## Metadata - Author: [[Ferris Jabr]] - Full Title: Becoming Earth - Category: #books ## Highlights - Osburn and her colleagues have shown that, contrary to long-held assumptions, Earth’s interior is not barren. In fact, the majority of the planet’s microbes—perhaps more than 90 percent—may live deep underground. ([Location 450](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJTLBCDX&location=450)) - Life, in particular microbial life, has also forged the majority of Earth’s minerals, which are naturally occurring inorganic solid compounds with highly organized atomic structures—or, to put it more plainly, very elegant rocks. ([Location 637](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJTLBCDX&location=637)) - More than half of all minerals on the planet can occur only in a high-oxygen environment, which did not exist before microbes, algae, and plants oxygenated the ocean and atmosphere. ([Location 643](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B0CJTLBCDX&location=643))