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.
Good morning. I hope today’s efforts are equal to or better than yesterday’s!
Safe journey!
I pulled a rabbit out of the hat on this one!
Tough job!
Wordle 315 5/6
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😂
Good show!
👍🏻
I’ve been struggling as well, looking for a breakthrough soon!
I haven’t tried today’s yet, will get to it soon.
Some days are like that, we need those hat rabbits to stay alive...
Truth!
No breakthroughs today... lucky guess kept it respectable...
Wordle 315 4/6
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Yep - this one was no walk in the park. Eliminated letters got me there.
Wordle 315 5/6
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I dunno. I think the weekend words are worse than weekdays. But maybe it all just depends on my brain.
Some days, I just. Can’t. Think. ;o]
We’re back. We might not get results on the high school competition until Monday. Vlad said James said, “Mom will kill us,” when they didn’t make top 3, and I’m very disappointed that it would even cross his mind to say that. Yes, I was encouraging them and offering bribes until they took the tests - when it might do some good! - but after that, I just say, “Oh, well.”
Tom says Jake went out last night and hasn’t been home. I went around through the woods calling him. Maybe he’ll come back now that I’m here.
I get that. It hurts your heart when your kids seem to perceive you as some sort of ogre, lash in hand, waiting for them to screw up.
It seems to be more the child’s lack of ability of read body language than anything else.
And that’s not necessarily the fault of anyone, just a lack of awareness. Some things are learned and some are innate.
Wow. That’s weird about Jake. I hope a hawk or owl didn’t carry him off. He is chipped, isn’t he? If so, and he’s wandering, you should be notified.
We’ve got some gnarly T-storms raging around. They make me uncomfortable.
James says he thought he was being funny. Some of our offspring have done pretty dreadful things and are still kicking, not to mention cadging meals. The worst that’s ever happened to anyone regarding any accomplishment is a Tsk-tsk and finger-wag if we think they could have tried harder.
I hope Jake hasn’t run into a coyote or something else large and toothy.
As I said, “perception.” What he thinks is “funny” is not necessarily.
I, too, hope Jake hasn’t run into something large and toothy, and hopefully, he’ll be whining at the door, waiting for some of the Overnight People to let him in.
Our thunderstorm was fierce, and the rain on the tail end of it was extremely noisy. I’m remembering all too well why I hated SD.
My eyes are finally starting to do that itchy, burny thing they do when I’ve been up too long, so it’s probably time I shuffled off to watch the dreams.
Have a good night!
I hope you have a good night, and Jake will either turn up or not. I asked Shannon if she was involved, and she said Nyaaahr.
Shannon wouldn’t tell, anyway. She secretly hates Jake.
Fluffy little squee-thing. Just got it’s eyes open and is testing it’s wobbly legs!
Good morning.
I hope you slept well.
You were missed, but we had a storm, so it filled an hour of the day. I hope all went well for you and the team!
After all that time, there’s no hot water.
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