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.
I have plenty of assignments for teenbros if you’d like to Darksfax them to me tomorrow. I could make this place more than ready by the time the frame arrives!
We’ll be very busy with science tomorrow. I wish I could send them on the weekend, though!
Arkansas doesn’t sound like too long of a driving adventure.
I’d even take that! Thanks! It’s the thought that counts, and ‘Face as DI — well, the job would get done in just a couple of hours! LOL!
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*tagline*
For me to where the drivers are, no. For newbie drivers, yeah, it is.
I’m not comfortable letting them drive to South Carolina yet.
Nor would I be! I’m just glad the military was in charge of giving them their first driver’s licenses!
Good job FRiend!!
You know what that is like!
Who hasn’t wanted to fling himself on his brother and pummel the stuffing out of him?
Good morning. Happy Friday!
Happy Friday! Take it by force!
We have a long weekend as NYC “celebrates” President’s Day on Monday.
It was 54 fs when I walked the dog. She wouldn’t do all she should have done. I think she wanted some snow to do it on. All we have are ice and hugh puddles.
A moment ago it was snowing. Go figure.
Go figure.
Science today. I have to make another forestry tests. Yeah, I should have done it sooner ...
“RAWR! Gonna squish you!”
Good morning.
I hope you slept well, with or without cats!
It’s a whopping 16° out, and I don’t think it was this cold for this long in Happy Valley during the three years I lived there. Needless to say, culture shock bites.
The barometer water is finally down the spout, and the next two days promise to be sunny. Then cold and rain again for the weekend.
Maybe, just maybe, I’ll get off my sit-upon and get something done today. In the meantime, I’ll be taking a shower in a few minutes. I hope the water is hotter than last time.
Thanks! ‘It’s great when it works but most times it takes all six tries.
Happy Friday!
It’s hard to believe the weather is colder here than in New Yawk but there it is.
But if dog does it in snow, it disappears, just like flushing! If she knew what flushing was. ;o]
Gosh, that’s cold.
No cat last night. I think he’s mad at me.
Yes, it is. I can’t remember when the last time was that I was consistently warm for more than a day. I’m sure it was when I was still Out West.
I’m warm in bed because of the mattress pad, but once I get up I freeze. The water heater doesn’t hold enough water for me to warm up after I’ve sat here for 40 minutes waiting for it get warm.
Anyway, now I’m off to try and warm up a little bit, then back to start on my letter to Charlie. Which I should have been doing instead of checking on my kids, nieces, nephews, their kids, and a sibling and his family.
Back in a few!
I’m up to number 10 on my forestry test.
An old bitter man to Buddha:
“Buddha, every day you come here smiling and every day I curse your name, I curse your family and everything you believe in” the old man says ”but every day you enter this city with a smile knowing that I await you with my harsh tongue, and everyday you leave through the same entrance with that same smile. I know by speaking to you now that you are not deaf, why do you keep on smiling while I do nothing but scream the worst things I can think of to your face?”Buddha, with the same smile still on his face looks at the old man and asks “If I were to bring you a gift tomorrow morning all wrapped up in a beautiful box would you accept it?”
To which the old man replies “Absolutely not! I would take nothing from the likes of you!”.
“Ah” the Buddha replies “Well if I were to offer you this gift and you were to refuse then who would this gift belong to?”.
“It would still belong to you of course!” answers the old man.
“And so the same goes with your anger, when I choose not to accept your gift of anger, does it not then remain your own?”
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