Posted on 12/29/2021 5:57:37 AM PST by Red Badger
A summary of decades of research on a rather 'out-there' idea involving viruses from space raises questions on just how scientific we can be when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth.
It's easy to throw around words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe, but then papers like this one, from 2018, come along and leave us blinking owlishly, unsure of where to even begin.
A total of 33 names were listed as authors on this review, which was published by Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology back in August 2018. The journal is peer reviewed and fairly well cited. So it's not exactly small, or a niche pay-for-publish source.
Science writer Stephen Fleischfresser goes into depth on the background of two of the better known scientists involved: Edward Steele and Chandra Wickramasinghe. It's well worth a read.
For a tl;dr version, Steele is an immunologist who has a fringe reputation for his views on evolution that relies on acquiring gene changes determined by the influence of the environment rather than random mutations, in what he calls meta-Lamarckism.
Wickramasinghe, on the other hand, has had a somewhat less controversial career, recognized for empirically confirming Sir Fred Hoyle's hypothesis describing the production of complex carbon molecules on interstellar dust.
Wickramasinghe and Hoyle also happened to be responsible for another space biology thesis. Only this one is based on more than just the origins of organic chemistry.
The Hoyle Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology makes the rather simple claim that the direction of evolution has been significantly affected by biochemistry that didn't start on our planet.
In Wickramasinghe's own words, "Comets are the carriers and distributors of life in the cosmos, and life on Earth arose and developed as a result of cometary inputs."
Those inputs, Wickramasinghe argued, aren't limited to a generous sprinkling of space-baked amino acids, either.
Rather, they include viruses that insert themselves into organisms, pushing their evolution into whole new directions.
The report, titled "Cause of Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?", pulls on existing research to conclude that a rain of extra-terrestrial retroviruses played a key role in the diversification of life in our oceans roughly half a billion years ago.
"Thus retroviruses and other viruses hypothesized to be liberated in cometary debris trails both can potentially add new DNA sequences to terrestrial genomes and drive further mutagenic change within somatic and germline genomes," the authors wrote.
Let that sink in for a moment. And take a deep breath before continuing, because that was the tame part.
It was during this period that a group of mollusks known as cephalopods first stretched out their tentacles from beneath their shells, branching into a stunning array of sizes and shapes in what seemed like a remarkably short time frame.
The genetics of these organisms, which today include octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, are as weird as the animals themselves, due in part to their ability to edit their DNA on the fly.
The authors of the paper make the rather audacious claim that these genetic oddities might be a sign of life from space.
Not of space viruses this time, but the arrival of whole genomes frozen in stasis before thawing out in our tepid waters.
"Thus the possibility that cryopreserved squid and/or octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted," they wrote.
In his review of the paper, medical researcher Keith Baverstock from the University of Eastern Finland conceded that there's a lot of evidence that plausibly aligns with the H-W thesis, such as the curious timeline of the appearance of viruses.
But that's just not how science advances.
"I believe this paper justifies skepticism of the scientific value of stand alone theories of the origin of life," Baverstock argued at the time.
"The weight of plausible, but non-definitive, evidence, great though that might be, is not the point."
While the idea is as novel and exciting as it is provocative, nothing in the summary helps us better understand the history of life on Earth any better than existing conjectures, adding little of value to our model of evolution.
Still, with solid caveats in place, maybe science can cope with a generous dose of crazy every now and then.
Journal editor Denis Noble concedes that 'further research is needed', which is a bit of an understatement.
But given the developments regarding space-based organic chemistry in recent years, there's room for discussion.
"As space chemistry and biology grows in importance it is appropriate for a journal devoted to the interface between physics and biology to encourage the debates," said Noble.
"In the future, the ideas will surely become testable."
Just in case those tests confirm speculations, we recommend being well prepared for the return of our cephalopod overlords. Who knows when they'll want those eggs back?
This research was published in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.
A version of this article was first published in August 2018.
Oooohyeah!
That’s what I need!
Thanks!!
Awwwww.
I’m back from Weight Watchers and heating the last of my vegetable soup.
I got the laundry folded and put away, and that’s about it for the day, I think.
There are some little “busy” jobs that need doing, so maybe I’ll tackle them, since I’ve been putting them off for a month or two.
