The question of the first living thing on Earth is a matter of much debate, both in and outside science. Cultural and religious traditions provide many different accounts of how the earth and all the life on it came about. In science, the prevailing thought is that life began in very simple, primitive terms and grew more complex. The most simple form of true life that we know of is a bacterial cell. Therefore, most scientists agree that bacteria were the first living things. We do still have lots and lots of bacteria around today. However, whether the bacteria we have today are the same as the ones that existed long ago is unknown, but again most scientists would say probably not.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to really definitively answer the question of what was the first living thing on Earth without using a time machine to go back and actually look!