This Week's Sci-lights

In this week’s Sci-lights, we explore the evolutionary continuum: how life began, where it will likely end, and that in between which remains to be discovered. 

In an article published yesterday by scientists Nick Lane and Bill Martin in Cell, the partners claim to have discovered a possible explanation to the mysterious origins of life on Earth. After the extensive study of the ocean floor, geochemistry and biochemistry, they came to the conclusion that the first semblances of life, microorganisms, were formed in proximity to the deep-sea vents at the bottom of the ocean. The elemental soup of Hydrogen, Carbon, Sulfur, and other foundations of life combined in such a way that the fundamental amino acids of life catalyzed into existence. For a link to the astoundingly scientific explanation of Martin and Lane’s theory, look no further than here.

In another article published recently, UNESCO went so far as to postulate that as many as 2/3 of the oceans’ 1 Million species roam the seas undiscovered. In what could be considered the first-ever International Census of Marine Life, Pohle, a member of the project, concluded that authorities had documented only 226,000 species. What needs to be compiled, she says, is a single index of all known species to eliminate the confusion in classifying new sea life. More information can be found here.

Finally, in an article eerily relevant to today’s apocalyptic headlines, the astrobiologists at Space.com theorized where the last remnants of life might reside once the dying sun bombards the Earth with boiling temperatures. The last living creatures, they believe, will be microorganisms used to the incredibly high temperatures near thermal vents and anoxic environments in deep caverns. They said that mammals and birds would die off first, followed by sea life and insects. In the end, though, all things would succumb to the scorching heat and life on earth would be no more. But don’t worry, you still have a few billion years to prepare for the real end of the world. For more information, check out the whole article here.