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.
Woo-hoo!!!
Good job!
See ya when you show up again!
2/22/22, yep. A twos day.
I love it when a plan comes together!
How are things in the frozen north of west?
I find that I adjust to the changing temps as time goes on... first week or so of below or near freezing seems cold, but after that it doesn’t seem as cold...
Same holds true for the higher temps... except of course if the humidity is too... then there is no adjusting to that, for me...
Good work!!
I am in a bit of an up and down cycle on Wordle.
Saturday was tough at 5 rows, Sunday was better at 3 rows, Monday was rough at 6 rows, and today was better:
Wordle 248 3/6
⬛⬛🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟨🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Back from Weight Watchers. With patience, I’ll be my former self eventually. I didn’t need patience in my 30s!
Good job! I’m always surprised when I get it in three!
My body craves the heat and always has. I’m like a lizard on a rock in the heat. Cold? No thanks. Anything below 95° requires a sweater or light jacket.
I hear ya! I didn’t need to do anything in my 30s but get out of bed, and the weight stayed off. Now, because of the way CFIDS affects my body, I have to consciously watch my food intake and make sure the calories don’t exceed 900 a day, if I’m to lose. I can eat another 500 if I’m just trying to maintain the weight, but I don’t want to do that when the disease is active.
How I lost 60 pounds from Hooterville Junction to Dog Patch, USA is another thing. I have no idea how.
Last night, PW texted me to say she was going to bring me a loaf of bread that she had made yesterday. I expected her after her early morning class. Nope. FS dropped by about an hour ago and brought me what was left of a loaf. Beggars can’t be choosers, though my mouth was set for the full loaf! Some to be eaten in the next day or two and the rest to be frozen. Ah well... She DOES make good bread and in this case, I’m grateful for crumbs! ;o])
Well, for what it’s worth, I unpacked five boxes of books and a opened a box of papers that I’ll have to sort through and decide whether or not to keep any of it. What I don’t keep, of course, will go to the shredder.
The pain got too bad so I had to call a halt for the day. Maybe tomorrow, I can unpack another five or more. There is plenty of room in the bookcase, for sure!
But progress! Now I’m going to make myself a chicken sandwich! :o])
Well posted, Nully!
Good job.
I don’t normally try for 2. I usually use my first 2 for discovery. But I couldn’t ignore the letters I know so I had to try.
Step by step. You’re getting there.
You might lose interest before you finish a whole loaf!
It’s now warmer outside than inside the refrigerator...
Yes, I am, thanks! Not as quickly as I would like, but even one box a day to unpack is one box I can fold and take to the dumpster. ;o]
That’s why I thought of freezing it. It makes wonderful toast, even after its been frozen, so I’m up for toast, butter and marmalade! Since I was given less than half a loaf, it’s a no-brainer how it will be consumed: Sooner rather than later! ;o]
Good!
I can remember once, a long time ago, we stuck beer in the fridge to keep it from freezing, since there was no heat in the house. I don’t remember whose house, just that it was on a farm somewhere outside of town, and it was during a January storm that can only happen in the Rockies. Or someplace like them!
Back from nap with Jake, where I was interrupted by a kid, of course. By the time a kid can go an hour without bothering me, Jake will have died of old age.
Some days, I almost wish I had a kid to interrupt me! LOL!
Instead, I have the apartment manager to bother me. She made a mistake when I signed the lease and now my rent is going to change. I don’t know which direction the change will take but it can’t be good.
There will be another change from Medicare, soon, I suspect, informing me that premiums will be taken out of my income, now.
I feel bad for anyone who has to retire and has to rely solely on SSA for income. The morass of new laws and regulations is not in favor of the retiree.
It won’t be due until tomorrow, so I’ll get it together first thing and put it in the rent drop. It IS her fault!
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