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.
Awww, cute!!
Good morning. I hope you had a restful night.
FD woke me up this morning, about 0550, asking if I was going to “watch Daytona.” Umm. No. No network TV. Computer, then? Umm. No. Not with it acting the way it is. But I do love motor sports! And football. I missed the Superbowl this year, again. Oh, well.
I’m really tired, and if the shower doesn’t help, I won’t be going to church today. I hope it does, because I hate to miss it. Between my company and the phone call, not to mention waiting around half the morning, the stress level was a little higher than is comfortable, yesterday.
I don’t mean to complain. It was more a statement of fact than a complaint because CFIDS. So please erase what you didn’t like.
Good morning. Not bad. A cat came by more than once, and I was cold.
I don’t have a lot to do this morning, which is nice. I turned the dishwasher on, and when I get upstairs, I’ll sort a load of laundry. And eventually, I’ll have a shower.
Just had my shower, and I’m so grateful for small things like hot water! This time, it lasted long enough to wash away some of the kinks from the night before. If I time the mattress pad just right, it shuts off at the same time the alarm rings. If I don’t set the alarm, I’ll wake up from the cold a while later, and I hate that. This morning, it was a seamless transition!
I don’t like the lateness of the start this year, but it could be worse. It could be at 3:00 PM. Right now, it’s at 1130, and my day is almost over before I even get there. As usual, I’ll make the best of it and only you and I will know how I feel about it! ;o]
My clothes have been laid out, but I’m waiting for the vent to take the last of the moisture out of the bathroom before I set the makeup out. When I made the preparations to move, I sorted the makeup into snack baggies according to usage and haven’t changed it back, yet. Probably because I donated the makeup caddy...
I read the article you sent. Really interesting, especially the information about how the researchers stuck with the project until they finally found the original documents.
Those researchers were determined to find all the documents available, no matter what the subject in history. In this case they were as determined as the Pioneers were in making it to the Great Salt Lake Valley.
While I might have cousins I don’t know about who were on the research committee, it’s for sure I had ancestors they were writing about. I have a couple of personal histories that I need to get busy on. I don’t know if SLC has them, but they may want them, so I need to send them a copy when I get them finished.
I love history! All history. Any history. And of course, history isn’t much without the biographies of those who were involved, but I don’t think I can read all of the books on both!
Unfortunately, there’s not enough time for all the cool stuff in the world, because we have to eat and sleep, and then we die.
There is that, of course. All of it. But I’m going to make as many dents in as many books as possible before then!
That’s a good objective!
Of course, real life might interfere, like actually getting settled, but in the meantime, there are BOOKS to be read!
Maybe, since it’s going to rain all week, I can get something done in the way of unpacking. I think I’ve been saying something similar since I moved in, long about four months ago, but now that I’m so close to having a living room, it’s time to make it so.
I’m sure FS will be glad to get the items assembled for me, because then he and PW can come to visit. Hahaha.
Awww... Squeeful floofs!
Good morning. Cats are good to nap with, but not often for a good night’s sleep.
The laundry is done, and now, I’ll go do a nap-thing myself, sans cats.
I’ll be back in time for Second Breakfast!
Enjoy your nap. See you later!
Thanks but unfortunately, it wasn’t much of a nap. It may help in the long run, so I’ll take it.
I’m up for the day now, and just have to make the bed, but there is no hurry for that at the moment.
Good morning again. I mopped the kitchen. DP dropped two boxes of Chinese food leftovers last night. He wiped up the mess, but it was still the last straw as far as a delay in mopping.
No humans under the age of 55 have been sighted today. Maybe they died.
The FS will be picking me up in about 40 minutes, if the place we need is open. I was going to go to the bank to get some quarters, but it’s President’s Day, so I don’t think the bank is open. I’ll have to try and get some tomorrow. Somewhere.
So far, it hasn’t begun to rain, which is good for our plans. If the place is open. But I forgot about the holiday, so the email I sent Saturday probably won’t be answered until tomorrow.
I hope this thing holds up!
Two boxes of Chinese food??? How sticky can that be? An hour later and you’d never know it was dropped. </joke
Didn’t you mop the kitchen on Saturday? Or was it Friday? One day in recent history, anyway.
*tagline*
I usually clean the stove on Saturdays, but it didn’t really need it this weekend. I haven’t mopped in a while.
I’m finally back from my excursion to the Outer Edge of the Wilds. The Problem Child is once again gracing (or not) the front yard of FS’s home. The place is looking like a used car lot. But I don’t live there, so...
An entire morning wasted. The upside was time with FS. Now, I have to try to shift back into Monday Gear. Unngh...
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