Oldest Fossils on Earth: Microbe Mats Called a Doormat With a Pulse

Transcript

What BBN said on air in this cut. Comedy, with fictional anchors.

1. 

   Hank LedgerScientists 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 LedgerI'm the judge. Thermometer's out.

3. 

   Vera BullockMy 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 LedgerNot. Three and a half billion years is a long time to be one cell.

5. 

   Dale BearmanMine: 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 LedgerHot. Every résumé is padded, and that one has three and a half billion years of gaps.

7. 

   Vera BullockThat's a misunderstanding of a very early career. Maybe those microbes were building something.

8. 

   Dale BearmanBuilding what? A mat. Stromatolites are layered mats of microbes picking up sand, Vera. That's a doormat with a pulse.

9. 

   Vera BullockRude.