{"id":52408,"date":"2017-08-03T10:10:57","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T08:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/ku-forskere-bestemmer-jordens-aeldste-liv\/"},"modified":"2023-08-04T08:57:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T06:57:43","slug":"ucph-scientists-confirm-the-oldest-life-on-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ucph-scientists-confirm-the-oldest-life-on-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"UCPH scientists confirm the oldest life on earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

If researchers find small traces of carbon in a 3.7 billion year-old piece of \u00a0garnet<\/secret>\u00a0from Greenland, then is this also scientific proof of early life they have found? Or has the sample just been contaminated at a later date?<\/p>\n

\n

The article in Nature is in a shortened pdf version here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An article in the highly regarded scientific journal Nature<\/em> confirms that the traces of the world’s oldest known life are legitimate. The two scientists are \u00a0associate professor Tue Hassenkam<\/secret> of the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and professor Minik Rosing<\/secret> of the Natural History Museum, also UCPH.<\/p>\n

“We now have several sets of independent evidence that make the claim<\/secret> much stronger,” says Tue Hassenkam.<\/p>\n

With the latest Nature publication, the two researchers move closer to a final recognition in scientific circles of Minik Rosing’s original findings, which date back to the 00’s.<\/p>\n

New method sees everything<\/h2>\n

The two researchers have applied a new method that combines two known techniques.<\/p>\n

One technique is called AFM<\/secret>. AFM is a mechanical technique to measure contours on surfaces that is 1,000 times better than an optical microscope and uses a very sharp nano-scale needle to form 3D images of surfaces \u2013 right down to the scale of atoms.<\/p>\n

The other technique is called infrared spectroscopy that irradiates a sample of infrared light within several wavelengths. It heats the particles in a given sample in different ways, and the pointed needle detects how they react according to their different chemical bonds. This also makes it possible to determine which elements are in a material.<\/p>\n

New apparatus confirmed 1999 theory<\/h2>\n

Tue Hassenkam recently got the device<\/secret> at his disposal in the laboratory so he can combine the two techniques, giving a picture of both surface structure and chemical structure in one sample.<\/p>\n

In 1999, Minik Rosing put forward a controversial theory that, based on analyses of ancient rock at Isua in Western Greenland, there were traces of life in them. This meant that life on Earth began several hundred million years earlier than previously assumed, and this theory helped make Minik Rosing world famous.<\/p>\n

No DNA left<\/h2>\n

Tue Hassenkam now has, in collaboration with Minik Rosing, and with the help of NanoIR2, been able to prove the results in Nature, and which support Minik Rosing’s theory.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/picture>The two researchers emphasize that it is not possible to find traces of DNA or protein in samples as old as this. It cannot survive the violent underground forces of 3.7 billion years.<\/p>\n

The picture shows an encapsuled gemstone. The black grooves that cross the bright garnet are leftovers of life trapped and isolated inside the garnet. Photo: Mini Rosing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Time, pressure and temperature in the gemstone have completely broken down DNA and proteins, but something is left, and with the new method they have proven that they originate from living organisms, probably bacteria.<\/p>\n

Window to the past<\/h2>\n

In this way, the gems of Isua are like a window showing the life of past ages.<\/p>\n

