[Ian Smith son]

Researchers have found evidence in Western Australia that Earth may be 300 million years older than we thought.

That is the conclusion from a team of geochemists at UCLA and Stanford University who found evidence that life likely existed on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago and may have begun shortly after the

planet formed 4.54 billion years ago.

“Twenty years ago, this would have been heretical; finding evidence of life 3.8 billion years ago was shocking,” said Mark Harrison, professor of geochemistry at UCLA and the co-author of the research

published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Life on Earth may have started almost instantaneously,” he said in a statement. “With the right ingredients, life seems to form very quickly.”

Earth may be much older than we thought, scientists say | Fox News

Confirmed: Oldest fragment of early Earth is 4.4 billion years old | Fox News