Life before oxygen: Fossils of 2.5 billion-year-old bacteria reveal organisms thrived despite early Earth’s harsh conditions

This is a direct copy of a SciPop or news article preserved here because things on the internet have a bad habit of disappearing when you try to find them again. Full credit is given to the original authors and the source.

– Matty
  • Geologists found large spherical fossils thought to be from microbial life
  • Microbes lived in the ocean depths before Earth’s oxygen-rich atmosphere
  • Researchers claim they are the oldest bacteria of their kind to be found
  • It is thought they got energy from sulfur compounds seeping out from the Earth’s crust, similar to bacteria found at hydrothermal vents today
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