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.
Another Friday? Wow. Seems like we just had one.
Good morning.
I’m glad you didn’t get snow-bombed. I checked the forecast before I went to bed and saw that we were southeast of the expecting-snow zone. I think I heard a few pings of sleet on the window over night.
Currently, we have 33 fs, and a high of 45 is forecast.
I’m already very tired of being cold, so I dug out a pair of leg warmers for today’s attire. Now I’m off to the shower in hopes I can be warm for just a few minutes.
See ya in about 40 minutes. ;o]
I need to get dressed, too.
Ta-DAH!!
Boy, that felt good! Until the hot water began to cool off. Nevertheless, I was warm for a few minutes, and that felt wonderful! Plus the fact that I was able to admire the handiwork of FS from yesterday, and to mentally thank him for taking the time to help me.
It seems he worked on my car most of the day, when the weather was “warmer.” So, in a way, his day was devoted to me. Maybe, once the car is done and in my possession, he’ll spend time with me just because he won’t be seeing me as often for the things we’re doing now — church and Walmart.
It’s too cold for anyone to be working outside today, so I think my wonky door won’t be addressed until next week.
It’s cold here, too.
The car will get done, and then you’ll have all the mobilities!
Yes, I’ll be able to go to Walmart early on a weekday, to go to Great Clips and get my hair cut, and to go to Dollar Tree for things I don’t want to pay a lot for.
Not to mention driving myself to church so I get there early enough to listen to prelude music.
In other news, the pills have been sorted but I still haven’t written to Charlie. I need to get that done so it can go out in today’s mail.
That’s what I get for sleeping in! GAH!
When I was at the pain clinic, the gal gave me an appointment card for 2-2-22. I looked at her and said, “That’s a twosday.” Her response? “Let me check.”
LOL!
I was talking with Steve my spiritual director. He mentioned a movie filmed in our area starring Sidney Poitier, and then I pulled up FR and found Mr. Poitier has just died. He was 94.
Well, that’s sad. I always enjoyed his acting and thought he was so underrated. He’s probably getting some pretty good reviews right about now!
The mini-series, “The Chosen” is filmed in the area I grew up in. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goshen,_Utah. It’s probably as far southwest as one can get from Payson and still be in Utah County. The “Sea of Galilee” in the series is actually Utah Lake, so watching the episodes makes me think of summers in Utah.
I’ve been plugging right along but still don’t have anything done worth noting. Sorted pills, made the bed, took a shower, put water in the fridge, and set out the crock pot so I don’t forget to start the soup first thing tomorrow morning.
Now, I need to get back to Charlie’s letter!
I keep nagging James and Vlad to get on with the Envirothon presentations they’re supposed to be working on, but they keep not doing it.
I finally got Charlie’s letter done and got it outside. It only dawned on me as I headed for the door that I hadn’t picked up the mail from yesterday.
The maintenance man is actually here, working on the door. At least the door is south-facing so he’s in the sun.
And one more tidbit: FD and The Guy “eloped” yesterday. Still not sure how I feel about it all, but as I’ve said a bazillion times, “it is what it is.”
Good news about the door, unless he “fixes” it worse, and best wishes to your daughter and the guy.
When we moved to Houston I made friends with someone who was part of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod (LCMS) which is very conservative. He said there was a move afoot to replace the pipe organ. They were planning to buy it from Germany for $half-million. This was literally about to split the church since many thought you could buy a good digital keyboard (or even a set of them and mount them in an Organ frame) that would sound just as good and cost a lot less.
The congregation was saved when the exchange rate changed and the cost of the proposed organ soared to $3/4 million.
The manager just called, wanting me to take “after” photos. He’s not done, yet, so I can’t. At least the door is situated the right way.
He’s working on the latch, now.
Thanks! I’ll pass on the wishes.
Whew!
We sure would like a frontwards door!
I’m just having all kinds of problems trying to make this thing work right in my head. The old door is not only unsafe but its filthy, but he put it back on. I guess the damage he did to the new door was too extensive to put it back on. So now, I’ll be waiting until at least Monday for the new NEW door. *sigh* Some days, it just doesn’t pay to chew through the straps, as tiamat said.
I just put the curtains up in the bedroom, but there wasn’t that much room to work, so I don’t know how good a job I did. I’ll wait until I get the little shelf/stands built and move the bed over a couple of inches and try again.
This place is much smaller than I’ve had for a while, so it will take some getting used to.
Good gravy. Congrats on the curtains!
Ha!
That was a good one.
So long as you're sure you did that the right way around.
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