THERE are many sound scientific reasons to go back to the moon, but there is one that I believe deserves more attention: to go fossil hunting.
It sounds like a non-starter. The moon is lifeless, always has been and probably always will be. But that very deadness makes it enormously important, both to those searching for clues to how life got started on Earth, and also on other planets. It's possible that the moon's surface holds an unprecedented fossil record of life on Earth and from around our solar system.
Here on Earth, the oldest unambiguous evidence for life dates back to 3.5 billion years ago. There is more tenuous evidence that life existed as long as 3.8 billion years ago, but this is based on controversial interpretations of rock chemistry rather than fossils of life itself. Either way, life on Earth seems very ancient indeed - until you consider ...
20:00 03 July 2008
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