Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils

Front Cover
Princeton University Press, Apr 9, 2001 - Science - 384 pages

One of the greatest mysteries in reconstructing the history of life on Earth has been the apparent absence of fossils dating back more than 550 million years. We have long known that fossils of sophisticated marine life-forms existed at the dawn of the Cambrian Period, but until recently scientists had found no traces of Precambrian fossils. The quest to find such traces began in earnest in the mid-1960s and culminated in one dramatic moment in 1993 when William Schopf identified fossilized microorganisms three and a half billion years old. This startling find opened up a vast period of time--some eighty-five percent of Earth's history--to new research and new ideas about life's beginnings. In this book, William Schopf, a pioneer of modern paleobiology, tells for the first time the exciting and fascinating story of the origins and earliest evolution of life and how that story has been unearthed.

Gracefully blending his personal story of discovery with the basics needed to understand the astonishing science he describes, Schopf has produced an introduction to paleobiology for the interested reader as well as a primer for beginning students in the field. He considers such questions as how did primitive bacteria, pond scum, evolve into the complex life-forms found at the beginning of the Cambrian Period? How do scientists identify ancient microbes and what do these tiny creatures tell us about the environment of the early Earth? (And, in a related chapter, Schopf discusses his role in the controversy that swirls around recent claims of fossils in the famed meteorite from Mars.) Like all great teachers, Schopf teaches the non-specialist enough about his subject along the way that we can easily follow his descriptions of the geology, biology, and chemistry behind these discoveries. Anyone interested in the intriguing questions of the origins of life on Earth and how those origins have been discovered will find this story the best place to start.

 

Contents

Darwins Dilemma
3
The Nature of Geologic Time
4
The Schoolbook History of Life
10
Darwins Dilemma
13
Denouement
34
Birth of a New Field of Science
35
Famous Figures Enter the Field
48
A Youngster Joins the Fray
52
Earths First HighRise Condos
178
Stromatolites of the Geologic Past
189
What Are Stromatolites Good For?
195
Cyanobacteria Earths Oldest Living Fossils
208
The Status Quo Evolution of Cyanobacteria
209
Evolutions Most Successful Ecologic Generalists
225
Cells Like Ours Arise at Last
230
Keys to Eukaryotic Success
231

The Floodgates Open Full Bore
61
The Oldest Fossils and What They Mean
71
Questions and Answers about the Oldest Records of Life
75
The Oldest Fossils Known
93
How Did Life Begin?
95
The Universals of Life
101
How Did Mononers of CHON Arise on the Lifeless Earth?
102
Organic Monomers beyond the Earth
125
How Did Monomers Become Linked into Polymers?
128
From Monomers to Polymers toward Life
132
Metabolic Memories of the Earliest Cells
133
The Essentials of Life
137
Lifes Earliest Way to Make a Living
144
A New Source of Glucose
149
Why Do We Breathe Oxygen?
152
The FourStage Development of Modern Metabolism
155
So Far So Fast So Early?
158
When Did Life Begin?
160
How Did Evolution Proceed So Far So Fast So Early?
162
Fossils Geology and Geochemistry
163
Isotopic Evidence of Ancient Metabolisms
167
Direct Evidence of Early Evolution
175
Stromatolites Earths First HighRise Condos
177
How Old Are the Eukaryotes?
234
Eukaryotes Perfect the Art of Cloning
237
A New Lifestyle Brings Major Change
240
The Wax and Wane of Precambrian Acritarchs
246
Prelude to the Phanerozoic
253
Solution to Darwins Dilemma
258
TakeHome Lessons
263
EXTRAORDINARY CLAIMS EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE?
273
Fossils Foibles and Frauds
275
Man a Witness of the Deluge
276
Beringers Lying Stones
285
Theories on the Nature of Fossils
293
Unearthing a Rosetta Stone
297
The Hunt for Life on Mars
298
NASA Stages a Press Conference
300
Meteorites from Mars
304
Search for the Smoking Gun
307
Lessons from the Hunt
318
Glossary
321
Further Reading
343
Index of Geologic Units and Genera and Species
351
Subject Index
355
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About the author (2001)

J. William Schopf, a member of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences, the Molecular Biology Institute, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the University of California, Los Angeles, is Professor of Paleobiology and Director of the IGPP Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life. A Member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he is the recipient of medals from the National Science Board, the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life. He has also been awarded national book prizes for two edited volumes on life's earliest evolution, an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Prize, and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

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