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.
She seems to do OK in the lower temps. I think she would like longer walks but her peoples won’t give them to her.
Here it’s the ISP. there’s something wrong with the equipment, but they don’t know what. We might go get Spectrum for cost instead of using this free stuff that comes with the apartment.
Indeed. I was blowing my nose constantly for hours, and also sneezing. And it’s not the time of year for hay fever.
That reminds me of when we used to see “The Best Little Klezmer Band in Texas” at Oklahoma University.
One of the musicians had been the conductor of the Kiev Symphony Orchestra before he found it expedient to bail out of Ukraine.
Good morning. Happy Friday Eve!
Don’t cross the kitteh. He looks like he puts up with nuttin’.
We lost interwebs again yesterday. We’ve decided to bite the bullet and pay for a different ISP. The “free” ISP here is costing us too much.
Good luck finding successful Interwebs. The cat does not plan to share the bed.
Kitteh is not yet fully awake.
G’orning, y’all. Does anyone know the origin and extent of interwebs dysfunction?
Spectrum’s rep has improved since several years ago?
Good morning, all.
My unexplained absence can be explained, if I felt up to it. Some days, the brain just doesn’t cooperate with what the rest of me wants to do.
We have strange interwebs here, too, though not “spotty.” Sometimes it will tell me I’m offline and I’m not, really. But it’s the cheapest game in town and it is what it is. I mean, this is Dogpatch, after all.
I have been lurking, if that’s any consolation, but I just wasn’t up to commenting. I’m here, now, for what it’s worth.
;o]
Please excuse. Posted query before I caught up w/reading.
Good to see you! Thought probably web service weirdness affected you. Prayers up that you feel up to snuff soon.
I forgot to mention that I would be off the interwebs for a few days, back now...
Hoping that all is well with folks here!
I want one!
In other news, FD and The Guy got married right after she got back from a funeral out of state, and they have both tested positive for Covid, again. Both are in health care, so they’ve been required to have all the shots, boosters, etc., but they still got it again.
My take on it is that it’s the flu. It’s a man-made strain but still the flu and now, every time there is a new strain of flu, it will be labeled as Covid and there will be panic in the streets and we’re all gonna die because the sky is falling. But don’t get me started.
Now I need to get out of my night clothes and get dressed.
Same. I mean, I also want a plush gray kitten and I need to put on day clothes.
Thanks!
Just a glitch in my otherwise mundane and boring life, but I’m good now. Not great, but good!
Here, everything is weird, so I’m learning to adjust. It’s just a slower pace but the people are friendly and if I’m not careful, I might find myself slipping into that soft, Southern drawl that is so charming.
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