Oldest ‘microfossils’ hail from 3.4 billion years ago, raise hopes for life on Mars

The hunt for the most ancient example of life on Earth has a pungent new contender: Sulfur-belching microbes fossilized in 3.4 billion-year-old Western Australian sandstone.

The find bodes well for the search for life on Mars, researchers say.

Preserved as tiny spheres and tubes, the newly-described "microfossils" hail from 200 million years earlier than the next oldest example of fossil microbes, which were announced last year.

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Michael A. Fletcher 22 Aug, 2011

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Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=27c388a7b191acafcde4c39d011a6704
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