Science: 3,350,000,000 Years Old

Many scientists, calculating by the rate of decay of radioactive materials in rocks, have figured that the earth is about two billion years old. This week, in a report issued by the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Edinburgh's Professor Arthur Holmes had a new estimate. Two billion years, said Holmes, is a "conservative minimum." Something nearer 3,350,000,000 years, he added cautiously, "is unlikely to be seriously wrong."

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