The discovery of the 3.7 billion-year-old fossil pushes back earliest life on Earth by 220 million years, raising chances that Mars once had life, when both planets were similar.

Alister Doyle Rueters 8-30-16

OSLO, Aug 31 - The earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth has been found in rocks 3.7 billion years old in Greenland, raising chances of life on Mars aeons ago when both planets were similarly desolate, scientists said on Wednesday....

“This indicates the Earth was no longer some sort of hell 3.7 billion years ago,” lead author Allen Nutman, of the University of Wollongong, told Reuters of the findings that were published in the journal Nature.

“It was a place where life could flourish.” ...
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