LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor)

This is exciting news. A close approximation of the origin of life on Earth and AI assisted protein folding that may have solved the protein folding problem !
This is exciting news.

Have a peek a this video

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LUCA researchers need to test the South African rock to answer the question if life began on earth or came from outer space.

Microorganisms have been found living in tiny cracks within a 2-billion-year-old rock in South Africa, making this the oldest known rock to host life. The discovery could offer new insights into the origins of life on Earth and may even guide the search for life beyond our planet.

Did you see the entire video? Note that LUCA is 2 billion years older than that rock.

The work suggested that LUCA was a surprisingly complex cell and dated LUCA to some 4.2 billion years ago — earlier than researchers had thought.

Yes, I saw that. The question of if there was one universal common ancestor, why could there not have been more? We need more data. Fossils show bacteria 3.5B. But finding live bacteria is a home run. 2 B is still a great find.

Astrobiologists said these real-life microbes closely resemble what they imagine might be lurking beneath the dry, barren surface of Mars or the thick glaciers of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

[quote=“mikeyohe, post:4, topic:11304, full:true”]
Yes, I saw that. The question of if there was one universal common ancestor, why could there not have been more? We need more data. Fossils show bacteria 3.5B. But finding live bacteria is a home run. 2 B is still a great find.

I agree and according to Hazen, it is quite possible that life may have originated several times. in several places including in space. The Earth is not a very special planet with extraordinary properties for abiogenesis. There should be many planets that equal Earth in spatial and mineral resources. And that’s where natural selection becomes a player. But life, in different forms, seems to be able to adapt to a variety of extreme environments.

The moment life originates it is tested by the environment for survivability and procreation. This can be seen by the various ancestral humans such as the Neanderthals, who did not survive the test of natural selection, but did leave genetic traces in modern humans

Astrobiologists said these real-life microbes closely resemble what they imagine might be lurking beneath the dry, barren surface of Mars or the thick glaciers of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

Sure, why not?
If life is a natural extension of the laws of dynamics, then they apply equally throughout the universe.

From Copilot:

The laws of dynamics include:

  1. Balancing forces
  2. Forces and acceleration
  3. Kinetic and potential energy
  4. Quantity of movement
  5. Angular momentum1. These laws are the foundation of dynamics and apply universally2.
    (the “blue” numbers are links to reference sources.)

The same criteria for abiogenesis apply to all planets in space.

Earth

Space

The same laws of dynamics apply throughout the universe.

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