence that the mythic primordial soup is indeed a myth.

      A second assessment using nitrogen isotope ratios independently confirms the carbon ratios. The ratio of nitrogen-15 to nitrogen-14 indicates the ancient carbonaceous deposits are of biogenic origin. They were formed by living organisms. This is another instance in which the myth overrode the science. To make the naturalistic Theory of Evolution work there has to be primordial soup. The naturalistic creation event is a randomized chemical factory. There was never evidence for a primordial soup ONLY THE PRESUMPTION. The theory proposed by Oparin and Haldane was based on their belief in the Theory of Evolution. Working backward from the naturalistic philosophy there had to be a chemical pathway to create life. Sadly, the story of primordial soup has been repeated so often it is accepted as a reality. Researchers have spent years searching for differing paths to move from an imaginary primordial soup to life.

The Presence of Life

     How can the presence of life disprove - primordial soup? Something happened. The Earth's origin is reasonable dated around 4.5 billion years ago. Fossils have been found from approximately 3.5 billion years ago, which leaves a gap of a billion years. This would give nature a long time to work it's prebiotic magic and create life from non-life. Since life does exist, it is reasonable to believe that some as yet undiscovered process was at work. Let's examine the billion years that seem to be available for the creation of life.

     Our sun is the energy source that makes life possible on Earth. The sun however has not always been a stable star. The young sun was a much more quixotic energy source. Ionizing radiation, in particular x-ray emissions, were 50 times higher during the sun's “infancy.” X- ray radiation would have sterilized any organic products on the Earth. It was not until approximately 3.9 billion years ago that the sun reached main stage stability.

       Large asteroids and comets pummeled the inner solar system (i.e., Mars, Earth, the moon, Venus and Mercury) between 4.5 and 3.5 billion years ago. The intensity of this bombardment declined rapidly as the rubble leftover from the initial planetary formation was drawn into the nearby planetary bodies. This is the time period that Sagan and Chyb were using for their speculation on the amount of infill containing prebiotic material. NASA satellite imaging has allowed scientists to assess impact craters on Mars, Mercury and the Moon. Since the Moon has no plate tectonics, to remove or alter the impact craters a clear pattern of collisions is recorded across time. During the first billion years of its existence the moon was a high impact zone. Earth as the most massive of the inner planets was a victim of its own success. The magnitude of impact is proportional to the mass. Earth suffered the greatest damage because it's larger mass and stronger gravity attracted larger planetesimal impactors.

      Research into what is called the Hadean era, confirms that Earth suffered repeated sterilization events from massive bombardment until approximately 3.5 billion years ago. These collisions were of such force that they released enough energy to melt Earth's surface. No liquid water, solid rocks, life forms or prebiotic molecules could have survived. The planet Earth was truly a Hadean landscape.

While the rate and magnitude of the collisions diminished through time a last barrage known as the Late Heavy Bombardment occurred between 3.9 and 3.8 billion years ago. This catastrophic event turned the entire planet Earth into a molten sea of lava which is the reason no rocks have been found that are older than 3.85 billion years. The barrage lasted until approximately 3.5 billion years, which is why no one sought a fossil record prior to 3.5 billion years (Origins of Life: p.82-83). Lunar rocks that were brought back from the Apollo missions help to verify the dating of this last heavy bombardment. Scientists have estimated that the total accumulation of extraterrestrial material on the Earth's surface during this event added up to 200 tons per square yard over the entire surface of the Earth. 

       Wouldn’t such a massive in fall of material prove Sagan and Chyb's idea about the arrival of prebiotic material from extra-terrestrial sources?   NO! Earth was turned into a molten fire pit during this catastrophic series of events. The release of energy and heat from the collisions melted rocks, vaporized the oceans and would surely have incinerated any prebiotic material. Water took at least three thousand years to begin condensing. The original figure of a billion years is reduced significantly. First, the instability of the sun would have bathed the proto-Earth in sterilizing radiation. Next the Giant Impactor that formed the moon would have eliminated any possible prebiotic formation. When the sun stabilized and entered the main stage sequence at approximately 3.9 billion years the Late Heavy Bombardment began. This would shrink the window of opportunity to about 400 million years (3.9 billion to 3.5 billion).

     Two discoveries have shrunk the evolutionary window to a geologic second. The latest assessment of the date for the Late Heavy Bombardment initiates this sterilization event at 3.85 billion years. The discovery of fossil that date the presence of life on Earth as early as 3.8 billion years shrink the time window for the origin of life to 50 million years. Current research indicates that as soon as permanent rocks formed life burst forth. Key elements of the traditional evolutionary mantra are no longer tenable. First, the infinite time frame in which nature randomly combined and recombined molecules is gone. Darwin's premise that he had an infinite period of time is no longer valid nor defensible. We live in a universe that has finite limits and a specific creation date. Earth also has a unique origin date and a specific history. The early instability of the sun, as the nuclear furnace erupted in massive radiation bursts, the creation of the moon as well as the Late Heavy Bombardment all narrow the possible time frame for the origin of life.

      The evolutionary theory proposes a chemical pathway that involved a long period of gradually accruing resources and then a lengthy period of random mixing and remixing prebiotic materials. None of these things happened nor could have happened. There is neither the time nor the resources. Life appears in an instant, not as the result of a gradual chemical process.

Earliest Life:

     In the previous sections, it was stated that life appeared as early as 3.8 billion years. What life? Since the Late Heavy Bombardment turned Earth's crust molten and vaporized the oceans it is difficult to imagine that anything including rocks could have survived from this period. The possibility of finding ancient rocks was considered highly unlikely due to erosion and metamorphosis across such a long period of time. Ancient fossils were unthinkable according to the Theory of Evolution.

