Two hundred and fifty million years ago a Cosmic Catastrophe occurred that nearly ended all life on planet Earth. An asteroid thirty miles wide struck the Earth near a rift in the crust in present day Antarctica, creating a crater big enough to hold the state of Ohio. This asteroid was five times as wide as the asteroid that made the Chicxulub crater in the Caribbean 65 million years ago and ended the reign of the dinosaurs. Ninety percent of life in the Ocean was exterminated by the tremendous impact and subsequent ruin of the ecosystem. This is known as the Permian-Triassic extinction event. Within a few million years living organisms, so tiny that one thousand could fit across the span of a centimeter, proliferated and changed Life on planet Earth. These are known today as Coccolithophores.

Ancient cyanobacteria (blue green algae) thriving in the the Triassic Ocean trapped the Sun's energy inside thylakoid membranes. Cyanobacteria have been found in fossils dating to 2.8 Billion years ago. A battle of supremacy of the shallow seas was waged for nearly two billion years before the advent of eukaryote algae around 1 billion years ago. The evidence of their victory is in the proliferation of Prochlorococcus, a unicellular cyanobacteria (less than 1 micron size) that lives throughout the euphotic to oxycline depths (150-200 meters) of the Ocean today. For the first time in the history of the Earth, Ocean would be oxygenated to the regions of the deep. But where once victory is achieved competition comes along to snatch the prize. Who would claim dominance over the Earth?

The atmosphere of ancient Earth of the Archean Era 3.8 billion years ago was toxic to animal life, consisting of merely 75% Nitrogen and 15% Carbon dioxide (0.039% today).Vulcan ruled the planet that cooled in the fire of Creation. Volcanoes spewed gases to fill the atmosphere with a toxic brew of hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, ammonia, ash, heavy metals and also life giving water but no oxygen. Icy comets may have also shed water passing through the atmosphere. The crust of the Earth solidified and water condensed from the atmosphere to fill the voids of the deep and make an Ocean planet. Ultraviolet and Cosmic Rays bombarded the surface of the Ocean on the planet and dissociated water to create a thin Ozone layer. Primitive prokaryotes developed from the thermal vents, pools and ooze of early Earth. These developed mitochondria to utilize energy from minerals and thyllakoid membranes to capture energy from the intense radiation. Primitive purple sulfur bacteria of this type photosynthesized sugars from hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide but evolved sulfur instead of oxygen in this simplified reaction: 2H2S + CO2 → (CH2O) + H2O + 2S. These creatures ruled the anoxic Earth for another billion years until their upset by the upstart Cyanobacteria.

For it take another billion years that prokaryotes to develop thyllakoid membranes and pigments to capture visible light and photosynthesize sugar from water and carbon dioxide and evolve oxygen. These were the ancestors of tiny marine bacteria like prochlorococcus that provide at least 20 % of the oxygen from the Ocean today. Yet in the Paleoproterozoic Era 2500 million years ago the autotrophic cyanobacteria penetrated only the shallows of the great Ocean. Within a hundred million years oxygen began to accumulate in the Ocean and the atmosphere poisoning the anaerobic bacteria. The sulfur bacteria began their retreat into the depths of the Ocean and inhabited hydrothermal vents , volcanic pools, swamps and marshes where they are found today. Galactic Cosmic rays (GCR) from stars forming and exploding across the universe bombarded the barren rocks of Earth relentlessly. Under these extreme conditions the first bacteria that resemble mitochondria and chloroplasts found in eukaryotes developed. It is thought that the intense GCR flux stimulated the development of new life forms as fullerenes are found in rocks associated with deep sea hydrothermal vents. The cold harsh winds swept the ancient seas against the continental shelves upwelling nutrients which fed colonies of cyanobacteria basking in the Sun. Perhaps the fullerene carbon provided plenty of electromagnetic potential for the new communities. And fullerene is one substance that can be a conduit of intense cosmic rays.

With the advent of cyanobacteria that could photosynthesize sugar and oxygen from water and carbon dioxide, the oxygenation of the seas and atmosphere began. Cyanobacteria transformed the world as the chemobacteria retreated to the depths of the Ocean and the anoxic regions of marshes. Most of the Oxygen evolved was consumed by iron deposits. It would take another two billion years for oxygen levels to reach present levels. This revolution of the cyanobacteria diminished carbon dioxide levels and oxygen peaked to nearly 5 percent. Undoubtedly this hurtled the world into its first Ice Age covering much of the land in glaciers. During these cold times heterotrophic predators were busy feasting on smaller aerobic bacteria and the first organisms with mitochondria appeared. At least the smaller of the two would not have the misfortune of being eaten again but was now in the belly of the beast. This engulfing event was the first primary endosymbiosis in the history of Earth's evolution. Such a being would be classified as a Protist for it would have a cell wall with its own nucleus and mitochondria contained separately in vesicles. It was the harbinger of animals, heterotrophs which prey and engulf other beings.

