Researchers say that diamond fragments from the dawn of time may contain evidence that life began on Earth as early as 4.25 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the planet came into existence–although they also say that their findings aren’t conclusive and that they may well be wrong.
Studying anything about the ancient earth is extremely difficult. Rocks that formed four billion years ago will long since have been beat up, metamorphosed, or melted [Nobel Intent blog, Ars Technica]. Researchers got around that problem by studying microscopic diamond pieces inside zircon crystals, which are themselves the tough remnants of ancient rocks that have long since disappeared. “We don’t have the rocks. These zircons are just little fragments of something that was broken up, weathered and redeposited as sediments,” explained [coauthor Martin] Whitehouse [BBC News].
