8.4 Life on Earth

History of Life - brief notes on Origins of the Earth and Life, Precambrian Life, Paleozoic Life and Mesozoic Life from San Francisco State University

Introduction to Exobiology - from Duke University including Miller/Urey Experiments and Possible Sites for the Origin of Life

Astrobiology and the Origins of Life - from Access Excellence

The Tree of Life Web Project - a collaborative web project, including the Life on Earth (Archaea)

Scientists find clues that the path leading to the origin of life begins in deep space - an article on research findings from NASA

The Emergence of Cells During the Origin of Life - prize winning essay, from AAAS Science Magazine

NASA Astrobiology Institute - from NASA

Fingerprints of Life - classroom activity from NASA JSC Astrobiology Education

What is Astrobiology? - from NASA JSC Astrobiology Education

How Did It All Begin? The Self-Assembly of Organic Molecules and the Origin of Cellular Life - from Understanding Evolution, University of California Museum of Paleontology

Creatures from the Black Lagoon: Lessons in the Diversity and Evolution of Eukaryotes - from Understanding Evolution, University of California Museum of Paleontology

The X-Treme Files - Life on Earth -a WebQuest from The Astrobiology Curriculum, TERC

Astrobiology in Your Classroom: Life on Earth ... and Elsewhere - a 60 page Educators Resource Guide in pdf (3.13 MB) with activities for grades 5 - 10 from NASA Astrobiology Institute

Astrobiology - The Living Universe

The Emergence of Complex Life - from Global Change, The University of Michigan

Christian deDuve Lectures on the Origins and Evolution of Life at UCSD - from Access Research Network

Rocks give clues to origin of Earth's oxygen and life - from SpaceFlight.now

Oldest rocks contain oxygen clues - from BBCNews

How It All Started - from Griffith University (19 page document, 900KB)

From Primordial Soup to the Prebiotic Beach - this page from Access Excellence also contains some useful links

Amino acids are created in laboratory (1953) - A Science Odyssey ("Discovery" of DNA)

Miller-Urey Experiment - from Scott Ellis, University of California San Diego Television

This section was removed from the syllabus in the October 2002 revision.

What is a fossil? from Museum Victoria, includes How are fossils formed? and Determining the age of fossils

Fossils - from NSW Department of Primary Industries - Mineral Resources Palaeontological Reference Collection. Also information on fossicking

Evolution and the Fossil Record - download this 36-page booklet in pdf (1 MB) from the American Geological Institute

Museum of Paleontology - at the University of California, Berkeley with virtual exhibitions on the theory of evolution, history of evolutionary thought, geological time and Metazoa: Fossil Record

Who's on First? A Relative Dating Activity - a classroom activity (student and teacher versions provided) from LEARNING FROM THE FOSSIL RECORD at the Museum of Paleontology, University of California Berkerley

Australia's fossil past - from Australian Government Cultural Portal

Dinosaur Dreaming - Research from the Monash University Palaeolab

Yale Researchers Attribute Ancient High Levels of Oxygen In The Atmosphere To The Rise of Trees and Large Plants - press release from Yale University (March 6, 2000)

Koonwarra: A Famous Victorian Fossil Field from Museum Victoria

Fossils and Fossil Sites - from Australian Museum Online (Click button labelled "More about Fossil sites of Australia" for list of links to various sites around Australia).

Localities of the Vendian: Ediacara Hills, Australia - from the Museum of Paleonotology, University of California, Berkeley

Mazon Creek Fossils - from Illinois State Museum - contains plant and animal fossils dated at 300 million years old

Burgess Shale fossils - a locality in British Columbia, Canada with a exceptional collection of Cambrian fossils, from University of Calgary

The Talk.Origins Archives - Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy - a well developed site that explores both sides of the debate

Creation Evidence and Evolution Myth - a religious web page that argues against scientific theories

Stories of the Dreaming - from Australian Museum, Aboriginal stories of the dreamtime

Bacteria and Archaea and the Cycles of Elements in the Environment - from TODAR's Online Textbook of Bacteriology

Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve - from WA's Department of Environment and Conservation

Stromatolites - from Geological Survey WA. Western Australia is one of the most significant regions in the world for stromatolite research

Early Life on Earth: Stromatolites - from Worldwide Museum of Natural History

What are Microbial Mats?? - from NASA's Astrobiology Institute, inlcuding the interactive Microbial Mat and Stromatolite Image gallery

Cyanobacteria: Fossil Record - from University of Paleontology, University of California Berkeley, including inforation on the Bitter Springs Formation, Australia

Microorganisms survive one step closer to Mars environment - a news release (May 2001) from University of Arkansas - researchers move one step closer to growing microorganisms under Mars-like conditions.

Microbes Could Live on Mars! - from Headline Universe (news story Sep 2002) - Researchers find tiny organisms that could survive the low atmospheric pressures of Mars

Microbial Colony in U.S. Suggests Life Could Live on Mars - from National Geographic News (Jan 2002)

Bizarre Creature in Idaho Raises Prospects for Life on Mars - from SpaceNews (Jan 2002)

Life in Extreme Environments - from WomenOceanographers; abundant life found near vents in mid-ocean ridges

Exploring microbial diversity in the deep-sea environments - Japan Marine Science and Technology Center - new microorganisms found in deep sea mud (Mariana Trench)

Introduction to the Cyanobacteria - Architects of earth's atmosphere - from Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley. Short introduction with links to further information.

Scientists find direct evidence of early oxygen-producing organisms - a report in SciTech from Augusta Chronicle (USA, August 1999) about 2 billion-year-old molecular fossils found in Australia

Introduction to the Archaea: Life's extremists. . . - Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley

Classification of living things: An Introduction to the Principles of Taxonomy with a Focus on Human Classification Categories - from Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College

Key to the Invertebrates - an interactive key from CSIRO - the main aim of this site is to provide an understanding of the different types of invertebrates, their classification and anatomy

CLASSIFYING AND SEQUENCING: Introduction - This exercise from Activity Exchange at Access Excellence develops multistage (dichotomous) schemes and keys for both imaginary and real populations

Donut Sort - An AskERIC Lesson Plan - using donuts to teach sorting, classifying and constructing dichotomous keys

Taxonomy: What's In a Name? - from Florida Center for Library Automation - explains scientific naming and why Linnaeus came up with such a system to describe and name new species

EucaLink: A web guide for Eucalypts - from Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney

Interactive dichotomous keys - from Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney - demonstrates a method of combining existing dichotomous keys with multiple entry methods based on a reduced number of simplified characters

Fish Key - from Australian Museum Fish Site

What is FaunaKeys? - web-based taxonomic tools for easy identification of selected invertebrate and vertebrate groups in New South Wales and Australia, from Australian Museum Onlin

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