All life today uses DNA to encode genetic information. However, there are quite a few viruses out there that use RNA, and scientists believe that the very first lifeforms also used RNA, because it is simpler than DNA. However, there was a problem with this theory, as one of the key components of RNA is ribose, which does not last very long without some sort of stabilizer. The best ribose stabilizer is boron, but it appeared that early Earth didn't have any. Mars does, so all the theories on RNA life were based on Martian meteorites making their way to Earth, and while this is possible, it's hardly likely.A detailed analysis of some of the oldest rocks on Earth now shows that boron was present on the ancient Earth without any assistance from Mars. The rocks, found in Isua, Greenland, are about 3.8 billion years old, which is about as old as we'll ever find. There is actually quite a bit of boron in some of the rocks, and if boron was present, that means the ribose necessary for RNA would have been chemically stable for long periods of time, long enough for the first rudimentary forms of life to begin making crude copies of RNA.
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