Within a billion years from origin of the cyanobacteria, eukaryotes with chloroplasts appeared. The first step was the advent of unicellular bacteria with thyllakoid membranes capable of photosynthesis.

For another billion years protists (heterotrophic) attacked cyanobacteria for food energy to supply their mitochondria energy needs. The next stage in evolution occurred when a predatory protist with a mitochondria engulfed a cyanobacteria which became a chloroplast within the new being as the nucleic acids recombined within the nucleus. However the marine bacteria were not digested but lived within trapped and used to gather the Sun's energy as the bacteria had thyllakoids to produce sugars. The larger organisms which hunted them were heterotrophic without the ability to photosynthesize sugars from carbon dioxide and water. But with the algae trapped within their cell walls, the hunter could gain energy from these sugars. Instead of engulfing other organisms and diverting energy to digest them, by trapping an autotroph they would have a photosynthetic engine as well. So this was the beginning of alga which would soon dominate the sea and creep onto land to evolve into plants and animals.

The atmosphere of the Proterozoic era (2500 – 542 Mya) was much more intense than today with Ultraviolet and Cosmic Rays bombarding the surface of the Ocean on the planet. Ultraviolet rays dissociated water into hydrogen and oxygen to provide only 1 to 2 % Oxygen levels. Eukaryotes developed with chloroplasts and nuclei. Green and red alga were abundant in the Ocean. Snowball Earth developed as the globe became glaciated and 70% of life in Ocean died.

Our present eon (Phanerozoic 542 Mya) began with the Cambrian Age and an abundance of multicellular life. With the end of the last Ice Age the Ocean was oxygenated to the seafloor. Animals of most groups appear along with the first animals with shells. The evolution of Coccolithophores was underway in the Ocean, tiny spherical cells only 5-100 micrometers across or about 1000 to 20,000 per centimeter. These are photosynthetic protists that float near the surface of seawater. They are covered with calcium carbonate discs that reflect much of the incident ultraviolet light. Three more mass extinctions occurred in the Ocean as Ice Ages came and went, the first forests appeared and vertebrates appeared on land, mountains rose and eroded. Coccolithophores first appeared in the fossil record 220 Mya in the sediments of copepod ooze on the seafloor. The indomitable tiny creatures survived Ice Ages and the great Permian- Triassic event that killed off 90% of life in the Ocean. A meteor impacting Antarctica left a 300 mile wide crater may have been the cause. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere dropped from from 30 to 12%, Carbon dioxide levels at 2000 ppm.

Haplophyte evolution

A revolution occurred after the Permian-Triassic extinction event. An extraterrestrial code was sent via the stars in the form of cosmic radiation signaling the evolution of new life forms. These galactic cosmic rays with an intense pulsed code devastated life forms not selected for life. A new form of life called Haptophytes had been developing for a billion years or so with protective plates of calcite (calcium carbonate). Calcite is a mineral that is known to polarize light and deflect its course. On the outside of coccolithophores these calcite plates are arranged to form a geodesic dome similar to that found in an even more miniscule world. Coccolithophores are on the order of 6-20 microns in diameter whereas fullerene is only 1 nanometer across. Mathematicians must marvel at the magnitude and scope of these designs. Fullerene is a very rare form of carbon shaped like a geodesic dome or soccer ball. Usually carbon shares only two to four of its bonds with atoms like hydrogen, oxygen or nitrogen. Fullerene shares its bonds with 60 other carbon atoms to form a globe. It is a component of stardust along with the magnetic wavefront of cosmic radiation. A shape such as a geodesic on calcite plates could deflect any radiation from its surface any radiation into the surrounding seawater where hydrogen would saturate the electrical energy. Could it be that the organism had taken in this fullerene in photosynthesis and used it as a template to construct a shell against cosmic radiation? I propose that fullerene is used during the dark reactions of the Calvin cycle when the Sun is down and the organism is respiring and using sugar for energy. This is an example of a unicellular organism achieving a feat of engineering in deflecting GCR at night and Ultraviolet during the day, also transferring that energy to a lower frequency between cells that can be used in photosynthesis. The angles of the plates can explain the deflection and refraction through water will lower the frequency of the radiation.

