Origin of Life: Discovery of Lava Being a Building Block of Life Hints 'Humans Have Volcanic Origins' [Study]

Life as we know consists of a complex hierarchical structure and groups defined in the taxonomic database. Despite biodiversity, ranging from animals to plants and microorganisms, the origin of life remains a mystery in the field of biology and science as a whole. Various theories have explained where we came from. However, scientists can only look at potential clues from the past.

The origin of life on Earth has been considered by scientists as an unsolved puzzle due to a simple fact; no one has been around to document it. Yet, there is growing evidence that many, not few, factors paved the way for the emergence and evolution of life.

A study earlier this month revealed that humans may have "volcanic origins" following the discovery of lava as a building block of life.

Volcanic Origins of Humans

In the study published in the journal Life on April 11, researchers from the University of Cambridge in England assert that, among the many building blocks of life, humans may have volcanic origins. This theory comes after the key ingredients of life such as nitriles and isonitriles were linked as emerging from graphite-rich volcanic vents during the newly formed Earth approximately 4.3 billion years ago.

Scientists called this timeline the Hadean eon, Earth's earliest period in history, and they believe that an object of a similar size to the Moon struck our planet, causing the space object's iron to react with water.

According to Oliver Shorttle, a professor at Cambridge and co-author of the research paper, the Moon-sized object deposited large amounts of iron and other metals to early Earth.

Following these impacts, ancient magma rose from the Earth's crust filled with graphite and resulted in significant quantities of nitriles and isonitriles, which are relevant for prebiotic chemistry. This phenomenon suggests that lava could also be a building block of life for ancient microbes, which turned out to our first ancestors.

The volcanic origins discovery of life as presented in the April 2024 study does not exclude other proven building blocks of life like carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur.

Origin of Life Mystery

According to scientists the exact origins of life cannot be determined chronologically or dated precisely. However, they pointed out that there is evidence of bacteria-like organisms that lived on Earth 3.5 billion years ago and may have existed earlier. Other research in recent years has shown that the earliest forms of microbial life lived on ancient Earth almost 4 billion years ago.

There are various standpoints in which scientists view the origin of life. Some of them include the information theory, RNA replication theory, and meteorite impact theory. Regardless of the approach, the common denominator for the building blocks of life are the chemicals, environmental, and climatic conditions present at a time when Earth's environment was hostile to life.