“We can analyze the residues of carbon while it is still in the gemstone. Here we can show that the elements of nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus are still connected to the carbon, and they are precisely connected as expected if the source material was biological molecules that had been \u2018pressure-boiled\u2019 inside the precious stones of granit through millions of years,” says Tue Hassenkam, according to a press release<\/a> from the Museum of Natural History at UCPH.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two UCPH researchers confirm in an article in Nature that there are traces of life in the world’s oldest rocks. The rocks are in Greenland and are 3.7 billion years old. The two have used a completely new method.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":52367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[330,251,515,706],"class_list":["post-52408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-forskning-en","tag-natural-history-museum-of-denmark","tag-nature-en","tag-statens-naturhistoriske-museum-en","expression-news_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nUCPH scientists confirm the oldest life on earth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ucph-scientists-confirm-the-oldest-life-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCPH scientists confirm the oldest life on earth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Two UCPH researchers confirm in an article in Nature that there are traces of life in the world's oldest rocks. The rocks are in Greenland and are 3.7 billion years old. The two have used a completely new method.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ucph-scientists-confirm-the-oldest-life-on-earth\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-03T08:10:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-04T06:57:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/istock523462589.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1183\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"887\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anders Fjeldberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta 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billion year-old garnet rocks from southwest Greenland have been studied meticulously by Associate Professor Tue Hassenkam from the Nano-Science Center and Professor Minik Rosing from the Natural History Museum. Their conclusion: There is life."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Scientific breakthrough","text":"Med en artikel i Nature bekr\u00e6fter to KU-forskere, at der er spor af liv i verdens \u00e6ldste klipper, der er gr\u00f8nlandske og 3,7 mia. \u00e5r gamle. De to har benyttet en helt ny metode i deres arbejde.","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":true,"contributors":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>If researchers find small traces of carbon in a 3.7 billion year-old piece of \u00a0<secret text=\"A kind of mineral used as gemstone\">garnet<\/secret>\u00a0from Greenland, then is this also scientific proof of early life they have found? Or has the sample just been contaminated at a later date?<\/p>\n<div class=\"factbox\">\n<p>The article in Nature is in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/nature23261.epdf?author_access_token=rpuJCZjXiMgXh2SEENSBHdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PrpsfOJ77yk43oT2bvJVeq0jrxufiqe6DDeJ-t7RvEU3nwwAU8ucqHRUeuMHLSyQpy73AyaHrSxsG1ubOcnHVD\">shortened pdf version here.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>An article in the highly regarded scientific journal <em>Nature<\/em> confirms that the traces of the world’s oldest known life are legitimate. The two scientists are \u00a0<secret url=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/tueei4915jpg-290x180.jpg\" text=\"Carsten Seidel\">associate professor Tue Hassenkam<\/secret> of the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and <secret url=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/minik-290x180.jpg\" text=\"GEUS\">professor Minik Rosing<\/secret> of the Natural History Museum, also UCPH.<\/p>\n<p>“We now have several sets of independent evidence that make <secret text=\"The samples of garnet come from Minik Rosing, who found them in the rock that turned out to be the world's oldest rock formations, and which are in Southwest Greenland, near Isua. 3,7 billion years ago they were rock at the bottom of an early ocean.\">the claim<\/secret> much stronger,” says Tue Hassenkam.<\/p>\n<p>With the latest Nature publication, the two researchers move closer to a final recognition in scientific circles of Minik Rosing’s original findings, which date back to the 00’s.<\/p>\n<h2>New method sees everything<\/h2>\n<p>The two researchers have applied a new method that combines two known techniques.<\/p>\n<p>One technique is called <secret text=\"Atomic Force Microscopy\">AFM<\/secret>. AFM is a mechanical technique to measure contours on surfaces that is 1,000 times better than an optical microscope and uses a very sharp nano-scale needle to form 3D images of surfaces \u2013 right down to the scale of atoms.<\/p>\n<p>The other technique is called infrared spectroscopy that irradiates a sample of infrared light within several wavelengths. It heats the particles in a given sample in different ways, and the pointed needle detects how they react according to their different chemical bonds. This also makes it possible to determine which elements are in a material.<\/p>\n<h2>New apparatus confirmed 1999 theory<\/h2>\n<p>Tue Hassenkam recently got the <secret text=\"Called a NanoIR2.\">device<\/secret> at his disposal in the laboratory so he can combine the two techniques, giving a picture of both surface structure and chemical structure in one sample.<\/p>\n<p>In 1999, Minik Rosing put forward a controversial theory that, based on analyses of ancient rock at Isua in Western Greenland, there were traces of life in them. This meant that life on Earth began several hundred million years earlier than previously assumed, and this theory helped make Minik Rosing world famous.<\/p>\n<h2>No DNA left<\/h2>\n<p>Tue Hassenkam now has, in collaboration with Minik Rosing, and with the help of NanoIR2, been able to prove the results in Nature, and which support Minik Rosing’s theory.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"700\" height=\"525\" class=\"alignnone size-narrow wp-image-52292\" src=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg-700x525.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg-700x525.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg-480x360.jpg 480w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg-290x218.jpg 290w, https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/foto4jpg.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>The two researchers emphasize that it is not possible to find traces of DNA or protein in samples as old as this. It cannot survive the violent underground forces of 3.7 billion years.<\/p>\n<p><em>The picture shows an encapsuled gemstone. The black grooves that cross the bright garnet are leftovers of life trapped and isolated inside the garnet. Photo: Mini Rosing.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Time, pressure and temperature in the gemstone have completely broken down DNA and proteins, but something is left, and with the new method they have proven that they originate from living organisms, probably bacteria.<\/p>\n<h2>Window to the past<\/h2>\n<p>In this way, the gems of Isua are like a window showing the life of past ages.<\/p>\n<p>“We can analyze the residues of carbon while it is still in the gemstone. Here we can show that the elements of nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorus are still connected to the carbon, and they are precisely connected as expected if the source material was biological molecules that had been \u2018pressure-boiled\u2019 inside the precious stones of granit through millions of years,” says Tue Hassenkam, according to a <a href=\"http:\/\/snm.ku.dk\/SNMnyheder\/alle_nyheder\/2017\/2017.7\/aeldste-spor-af-liv-indkapslet-i-groenlandske-aedelsten\/\">press release<\/a> from the Museum of Natural History at UCPH.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Banner","img":false,"url":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}],"article_updated":""},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":46,"name":"Science","slug":"science","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":46,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":831,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":330,"name":"forskning","slug":"forskning-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":330,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":10,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":251,"name":"Natural History Museum of Denmark","slug":"natural-history-museum-of-denmark","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":251,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":14,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":515,"name":"Nature","slug":"nature-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":515,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":706,"name":"Statens Naturhistoriske Museum","slug":"statens-naturhistoriske-museum-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":706,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":15,"name":"News Article","slug":"news_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":11489,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[{"term_id":5468,"name":"Optional","slug":"optional-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5468,"taxonomy":"translation_priority","description":"","parent":0,"count":672,"filter":"raw"}]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/istock523462589.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52408"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153354,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52408\/revisions\/153354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}