ROCKS THAT TALK

摘要

After analyzing thin slices of a rock similar to this one (center), Dominic Papineau and Matthew Dodd concluded that they contained evidence of early life. If the researchers are right, the dark blob in the left close-up once sheltered bacteria. The tubes in the middle image, they believe, formed as the bacteria extruded waste. At right, rings of white carbonate and dove-gray quartz form a hematite-flecked rosette-a shape that arises as biological materials rot, Papineau says.