      Remember evolution required the prebiotic soup to take millions of years to mix-up the molecules to form prebiotic molecules then millions of years of random mixing to achieve the amino acids and then more eons for proteins to assemble. The only two known locations where ancient rock deposits have experienced only limited metamorphosis are the Pilbara Supergroup in Australia and the Swaziland Supergroup in South Africa. Yet, fossils were discovered in both locations that date between 3.3 and 3.5 billion years.

     These are not the two-dimensional imprints or casts generated by bones or skeletal remains. The ancient fossils fall into two categories; macroscopic stromatolites (bacterial mats) and the microscopic remnants of microorganisms. The fossils dated at 3.3 and 3.5 billion years are accepted as authentic and accurately dated. The earliest fossils, those from 3.8 billion-year-old are in dispute.

 This first life was photoautotrophic. Which is a fancy way of saying that it used CO2 as the source of carbon and light as an energy source. Cyanobacteria gets its name because it uses the blue and green light wavelengths for photosynthesis. These first life forms were generating oxygen by extracting energy from organic compounds (those which contain carbon). Cyanobacteria is considered a prokaryote (its cells have no nucleus).   When cyanobacteria grows under ideal conditions it forms dense macroscopic mats. Ideal conditions are shallow water where sunlight reaches the mat like colony of cells. Near a shoreline, tidal action deposits sediment on the mats. These deposits ultimately cause the mats to take on rock-like characteristics. When the carbonate deposits become thick enough to block sunlight cyanobacteria migrate to the surface- seeking the sunlight. Cyanobacteria forms sheet like colonies composed of filaments. These filaments intertwine to form a network that provides structure to the mats. A stromatolite is built as the original mat is repeatedly overlaid with carbonate. The end product is stone like in appearance. However a very active and complex community of microorganisms thrives within these structures. The cyanobacteria remains on the top where it harvests the sunlight (Origins of Life p. 66-67)

      Scientists can be so specific about the composition and functioning of stromatolites because they still exist. Shark Bay is located along Australia's desolate West Coast where stromatolites dot the shoreline. The hyper saline condition of the bay makes it unfit for most life and protects this living fossil.

     Stromatolites flourished in Earth's shallow water environment from approximately 2.8 billion to 600 million years ago. They were driven to isolated refugees by the appearance of multicellular invertebrates which considered stromatolites a food source. Fossils from this lengthy time span are consistent with the contemporary species. The availability of contemporary stromatolites as well as a two billion-year fossil record provide a strong reference point to evaluate ancient fossils. The ancient fossils look exactly like the fossils from 2 billion years ago as well as the 600 million-year-old fossils. Since there was no change in the appearance and apparent functionality of any of these fossils researchers have a very clear window back to the dawn of life.   Some paleontologists have questioned the gap between fossils at 2.8 billion years and the ancient ones at 3.5. Others have defended their findings by pointing out that very few fossils would be expected to survive from such a distant past. The shallow water environment was limited between 3.5 and 2.8 billion years as landmasses began to appear. The tectonic activity which was building landmasses destroyed the vast majority of stromatolite fossils.

     Evidence supporting the early appearance of life is not limited to the fossil record. Geochemical evidence (carbon-12, nitrogen-14 and sulfur-32 isotope enrichment) all independently point to life's presence on early Earth. The fossil and geochemical records not only indicate the timing of life's appearance on Earth but it provides the means to assess the biochemical and metabolic properties of this life. Earth's first life was morphologically simple but biochemically complex. Cyanobacteria - present on Earth 3.5 billion years ago appears to have been identical to cyanobacteria on Earth today. Which is some of the most biochemically complex microbes known to microbiologists (Origins of Life p.77).

Information Please

     The question of the origin of life has changed. When it was thought that a chemical pathway to life existed the question was getting the right chemicals to form and then have them magically self-assemble. As our knowledge of cells and their complexity has grown it is evident that there has to be an explanation for genetic information. DNA is the information storehouse telling the cell which amino acids are required and in what order to create the right proteins. RNA exists as single polynucleotide chains, which serve several different functions. The first is mRNA, messenger RNA. As its name suggestions mRNA produces exact copies of the DNA genes. The genetic information carried by the mRNA is then interpreted by the protein synthesis apparatus to produce a protein. The second type of RNA is called ribosomal RNA (rRNA) which functions with associated proteins to form the ribosome. The third major class of RNA is called transfer RNA (tRNA) which work in conjunction with the mRNA to form proteins. RNA range in length from 70 to 50,000 nucleotides.

     DNA is the library of genetic information. DNA never leaves the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The RNA comes to the nucleus and begins the process of transcription. DNA and RNA are written in the language of nucleotides. Proteins are assembled from a different language, that of amino acids. The overriding question is how did one molecular group speak to another? The genetic code is just that, a code. Three contiguous nucleotide bases code for an amino acid. For example CGU, CGC, CGA, and CGG all code for the amino acid Arginine (Darwin's Black Box p.268-9 ).

     Proteins are the essential molecules in the cell as they build the cellular machines as well as maintain and repair the basic structure of the cell. Proteins also process genetic information. To accomplish all these various tasks cells need thousands of different kinds of proteins. Each protein is uniquely shaped for its particular function. (Creator and the Cosmos p.225).

      Books have been written about the mystery and complexity of life the following link is a brief introduction worth pages of description.