You ’ve seen the world terminate with fire , earthquakes , and WTF in movies like 2012 and The Core . But to rule out about in truth hideous , plausible scenario you require to require a scientist . We talked to Cal Tech’sJoe Kirschvink , a geobiologist who studies the ancient history of life — and aggregate death . He gave us a nightmare scenario where one evolutionary shift in sea microbes leave behind human ineffective to breathe .
Kirshvink is an expert in one of the most dramatic transformations that ’s ever sway our satellite . You may not agnise this , but for almost 2 billion twelvemonth of the 4.5 billion year history of Earth , our planet ’s ambience was dominated by methane and other greenhouse gases . There was no loose oxygen , and therefore no lifespan as we know it could survive . But then , about 2.35 billion age ago , microbes called cyanobacteria — also known as blue - green algae — begin to grow complimentary oxygen as a by-product of the photosynthesis cognitive process . The alga did this by breaking apart urine molecules during their digestive process , justify the oxygen ( O ) from H2O ( pee ) .
As a event , these cyanobacteria poisoned the globe . At least , that ’s how it would have seemed to all the microbes around them , live as stromatolites , who breathed methane . short , all this O was in the melody and the stromatolites began to give way out . Eventually the atomic number 8 - based aura allowed liveliness as we get laid it ( including humans ) to evolve . Over the dead bodies of those methane - external respiration stromatolites .
So that ’s the backstory . The matter is , we really are n’t trusted what have the cyanobacteria to begin photosynthesizing and throwing off all that free oxygen in the first place . And there ’s no grounds such an evolutionary shift could n’t pass off again , with as fatal results for all life on Earth .
“ Here ’s my nightmare scenario , ” Kirschvink began . “ And it really is a incubus . It ’s chemically excessive . But I suppose the microbes living 2.35 billion year ago would have say the same thing about O . ” Warming to the topic , he spun out microbial destruction tale . “ Let ’s say that there ’s some damn diatom that pick up to grab a photon and take salt , ” he mused . Instead of grab a photon and taking H2O like the cynaobacteria , this microbe takes salt from the sea waters instead . Salt , if you return your basic alchemy , is NaCl , or sodium chloride . The diatom breaks this in one-half , leaving a atomic number 11 metallic element which Kirschvink says it could lay in in “ a footling organelle . ” And or else of releasing free O as a spin-off , this young diatom releases chlorine gun — a pernicious poisonous substance .
“ You have chlorine gas intoxication the atmosphere , ” Kirschvink resolve . “ It would do to us what oxygen did to those juicy stromatolites . ” Could such a scenario fare to pass ? “ It ’s just one small variety in the metabolic pathways ” of the diatom , Kirschvink noted . Of of course , there is no recognize evolutionary advantage to such a shimmy taking place . But then again , there is no known advantage to cyanobacteria developing a metabolism that fart out oxygen 2.35 billion years ago , either .
Next time you ’re look for a end of the world scenario , study the lowly diatom .
exposure of diatom by Darlyne Murawski , via National Geographic
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