This was the beginning of a symbiosis between two distinct organisms both of whom would benefit by this unique relationship.

These haptophytes were developed from protists that were predatory on other protists with the organelles of chloroplasts and mitochondria. As was mentioned earlier in the eons of life on Earth, a heterotrophic protist engulfed a cyanobacteria to become a eukaryote, a secondary endosymbiosis. The Haptophyte revolution involved the engulfing of autotrophic protists with added machinery of Golgi apparatus and endoplasmic reticulum to make flagella, plates and most important two phases of growth. The haploid phase was larger with plates and lived primarily near the nutrient rich coastlines, free floating lacking mobility. The diploid phase was tiny in comparison without plates and a haptonema used for motility, lived in the open ocean. This tiny phase may resemble the original organism engulfed by a larger predator.

These ancient heterotrophs were covered with calcium carbonate shells to protect them from larger mobile predators such as ancient krill and copepods. These shells also protected the algae from the intense short wave radiation from the Sun and distant stars. Together they are known as Coccolithophores. With calcite discs to reflect Ultraviolet rays they could live near the surface and gather sunlight for photosynthesis. The predatory Zooplankton would be harmed by mutagenic rays from the Sun and distant stars. So zooplankton such as copepods and krill with no such armor to reflect Ultraviolet rays migrated into the depths of the Ocean hundreds of meters until night time. The atmosphere of the early Triassic era moderated with Oxygen climbing to near 20% and Carbon dioxide dropping below 5 % (1000ppm). Coccolithophores diverged into many families and species through succeeding periods of Jurassic, Cretaceous and survived two more mass extinctions to reinvent itself in our age.

But what had caused this evolution, this change, this mutagenesis of the nucleus containing DNA? What was the primary agent that caused this symbiosis to occur? Cyanobacteria did not migrate into Coccolithophoress to go on a vacation. Neither did Coccoliths eat the algae with the intention of having a new friend or boarder. How did it happen? That is a mystery.

We know one thing that causes mutagenesis, the breakage of DNA inside the nucleus of these organisms. GCR (Galactic Cosmic Rays) have been studied for the past hundred years as agents of mutation. GCR are a very high frequency form of Light or Electromagnetic Energy which of course can not be seen. It is thought that GCR originate from exploding stars many light years away from planet Earth. GCR is like a pulsed digital waveform that is pushed by an electromagnetic wave across the universe. Such a pulse can be thought of as a code or a message just as a digital code in electronics. So this Code is sending a message that changes the development of Life on Earth. In fact Plant Physiologists know that different frequencies of Light make plants behave differently like a code.

A few stray Cosmic Rays will probably not affect a change but the probability increases with increased bombardment. Such a term is GCR flux. This flux is impeded by the electromagnetic field of the Sun. As it has a large gravity field due to its size and proximity to Earth,the Sun has a flux of radiation that is propelled toward the Earth in a Solar wind. The Solar flux is cyclical due to its inner dynamo and gravity fields around the Milky Way. The 11 year cycle governs the Sunspot cycle. When the Sun is active and its surface is turbulent,there are many Sunspots and the Solar flux is greater. At this time the Solar wind diverts the GCR away from Earth. Thus GCR flux is less when the Sun is turbulent. When the Sun is quiet there are few Sunspots and more GCR flux reaches the Earth. So at this time mutations are more likely to occur due to GCR mutagenesis. This strong GCR flux will have a dramatic effect on organisms living near the surface of the Ocean. At this intensity GCR will damage the nuclear strands of DNA in unprotected marine viruses, bacteria and zooplankton. To survive these organisms must migrate to depths of hundreds of meters away from the phytoplankton on the surface. GCR arrives at night and to a lesser extent during the day. Predation of the phytoplankton is decreased to a great degree resulting in more blooms of phytoplankton. Delicate cellular material such as DNA stored in the nucleus inside the Coccolithophores are protected by the shells which reflect much of the radiation.

