A Weird Paper Tests The Limits of Science by Claiming Octopuses Came From Space

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.

"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.

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?

My Good Friday Message to My Friends

Christianity testifies that Christ died on The Cross for our sin, but despite it being true the claim is so glib, so vastly understated, that it all but misses the mark entirely. Much focus is given to what happened, and why, and indeed the event and the implications are profound in their own right, but the sheer immensity of it all cannot begin to be apprehended absent a crystal clear grasp of how.

For it was the will of God to crush him, to put him to grief.
— Is. 53:10

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And after he said this he breathed his last.
— Luke 23:46

In the events leading to Calvary, the orchestrations of man merely fulfilled the plan of God. That, for the joy set before him, Jesus laid down his life as a ransom for many.

For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all...
— I Timothy 2:5-6

Upon The Cross, Christ became our propitiation — our substitute — receiving upon himself the due penalty of all sin, and he received it from none other than The Father, Himself.

The penalty for trespass against The Almighty is to be executed by The Almighty, for only the One Whom you have affronted has authority to carry out the sentence against you, and only death justly answers the magnitude of the offense; and not only cardinal offenses, but every single, solitary offense down to the very most minuscule.

For the wages (payback, penalty) of sin is death
— Romans 6:23

For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
— I Corinthians 15:21-22

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them...
— II Corinthians 5:19

The real work of The Cross was unilaterally God’s work of carrying out the death penalty for sin upon The Son to eternally satisfy the warrant of condemnation against us and purchase — at inestimable cost — universal forgiveness for all.

And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, [God] nevertheless made you alive with [Christ], having forgiven all your transgressions. He has destroyed what was against us, a certificate of indebtedness expressed in decrees opposed to us. He has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
— Colossians 2:13-14

And He nailed it to The Cross in the Person of His Own Son.

But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, and he entered once for all into the Most Holy Place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption.
— Hebrews 9:11-12

Crucifixion was a cruel and tortuous death precisely because it ensured the condemned would remain alive, and in agony often for two, even three days; long enough for a hardy man to die of thirst before anything else. And yet, to the utter astonishment of the attending Centurion who’d doubtless seen his share of crucifixions, Jesus lasted but a scant three hours. Be assured of this: no mere man killed Jesus; the Jews didn’t kill him, nor did the Romans. No, God Himself executed him there on our behalf, completing in fact the prefiguring acted out by Abraham and Isaac many centuries before, just as Abraham himself prophesied.

Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father?” “What is it, my son?” he replied. “Here is the fire and the wood,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” And Abraham answered, “GOD WILL PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF THE LAMB....”
— Genesis 22:7-8

And so, He has. May God be forever praised.

“Stricken, Smitten And Afflicted” — Fernando Ortega
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-QFx5RRqFM

[Kleenex Alert]

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