Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
U of M researcher helps unearth oldest microfossils
WINNIPEG — A University of Manitoba researcher is part of an international team of geologists who have announced the discovery of what they believe to be evidence of the oldest complex life on Earth.
Andrey Bekker and his colleagues found the 3.2 billion-year-old fossilized microorganisms buried 600 metres underground in South America.
The team's finding are published this week in the journal Nature.
Previously, evidence of advanced life was found in rock less than two billion years old.
The team believes that the finding proves that life on Earth began to form within less than 1-1/2 billion years after the planet was formed.
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