Coccolithophores release DMSP a foul smelling compound that repels to some extent Zooplankton from feeding on them. This organic compound is also an energy source for marine bacteria that use the carbon in DMSP as an energy source. So what repels Zooplankton attracts scavenging heterotrophic bacteria. Next viruses attack the weakened phytoplankton being eaten by Zooplankton. Ehux (Emiliania huxleya), a Coccolith is well known for DMSP production. Marine bacteria convert some of the DMSP into DMS and other methylated compounds for direct use. DMS quickly is released into the air above the surface. The other compounds are used by the bacteria as they cluster near the Ehux colonies. The Ehux are tiny globes that look like little planets floating in the Ocean. With their life cycle ending as Coccolith globes they divide and disperse as even smaller mobile creatures with flagella. This is how they avoid the viruses which cling onto the shells and attack the Coccoliths. Later the haploid Emiliania mate and form new Coccoliths.

The life cycle of Ehux is shortened by the stress of attack by Zooplankton, bacteria and viruses. The haploid form is not protected by the shells of Coccoliths and must mate to form a new generation. When the Sun is turbulent, the Zooplankton have the upper hand and blooms of phytoplankton decrease.

This also means that less DMS and Oxygen is released into the atmosphere, less Carbon is fixed by the Coccoliths. It is thought that DMS released by blooms of phytoplankton is the cause of cloud formation

above the square miles they occupy. Even the course of Hurricanes is changed by these tiny organisms. After all they make the clouds and the climate. There is a direct correlation between low cloud formation and galactic cosmic ray flux. As GCR flux particles are too small to form CCN (Cloud condensation nuclei), this is a possible explanation. Though the correlation may be direct in mathematical terms, in reality it takes a living organism to make the organic chemicals to change the climate. Making clouds will effectively change the circulation patterns of winds thus prevailing easterly winds are lessened. Water vapor is transported to the poles in a pattern by which ice and snow accumulates, this cause the planet to accelerate and the length of day decreases. Global temperatures overall decrease and a wetter climate predominates until the next cycle begins in 30 years.

When the Sun is quiet the winds change in favor of the phytoplankton. Westerly winds predominate with increased Ekman forces as the winds move the surface waters and upwelling of deep minerals occurs. Less Sunspots result in less Solar wind and greater GCR flux. A bombardment of Cosmic Rays lessen the predation cycle of Zooplankton as they move to depths. Without predation on their colonies the Coccolithophores thrive on the surface and spread across the entire Ocean in blooms covering hundreds of square miles.

Blooms of Phytoplankton increase as predation drops, so DMSP production increases. Marine bacteria also have to migrate to depths but some remain hiding behind the shells for protection. These bacteria convert DMSP into DMS which cause more to be released into the atmosphere. So this results in more clouds being formed. GCR also kills viruses so greater flux removes the viral threat from the Coccoliths. As the phytoplankton thrive under these conditions, the food chain is increased for the fish to feed on a larger food pyramid. The dynamics of diurnal migration can explain how the zooplankton continue to feed on the phytoplankton. The phytoplankton initially bloom profusely covering many more hundreds of square miles until their population drops from predation. When the Sun is turbulent and GCR flux is decreased populations never recover from predation long enough for blooms to last long and cover as many square miles as when GCR flux is great. It is a study of Ecology and the dynamics of organisms competing for energy near the surface of the Ocean, the eutrophic zone.

The vital link in the relationship between starlight and climate is twofold. First GCR flux is directly correlated to 60 year cycles of climate and the ACI (atmospheric circulation index).

During a 30 year cycle Zonal circulation is dominant during a period of increased solar activity and auroras. The next 30 year cycle the Sun becomes quiet with increased GCR flux, meridional circulation is dominant. Westerlies become stronger and upwelling occurs due to Ekman forces. More water is evaporated from tropical regions and transported to the poles. Ice and snow accumulate at the poles and this added weight gives inertia to drive the planet into a faster spin decreasing the length of day. The increased wind causes upwelling and phytoplankton migration to coastal areas to bloom in profusion. The question is: how does the process start? Another factor is needed to create the necessary cloud cover over the tropical regions. GCR can not by itself initiate cloud condensation as the dust is too small.

That is where the Gaia Hypothesis provides the answer. The tiny coccolithophores make DMSP which is degraded by bacteria to form DMS. It has been shown that clouds form over blooms of coccolithophores. Not merely clouds but hurricanes have been shown to form and follow the blooms of these phytoplankton. So it is clear that phytoplankton make the climate happen on planet Earth. By their ancient engineering feat of the geodesic plate design, they have used GCR to their advantage. Now clouds formed over the ocean are transported in cycles determined by the cycles of the Sun.

Starlight has been shown to be a code that changes the course of life by exerting evolutionary pressure on organisms and ecosystems.