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’m sorry the morning wasn’t as productive as you hoped. I was going to take a nap, but children are afraid they don’t exist if they aren’t bothering me.
Thanks. The morning wasn’t productive for my FS, either, but he did manage to get an estimate in while I was with him, so for him, the morning wasn’t a total loss. He dropped me off at home and then went to his job in another town close by, so at least some of his day was well spent.
The bed is finally made, but only because I just couldn’t bear to think of sleeping the night under just a throw. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better for all of us!
I was on my feet longer than I wanted to be, but bedtime is around the corner, so the feeties can take a little break! Some days, it amazes me that people can be on their feet all day without a backache, and I really wish I could relate! :o]
I don’t get a backache, but my right foot hurts.
I’m sorry about the feet pain things. Pains anywhere make life a little rougher all the way around.
What a long afternoon. I don’t even know if it is still raining. Well, misting. Drizzle. At least it wasn’t pouring when the tow-truck driver had to do his thing. We had to wait over two hours, this time, and I wasn’t happy about that. But it is what it is. Welcome to Arkansas!
It hasn’t been raining here. I got a letter from the bank saying our house payment will go up $150/mo because of higher taxes and insurance charges. Unnngh. I’ll charge Pat more rent!
Got it. I went through that here, right off the bat. First month’s rent was a third higher than what I had been paying. I couldn’t charge anyone for rent, because the birds moved out.
I’m probably going to try and go to bed early. I don’t know what my standing around in the rain did, but my knees don’t want to work at all.
I can hardly wait for morning!! Yes! Eight hours off my feet and I’ll be ready to go! :o]
Anyway, I’ll hang around for another hour, at least.
I hope you have a good evening and get some sleep, with or without a cat.
I’m going to get ready for bed and hope I can last long enough for some scripture study.
See you in the morning!
I hope you have a good night. I just got home from Cub Scouts and will be going to bed shortly.
That right there is pretty funny!
Thanks, C!
Lookit all doze floofy kittehs!!
Good morning.
I hope you slept well.
We’re under a tornado watch, of all things. So early in the year.
PW said she’s going to bring me some homemade bread today, but I don’t know when that will be. I gave her the maps yesterday, and she began to play with them right away. Just dropped everything and went to work!
Now, I’m going to get dressed and try to start my day. ;o]
Good morning. Happy Twosday! I had yesterday off.
It’s odd to wake up and think, “27 fs, that’s relatively warm.” But that’s what this winter has been like. We may double that today.
Mrs. ArGee was up sick a lot of the night with some stomach ailment. Hopefully it has passed.
Good morning. Not a bad night. Jake showed up, but he left when I got up to go to the bathroom. I saw a light on and came downstairs to find James with a video game (standard rant) and told him to get to bed. He must have let Jake out, because Jake was at the door when I got up this morning.
I’ll be leaving for Weight Watchers in about an hour. We have 58 Fs. I won’t need a coat!
Good Morning!
Hope that all that had one, enjoyed the holiday.
Been thinking that this may be the last week for the below freezing overnight lows... we shall see...
Good morning. I’d like to be warmer. The cold aggravates the arthritis in my feet.
We actually had highs in the upper 70s yesterday and today... then back down to highs in the 40s for stretch...
Winter will draw to close soon...
It IS Twosday, isn’t it!
My Wordle over the weekend wasn’t too bad. Saturday and Sunday were both four tries and yesterday was five. My FD finally found the right “Wordle” and will now begin to play for real! LOL!
Rain today, as was yesterday, with temps in the 60s but tonight will be a lot cooler.
It would be nice to not need a coat at 58Fs but I’m finding that even 65° is still “cold” to me. So much for 30+ years in the desert.
Folks decided I needed to answer questions at the same time my body decided it needed shut-eye, but the queries won. *yawn*
I had a good Wordle day today.
Wordle 248 2/6
⬜🟩⬜🟨⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I’m in all day training so I don’t now if I’ll be back on.
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