The project combines scientists from a range of backgrounds, including geology, biology and physics, creating an interdisciplinary team working towards answering the fundamental question of when, where and how life was born on Earth.ĭiscovering the answer as to how the very first life began on Earth has long been a challenge for scientists. Professors Shigenori Maruyama, Ken Kurokawa and Dr Toshikazu Ebisuzaki are part of a team working on the Hadean Bioscience Project, mainly based at the Earth-Life Science Institute (Tokyo Institute of Technology). The earliest Earth was a ‘naked planet ’ the Hadean Bioscience colleagues describe it as having no ocean or atmosphere when it first formed. However, it is vital that scientists learn as much as possible about this time, as it is in these inhospitable and hellish conditions that the origin of life occurred.

The only records from between 4.6 and 4 billion years ago that remain are found in a hardy crystalline mineral called zircon. Geologists have long been studying the few remnants of this time recorded in rock in the hope of finding clues about the conditions on Earth. The word Hadean derives from the Greek god Hades who ruled the underworld, and is an apt analogy for the hellish environment. Geologists refer to this time, starting at Earth’s initial formation 4.6 billion years ago, as the Hadean eon.

Bombardment from asteroids and a hot inner core meant that the earliest environment on Earth was hostile, bare rock. Since its earliest accretionary phase, where gas and dust began to coalesce under the influence of gravity, it has been a dynamic planet. Its surface has undergone a long evolution, experiencing extreme changes over millions of years. The Hadean Bioscience Project has also produced a series of movies in cooperation with LiVE Company Ltd.’The whole history of the Earth and life’ is available on YouTube. By identifying a list of nine essential environmental requirements, they suggest that the most likely location for the birthplace of life is a nuclear geyser where material and energy regularly circulated. There have been many theories as to how life evolved, but Professors Shigenori Maruyama (ELSI, Tokyo Institute of Technology), Ken Kurokawa (National Institute of Genetics), and Dr Toshikazu Ebisuzaki (RIKEN) have found a way to narrow the field to a single likely theory. The origin of life on Earth has been a long-debated issue.

Origin and evolution of life pdf