Re: Biological Origin of Earliest Fossils Substantiated

[Gautam Majumdar <gautam@freeuk.com>]

In message 
<Pine.GSO.4.10.10203141919030.22054-100000@asuwlink.uwyo.edu>, Richard W 
Travsky <rtravsky@uwyo.edu> writes
> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/03/020313080230.htm
>
> UCLA paleobiologist J. William Schopf and colleagues have substantiated
> the biological origin of the earliest known cellular fossils, which are
> 3.5 billion years old. The research is published in the March 7 issue of
> the journal Nature. Schopf and a team of scientists at the University of
> Alabama, Birmingham have devised a new technique using a unique
> laser-Raman imaging system that enables them to look inside of rocks and
> determine what they are made of, providing a molecular map.
[Snipped the rest of the article]

This claim has been disputed in the same issue of Nature. See:

Brasier M D, Green O R, Jephcoat A P, Kleppe A K, Van Kranendonk M J, 
Lindsay J F, Steele A, Grassineau N V, Questioning the evidence for 
Earth's oldest fossils, Nature 2002; 416: 76-81

Also : Gee H, That's life?, Nature 2002; 416: 28

--
Gautam Majumdar