EARTH AND LIFE SCIENCE

EVOLVING CONCEPT
OF LIFE BASED ON
EMERGING PIECES
OF EVIDENCE
INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SCIENCE
Biology is science that deals with all forms of life,
including their classification, physiology, chemistry, and
interactions. The term was introduced in Germany in
1800 and popularized by the French naturalist Jean-
Baptists de Lamarck as a means of encompassing the
growing number of disciplines involved with the study of
living forms. (starting from the molecular level up to
entire ecosystems)
Branches of Biology

Zoology Botany Microbiology Ecology

Life Science or Biological Science

This field advances our

knowledge about the
anatomy, cell biology
ecology, genetics,
molecular biology, and
physiology of all living
things.
Where did Life begin?

Life is believed to have existed on earth for billions of years

now. Scientists do not know exactly when did life begin on
Earth. However, they are able to trace how life developed and
evolved using some pieces of evidence.
Theories and Evidences on the Origin of Life
There are many theories about the origin of life. Some
believed that living organisms were put to Earth by some divine
forces. Others say that life did not originate from Earth but from
other planets. But among scientists, the most accepted theory is
that life came from inanimate matter.
Theories on the origin of life?

Theory of Special Creation – in

accordance with the Book of
Genesis, that every species was
individually created by GOD in the
form in which it exists today and is
not capable undergoing any
change. (It was given by Father Sudrez. God has
created life in six days from meteria prima and man was
created by him on sixth day.)
Cosmozoic Theory (Panspermia
Theory)
- given by Richter (1865), Helmholtz (1884), Arrhenius
(1908) suggested that life reached the earth from some
heavenly body through meteorites. Panspermia (primitive
form of life, as suggested by Arrhenius, (1908) consisted of
unit of life or seeds (sperms) and microbes that existed
throughout universe and produced different forms of life on
this earth. Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the oldest
rocks that have persisted in recognizable form are about 3.8
billion years old. For many years, scientists believed that
such ancient rocks did not contain any fossils, but they knew
that fossils were simply too small to be seen clearly without
an electron microscope. The oldest microfossils discovered
so far are that of cyanobacteria that appeared 3.3 to 3.5
billion years ago. Massive limestone deposits called
Stromatolites became frequent in the fossil record about 28
billion years ago.
Theory of Spontaneous Generation
also known as Abiogenesis
– the idea that life arose from nonlife
more than 3.5 billion years ago on
Earth. Abiogenesis proposes that the
first life-forms generated were very
simple and through a gradual process
became increasingly complex. In the
year 1668, an Italian physician,
named Francisco Redi conducted an
experiment to see if the theory was
true. He put a piece of meat (sliced of
veal in flasks, covered with muslin
cloth, and waited to see if maggots
would develop on the meat.
He discovered that maggots grew
only if the flies laid their eggs on it.
Lazaro Spallanzani, Louis Pasteur
and John Needham performed
similar experiments to prove that
the spontaneous generation theory
was wrong.
Spallanzani (1777) observed
that when meat juices were boiled
for three- quarters of an hour and
then sealed, no life developed.
Louis Pasteur (1860) –
devised a culture flask which
admitted through a curved tube
any bacteria contained in the
air and settled on their own
weight in the curve of the tube.
No life appeared in the flask.
John Needham –
The experiments consisted of
briefly boiling a broth mixture and
then cooling the mixture in an open
container to room temperature.
Later, the flasks would be sealed,
and microbes would grow a few
days later. Those experiments
seemed to show that there was a life
force that produced spontaneous
generation.
Biogenetic Theory – When the egg cell and the sperm
cell unite, they form a zygote. This
Ancient scientist knew from the zygote would then develop into an
common experience of farmers and organism. Microorganisms like
shepherds that life produced life, bacteria can give rise to many more
that each animal and plant produced bacteria.
its own kind. They saw that
earthworms grew out of tiny eggs
that had been laid by the other
worms.
The invention of the microscope
and advances in science made it
clear that living things created other
living things.
Abiogenetic Synthesis Miller – Urey hypothesis –
Theory The first hypothesis where
lightning could have operated the
- the idea that life arose from synthesis reactions in the Earth’s
nonlife more than 3.5 billion early atmosphere was tested by in
years ago on Earth. Abiogenesis 1953. It provided the first evidence
proposes that the first life-forms that organic molecules needed for
generated were very simple and life could be formed from inorganic
through a gradual process became components. Some scientists
increasingly complex. support the RNA world hypothesis,
which suggests that the first life
was self-replicating RNA.
 Stanley Miller and Harold Urey
recreated Earth’s early atmosphere
in a test tube.
Then they bombarded the
chemical mixture with ultraviolet
light and simulated lightning and
formed biological molecules.
*Miller sealed in a spark chamber a
mixture of water (H20), methane (CH4),
ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen gas (H2).
Fossil Evidence –
Fossil evidence indicates that
life on Earth appeared about
3.5 billion years ago in the
oceans
Provided protection from
ultraviolet (UV) rays
Allowed multidirectional
movement
Served as a medium for
essential chemical reactions
Anaerobic prokaryotes
Early forms of Life Cyanobacteria (blue green
The first forms of life are algae) – are the first
believed to have appeared some photosynthetic organisms to form.
3.5 billion years ago
Photosynthetic organisms are
organisms who make their own
food by utilizing the energy from
the sun and the carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere. The process of
photosynthesis produced more
oxygen that changed the Earth
early atmosphere, allowed
oxygen-breathing organisms to
exists.
Study Hard

The End