“‘Life on Earth May Have Started Almost Instantaneously’ –Compelling Evidence Discovered”

Last updated on: January 13, 2017 at 5:03 pm by Dan Peterson

Galapagos tube worms! — A 2011 public domain photo, from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, of a colony of Riftia pachyptila tube worms observed, with anemones and mussels in close proximity, near a deep ocean geothermal vent in the Galapagos Rift.

This is really quite amazing. When I was growing up, the usual way of explaining the origin of life (which is still not understood) was simply to throw lots and lots of time at the question and then say, “Given long enough, all sorts of things happen.”

It now turns out that, speaking in geological and evolutionary terms, there just wasn’t all that much time:

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2017/01/life-on-earth-may-have-started-almost-instantaneously-compelling-evidence-discovered-video.html