Life was on earth even

4 billion years ago

PERTH, Australia: Life had a foothold on earth up to four billion years ago, about half a billion years earlier than previously thought scientists believe after studying fossils found in the north-east of Western Australia, reports AFP.

The senior curator of Invertebrate palaeontology at the Western Australian Museum, Ken Mcnamara, said Tuesday the bacteria fossils had been found near the small town of Marble Bar by an American palaeobiologist Bill Schope, of the Centre for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life at the University of California.

The fossils had been dated at almost 3.5 billion years old, he said. The implication Is that not only was life present 3.5 billion years ago,’ but it was already diverse by then," he said.

The bacteria must have evolved over quite a long time before then, towards about four billion years."

He said the microscopic bacteria pioneered photosynthesis — the production of oxygen by converting organic chemicals and carbon dioxide to energy by using sunlight.

It wa8 this ability which gave rise to plants, animals, and much later, humans.

The find had pointed to the likelihood that life evolved more quickly than previously thought after the earth was formed about 4.6 billion years ago, Mcnamara said.

Uncle didn't eat any of it

YAOUNDE, Cameroon: A man's attempt to poison his uncle following a family row left 15 people dead and 12 hospitalized in serious condition, a state newspaper reported, says AP.

Pierre Wazan, a 24-year-old teacher, was arrested on charges of murder, the Cameroon Tribune said Monday.

After an argulnertt With his uhcle. Wazan put rat poison into a peanut sauce his aunt was preparing Saturday in the northern Mlndil area of this central African nation, police said.

But his aunt used the sauce, a common base for African dishes, to prepare food she sold at an outdoor market. The uncle didn't eat any of it.

Fifteen people died the same day of poisoning and 12 were hospitalized in serious condition, the newspaper said.

It’s due to defective material

MANILA: The government will stop Issuing passports for at least two weeks because of defective plastic material used in the travel documents, an official said Tuesday , reports AP.

The move triggered an uproar among applicants, many of whom are applying for Jobs in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the United States. An average of 5,000 passport applications are filed daily In Manila, said Alex Chua, director of the Foreign Affairs Office s passport department.

Chua said defects were found in lamination materials Imported from France for use in the passports.

"We are asking the public's understanding," Chua said. "We did not expect anything like this to happen. We are doing our best to solve this."

Fish, tadpoles aboard shuttle flight dying

SPACE CENTER, Houston: Some of Columbia's hundreds of tiny fish and tadpoles are dying, more than a week into the 10-day shuttle flight, reports AP.

The exact number of the 240 larval fish and 240 tadpoles aboard that have perished is unknown, scientists said.

Earlier In the US-German research flight, many of the fish were seen swimming furiously In loops. Scientists hope some survive so they can be examined on Earth to see how they adapted to weightlessness.

"It's a pity," said Walter Brungs, a German payload official on the ground. He said the animals might have hurt themselves with the vigorous swimming.

"And If one is sick, then all the others (In the same tank) will die later on," he said.

The seven astronauts — Including two Germans — are scheduled to return to Earth on Thursday.

, Early Tuesday. German astronaut Hans Schlegel and American crewmate Bernard Harris Jr took turns breathing hard Into a tube for a lung-monitoring test. The two puffed Into the pipe while at rest and while pedalling an exercise bike.

Scientists are researching how human lungs function 1n weightlessness.