The Microscopic Universe
By Amoeba to Zebra
--- Lyrics ---Imagine a year – seems like a long time to you and I. Yet, compared to the life of our planet, a year in our lives is nothing more than a mere blip in time. Now let’s imagine the 4.6 billion year history of the Earth squished into just 1 calendar year – from its chaotic formation from swirling matter in the newborn solar nebula right through to the complex world we know in the present day. Our story began on the 1st of January and let me tell you, a lot can happen in the space of a year.
For the first couple of hellish months, our planet was pummelled mercilessly by asteroids from space while relentless volcanic activity from the earth’s molten core ruptured and cracked the surface – certainly no ideal home for life, yet somehow in the volatile mixture of electrically charged gasses and vapours, the building blocks of protein molecules were formed amongst this maelstrom. During this period, the spark of life had been kindled in the oceans of our infant planet.
By the middle of February, a more complex molecule appeared with a particular knack for replication: deoxyribonucleic acid - or DNA for short. These remarkable molecules became blueprints for the manufacture of proteins. Stuck together, several DNA molecules contained enough information to produce chemical compounds that could react, interact and adapt.
Just a thimble full of material from the ocean floor,
Contains a million bacterial forms,
The microscopic universe is born.
And in the shallow seas there were rafts of blue and greens,
The primordial life on earth,
At Lake Superior, lie frozen in the chert,
The microscopic universe.
Oo oo - Stomatalites and steam,
Oo oo - Rafts of blue and greens,
Oo oo - Surround volcanic springs.
Oo oo - Chloroplastic teams!
Then the Protozoans came with more complex DNA,
And a nucleus!
Though still a single cell, they would join to work as one.
The microscopic universe moves on.
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