Life Is Older and Tougher Than We Thought
Ancient life thrives in the deep is a BBC science article about the discovery of life in the ocean sediments.
Scientists suggest between 60 to 70% of all bacteria live deep beneath the surface of the Earth, far from the Sun’s life-giving rays.
Some of the new bacteria identified are about 16 million years old, surviving 400 metres below the sea bed.
This hostile habitat might be where life first evolved more than 3.8 billion years ago, researchers believe.
Note that it says that they have discovered bacteria that has been alive for the last 16 million years, not that existed that long ago. These things are still alive.
