Scientists discover the chance meeting 1.9bn years ago that led to the eruption of life on Earth

A chance encounter about 1.9 billion years ago, led to life on Earth, say scientists.

New research finds that an amoeba-like organism engulfed a bacterium that had developed the power to use sunlight to break down water to make oxygen.

The bacterium could have been intended as prey, but instead became incorporated into its attacker's body, transforming it into the ancestor of every tree, flowering plant and seaweed on Earth today

Paul Falkowski, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Rutgers University in New Jersey says that this single event transformed evolution of life on Earth.

"The descendants of that tiny organism transformed our atmosphere, filling it with the oxygen needed for animals and, eventually humans to evolve."

It was previously believed that such organisms existed on Earth, but the nature of the event has only become clear now, from studies of chloroplasts - which absorb sunlight and use its energy to generate nutrients and oxygen.

"It is an astonishing thought that a single random encounter between two tiny cells so long ago could have had such a huge consequence," said Falkowski.

Nick Lane, a researcher at University College London and author of Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World, said this information had been emerging. He said, "Oxygen energises all life, and makes it big."

"Nothing else can provide the energy needed to fuel the demands of multicellular organism. True photosynthesis evolved only once, and the chance encounter that gave rise to plants also happened just once. These were two freak accidents in the 3.5 billion-year history of life on Earth."

Shake a tail-feather: Scientists reveal the pigeon-sized dinosaur that is birds' earliest ancestor

A strange pigeon-sized dinosaur that roamed the planet more than 150 million years ago was the oldest known relative of birds, say scientists.

The new species 'Epidexipteryx hui' had large teeth that could rip prey apart and a strange anatomy including long, ribbon-like tail feathers - suggesting the plumage was purely ornamental rather than for flight.
Like the flamboyant peacock, Epidexipteryx may have displayed its tail plumage to attract mates

Dr Fucheng Zhang, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said: 'The feathers could potentially have played a role in displays intended to attract a mate, scare off a rival, or send a warning signal to other individuals of the same species.

'This is very exciting indeed, since it gives us a window into a stage of avian history just preceding the appearance of the classic "first bird".'

Its remains were uncovered by farmers from the hills of Inner Mongolia, China, almost a year ago and date back 152 to 168 million years - making the creature slightly older than Archaeopteryx, the most primitive bird yet discovered.

Epidexipteryx is a theropod, a group of two legged animals that includes the
Tyrannosaurus rex. The creature had a mixture of bird-like and dinosaur features. Its body was covered in feathers and part of its skeleton resembled those of present day birds, but it had teeth rather than a beak which were much larger at the front of the jaws.'
Dr Zhang, who describes the creature in Nature, said: 'It is typical for different parts of the body to evolve at different rates, so that some bits end up looking very specialized whereas others remain primitive.'

Epidexipteryx lived in the middle to late Jurassic period in a lush, well vegetated area that was rich in salamanders and other possible prey.

Dr Zhang said: 'One can certainly imagine the teeth being used to snatch at small prey such as lizards, small mammals or even insects.'