NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

  1. Content with the tag: “early life

  2. Hydrogenase Active Sites and the Origin of Life


    Members of NAI’s Team at Montana State University have provided a Perspectives piece in Dalton Transactions reviewing the organo-metallic chemistry of the active sites of hydrogenase enzymes. Since hydrogen metabolism is presumed to be an early feature in the energetics of life, and hydrogen metabolizing organisms can be traced very early in molecular phylogeny, studying the metal clusters at hydrogenase active sites can reveal potential conditions in which early life arose. Efforts in this field also could have significant impacts on alternative and renewable energy solutions.

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  3. Oldest Evidence for Animals in the Fossil Record


    Detected through their molecular remains, fossils of early sponges have been observed in ancient rocks in Oman. The fossils occur in strata that underlie a cap carbonate dated at >635 million years ago. This discovery suggests that shallow waters contained dissolved oxygen in concentrations sufficient to support early animal life at least 100 million years before the Cambrian explosion. Members of NAI’s MIT team led the effort, and publish their findings in the current issue of Nature.

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