Oops! Oldest Evidence of Life Turns Out To Be Iron Deposits

So this little story comes as quite a shock to many, but a complete embarrassment to quite a few.

Once thought to have been 3.5 billion year old fossils of bacteria in Australian rock, has no been discovered as nothing more than a few insensible minerals. Oh yes, quite a few researchers had to hide their faces in shame on this one, but pretty much no one will be able to live this one down.

A fossil (not the one mentioned in this article)

This discovery came from a team of people at the University of Kansas. By taking a closer look at the Australian rock, it was discovered that there was no presence of the oxygen-producing cyanobacteria, but that it was only iron minerals.

Researcher Allison Marshall stated that she went into the study thinking that these were actually microfossils and that many people in the scientific community believed it as well. It was very hard for many to believe that this discover would have gone unnoticed, but it did. Many asked the question; why did it take so long to figure this truth out? But many did not have answer.

This was basically a life lesson on believing what you find in the data, not going by what someone has told you to be the truth. While many went along with the belief that this was actually the oldest form of evidential life, there were a few who just didn’t settle for what everyone else thought to be true.

This particular team of scientists has suggested that it is better to take a closer look at the findings of microfossils. Do not settle on the first thing you see, but look closer into what you see. You should raise questions and never stop looking for the right answer. You never know what truths you can eventually find.