Japanese scientists discover the extraterrestrial origin of the diversity of life

Japanese scientists discover the extraterrestrial origin of the diversity of life
Japanese scientists discover the extraterrestrial origin of the diversity of life
Anonim

Japanese scientists led by Kentaro Terada, professor of the Department of Natural Sciences at Osaka University, discovered that the reason for the diversity of different life on Earth - a sharp increase in phosphorus content - is of extraterrestrial origin. Professor Terada told RIA Novosti about what happened on the planet 800 million years ago and how it is connected with the emergence of various types of living beings.

First, scientists, using data from the Japanese lunar satellite Kaguya, found that craters on the lunar surface appeared 800 million years ago after cosmic bodies up to ten kilometers in size - fragments of a large asteroid - collided with its surface in a limited period of time.

Scientists believe that the same thing happened at that time and on Earth - a total of about 40 trillion tons flew to the Moon and Earth 800 million years ago. But if on the Moon this led to the formation of craters, then on Earth, where the simplest forms of life already existed, this had much more serious consequences.

"If we compare the intensity with which the asteroids fell on the Moon and on the Earth, then on Earth this" asteroid shower "was 20 times stronger. In 2017, a group of scientists led by Christopher Reinhard pointed out that the sharp an increase in the concentration of phosphorus 750-800 million years ago in the sea and could stimulate the development of a variety of life on Earth. We know the quality and quantity of celestial bodies colliding with the Earth and it is also certain that a huge amount of phosphorus was brought into the ocean from extraterrestrial space. than ten times higher than that which was at that time in the ocean. We can confidently say that as a result of the marine environment has changed, "- said the professor.

He noted that even now we can partially observe a similar phenomenon - the so-called red tides - an excessive increase in plankton in the sea, caused by the enrichment of water with nutrients, its saturation with nutrients due to an increase in the content of nitrogen and phosphorus.

"Until now, it was generally accepted that there was little phosphorus in the ocean 700 million years ago, but there was a lot of it on land, and that 700-800 million years ago, due to weathering and volcanic activity, phosphorus entered the ocean and biological evolution took place. reproduction of algae. Photosynthesis stimulated the reduction of greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And this caused a major glaciation of the Earth, turning it into a “snowball.” We do not dispute this scenario. But we offer a new vision that the sharp increase in phosphorus in the oceans was extraterrestrial origin and was caused by the "asteroid shower" - says Professor Terada.

According to scientists, the abundance of celestial bodies that hit the Earth and brought phosphorus with them, "had an impact on biological evolution, although we can not speak with certainty about whether it was immediate."

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