One is to transfer all my sign-ons and passwords to a new notebook to reflect the move. Always a pain, but always necessary.
I’m already at 4 and stumped. And it’s annoying because I have known letters 1-3 since the first word.
I’ve done laundry, too. Next thing is to plan next Sunday’s music, I guess. We have five services in 14 days coming up. We’ll have a massive Everything Practice, with lunch, on Saturday.
I got it in 5 today, but it’s not the norm.
I tried to get my daughter interested, but so far, nada.
I managed to clear about 20 pages of my old passwords book, so they’re currently in the shredder.
My back is beginning to bother me, so I’ll be taking a break in a few.
Five services in two weeks? Wow! Your choir must be very good!
I finally decided to do an elimination word and got one more letter. Still, finding the solution was harder than it should have been.
Wordle 241 5/6
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟩⬜🟩⬜⬜
🟨🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
“It’s supposed to get a little warmer today, then really warm up tomorrow.”
Yeah. Over the past weekend we tested that batch of air as it passed thru here; about twelve degrees warmer than prior and subsequent days.
ENJOY!
“There is also a migraine beginning behind my right eye.”
UNGH.
HATE headaches. Some of them, though not very painful, are just sharp enough to crash my ability to think productively.
In a way, I think they’re the worst, because I’m conscious that there’s no externally evident reason I shouldn’t be able to keep working, so I have this inclination to slug it out, but I always end up feeling as if I’m LITERALLY slugging it out, and getting the worst of it.
I end up taking ibuprofen, a cup of coffee, and a too-long hot shower to try to plough through; I know if I can hurry the damnable thing on its way, the hour or two lost doing that will be less than if I just go lie down, and risk falling asleep for four hours or more.
Yeah, I get it. I’m glad you have at least one way to beat them, but I still feel bad that you have them.
I’ve always had horrible migraines, from the time I was about eight years old. There is no way a kid can explain the pain of a headache in such a way that a parent can provide some method of relief.
In my 20s I was given a drug called “Fiorinal” but it was useless unless I could take it when the headache was still just a shadow in right side of my neck. Once it moved up to behind my eyeball, all I could do was suffer. Dark room, cold compress, silence...but no sleeping. Never any sleeping. I could never figure out if I had one headache that lasted 10 days or ten headaches of a day each.
Once I got to my mid-forties, they morphed into ocular migraines. Now they are a combination of both, and there is no relief.
My son, though, cursed as he is with the same malady, can go sleep his off.
At least one of the three of us can muddle through, eh? ;o]
My wife and daughter complained that the word wasn’t used often. I said the word I got was a very common word. Come to find out, their browsers are still pointing to powerlanguage and mine is pointing to the NY Slimes (for free, still) and we got 2 different puzzles.
But both had the same first, middle, and last letter.
Afternoon, all. I’ve planned a lot of church music and sat wrapped in my heated blanket, watching Jake.
P.J. O’Rourke died. I’m sad.
I heard that there were supposedly two correct solutions for today’s puzzle... I had no idea that there was more than one site to find it...
I saw that there are quite a few “Wordle” games, but none of them claim to be “the” game. Not sure which one I have on the phone, but the knock-off I have on the computer because it can be played several times with different results.
So I wasn’t surprised when you mentioned the different puzzles. Weird though, about the letters!
Sometimes, heated anythings are very good, as also just “watching.” I’ve been known to do both.
I’m sorry about PJ O’Rourke. I’d heard his name often but had to look him up to see why and where. Try not to be too sad. You can always go re-read his stuff!
I had the door open for a little while this afternoon, because it was warm out, but the wind was blowing, so I got to listen to the wind chimes sing to me. That’s always a nice thing!
Anyway, now I’m headed for bed and maybe I’ll get up when I’m supposed to in the morning. I think I’ll have to force myself to leave the alarm alone, just so I can get back onto a schedule of sorts. It’s just been so hard to get up, as I’ve been so tired. Not a good thing, but I have to try and get back onto a schedule. My body needs it. I think.
So I’ll see you in the morning. I hope you have a good night!
74 years of hard living for P.J., but it’s still too bad.
I hope you have a good night!
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