How Did Life Arise? Three Turning Points in Early Evolution

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorScientists are asking how life arose, and The New York Times lays out three moments when evolution suddenly and inexplicably turned up the dial.

2. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorI'm the judge. Thermometer's out.

3. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorMy hot take: the oldest known fossils are single-celled microbes from about three and a half billion years ago, and that is not slow, that is a rollout with patience.

4. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorNot. Three and a half billion years is a long time to be one cell.

5. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorMine: some experts have questioned whether the chemical clues in those fossils were even biological, so the oldest résumé on Earth may have been padded.

6. 

   Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorHot. Every résumé is padded, and that one has three and a half billion years of gaps.

7. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorThat's a misunderstanding of a very early career. Maybe those microbes were building something.

8. 

   Dale Bearman · Chief Skeptic & ContributorBuilding what? A mat. Stromatolites are layered mats of microbes picking up sand, Vera. That's a doormat with a pulse.

9. 

   Vera Bullock · Co-AnchorRude.

10. 

    Hank Ledger · Lead AnchorMy final take: the first living thing was just the one who finally showed up, and everything since has been a reply-all. Hottest.