Life on Earth likely started at least 4.1 billion years ago
Research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science by EPSS postdoc Beth Ann Bell, graduate student Patrick Boehnke, and Professor T. Mark Harrison, along with Stanford geophysicist Wendy Mao, provides evidence suggesting the existence of life on Earth before 4.1Ga. Their article " Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon" is garnering much attention from national and international news agencies*. A UCLA press release can be found here and the link to the PNAS article is here. Congratulations, Beth Ann, Patrick, and Mark.