Month: September 2022

NOT NANOBACTERIA. “Nanobes are similar in size to nanobacteria, which are also structures that have been proposed to be extremely small living organisms. However, these two should not be confused. Nanobacteria are thought to be cellular organisms, while nanobes are hypothesized to be a previously unknown form of life or protocells.” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

THE SAME SIZE AS VIRUSES. “Nanobes are about 20 nm in diameter, which may be too small to contain the basic elements for an organism to exist (DNA, ribosomes, etc.), suggesting that if they grow and reproduce they would need to do so in an unconventional way.” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

SMALLEST CREATURES include mycoplasma, the smallest known bacteria (300 nm), and Nanoarchaeum—smallest known archaeum (400 nm), Parvovirus—smallest known viruses (18-28 nm), Prion—smallest known infectious agent (≈10 nm), Ultramicrobacteria—possible dormant forms of larger cells (200 nm).” https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

NANOBES IN METEORITE. “The Martian meteorite ALH84001, discovered in 1984 in the Antarctic, contained similar tubular structures which some astrobiologists suggested could be evidence of life at an earlier time on Mars.” Long live Fred Hoyle! https://lnkd.in/eckY5qA View in LinkedIn

NANOBE CONTROVERSY. "Martian meteorites such as ALH84001 have been speculated to contain trace fossils of nanobacteria. The softball-sized igneous meteorite shows microscopic worm-like and "ovid" nanofossils." https://lnkd.in/dBbSDUB View in LinkedIn

UNCONFIRMED RESULT. "She and her research team are hesitant to term their nanobes "nanobacteria" until they are more certain of their evolutionary history and their general nature. She and her team have recently performed molecular analyses of these nanobes and found evidence for the presence of DNA." https://lnkd.in/dBbSDUB View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE continues on the theme of the Great Unconformity (an unfortunate name). A contributor to why this massively important topic has been so overlooked and poorly assimilated is that it has been buried in badly written arcane writings and published mostly in esoteric journals. Ask a biologist what it is and you probably get a blank stare. However, this topic is very important for all the natural sciences. View in LinkedIn

WHY THIS IS NOT WELL KNOWN. “We show that the extent of Phanerozoic sedimentation in shallow continental seas can be accurately reproduced by modeling the accommodation space produced by the proposed glacial erosion, underlining the importance of glaciation as a means for lowering erosional base level. These results provide constraints on the sedimentary and geochemical environment in which the first multicellular animals evolved and diversified in the “Cambrian explosion” following the unconformity.” https://lnkd.in/d6fatHN View in LinkedIn

ELUSIVE EXPLANATIONS. “The Great Unconformity, a profound gap in Earth’s stratigraphic record often evident below the base of the Cambrian system, has remained among the most enigmatic field observations in Earth science for over a century. While long associated directly or indirectly with the occurrence of the earliest complex animal fossils, a conclusive explanation for the formation and global extent of the Great Unconformity has remained elusive.” https://lnkd.in/d6fatHN View in LinkedIn

SUPPORTING DATA. “Here we show that the Great Unconformity is associated with a set of large global oxygen and hafnium isotope excursions in magmatic zircon that suggest a late Neoproterozoic crustal erosion and sediment subduction event of unprecedented scale. These excursions, the Great Unconformity, preservational irregularities in the terrestrial bolide impact record, and the first-order pattern of Phanerozoic sedimentation can together be explained by spatially heterogeneous Neoproterozoic glacial erosion totaling a global average of 3–5 vertical kilometers, along with the subsequent thermal and isostatic consequences of this erosion for global continental freeboard.” https://lnkd.in/d6fatHN View in LinkedIn