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.
Now THAT is what I call bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! Even though I can’t see the tail!
About five minutes before my laundry was done, a neighbor came in to ask me if I was using both washers. I told him yes, but I’d be done in five minutes. He left. I was.
Anyway. The clothes still need to be hung up but not just yet.
I’m not sure if I’ll walk to Walgreen’s today or not, since it won’t be any warmer by the time I should leave. I take it back: It will be 6° warmer (above freezing,) but the sun will be shining. I’ll see how I feel.
The sun isn’t up yet, here. Jake went out and learned that it’s cold and wet out there, so I guess it’s a little above freezing.
The wind isn’t too bad this morning, but I still wore my heavy coat.
Someone filled the dumpster about half full on Wednesday, the day after it had been emptied, so we’re now a day away from trash pick-up and there’s no room in the dumpster for anything else. I had trash to take out when I went to do laundry and it was a real balancing act, trying to find a place to put it so it wouldn’t fall. UNNGH!
I wonder if outsiders are coming to use your complex’s dumpster.
It’s finally getting light here. Shannon tried to get James out of bed, but I guess it didn’t work, because she’s back in the kitchen, hating.
I’m thinking it was one of the other properties, doing a purge before the inspection Wednesday. It’s probably a federal inspection which would explain why they wanted to get rid of the items. It was shelving and something else...paints, maybe. But big, bulky stuff. I heard it go in but didn’t go to see what it was.
I took a nap. Another not good sign, but if it helps me get over this mini-relapse, I’ll do it. I still have to hang the clothes, but I’ll get to them in a minute.
It hasn’t warmed up, so I’m not sure if I’ll be going anywhere. Perhaps tomorrow is a better day. Today is a federal holiday, isn’t it?
Yes, it’s Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, unbirthday. No mail.
James and his hair got the best score on the forestry test. Not excellent, but still the best of the group.
I’ll be interested to see how Kathleen’s scores on Wildlife and Current Environmental Issues compared with those of the “real” students!
I found a calendar that had the Monday holidays in red so I printed it. It also has November 11 and Thanksgiving as the only “holidays” not on Mondays, but has listed the Mondays as “Observed.” Thanks, Nixon.
Congratulations to James and his hair! And appropriate salutations to the rest of the group. :o]
Kathleen’s scores may surprise you!
The clothes are finally hung up to dry.
I think I’ll do some filing and then maybe some more shredding and see what kind of progress I can make. I certainly won’t be taking the bag of shreds to the dumpster until tomorrow!
Kathleen was sitting with my high school team for testing, and I saw her getting some answers right. I gave her a little help on the animal-skull ID - “Look at the canine teeth. Look at the size.”
One of the high school girls asked, “Why are you helping her and not us?” and I said, “Because she’s nine years old.”
It would seem sniping is an early-learned trait. Being jealous of a child would seem inappropriate at any age.
Most of the filing is done, so that’s one chore out of the way. The shredding will be a different thing, though, because what’s left is a pile of things that have to be torn apart and shredded a few pages at a time. Maybe I’ll get it done by Wednesday.
the Admiral Fitzroy is becoming beautifully crystallized again. I love to watch the different “storm” creations form.
I think the idea is that the teenagers are very competitive, and the girl didn’t realize Kathleen wasn’t in competition with them. Kathleen is very sharp for her age, what with being the youngest in a crowd, and sometimes the older kids don’t realize she isn’t even 10 yet.
That’s quite possible.
PW sent me a text a while ago, asking me if I wanted to go to the store with her. Not without FS for a buffer, thanks. I just told her I was very tired, which is true. So I slithered out of that one...
The sun is trying to shine, but not doing a very good job of it. I’m happy staying indoors. Maybe tomorrow I can walk to Walgreen’s — they won’t stop nagging me until I pick up the last prescription. Or have it delivered... I haven’t gotten to that point, yet, but I won’t dismiss it out of hand.
It’s always polite to say, “Thank you for asking, but no,” with no further information. I think it was in a WW meeting that they talked about “the tyranny of yes”: the idea that “Yes” should be the default in any situation, and you’d better have a really good reason if you say no.
It’s not true! You can say, “No, thank you!” and that’s it.
Most of the ice has melted from the roads. They say we might have more weather later in the week.
I did thank her for asking. I always thank them for asking, but I won’t go anywhere with her alone, now. She’s too toxic in a one-on-one situation with me. If I give her a reason for the no, she’s liable to ask me again. And maybe, when I don’t feel quite so fragile, I’ll go with her. It wasn’t doable today, though.
And she was going to be doing a lot of stopping and going and I didn’t feel up to it. Taking a nap for almost two hours this morning was a good indicator that I need to take better care of myself. Not running after a DiL when I feel this tired is a good way to take care of me.
She probably would have taken me to Walgreen’s but if it was out of her way, or not a planned stop, I’d never hear the end of it.
I always try to be as polite as I can be to her, because the last thing I need is for her to have an excuse to belittle me.
Abusers don’t need an excuse other than, “You exist, and you’re not me.”
I finished editing a Google translation of a church document. The original document was in Turgid Officialspeak, which made some of the translation garblicious. I rewrote a whole paragraph in plain ol’ Spanish.
This is very true.
I read your next sentence as, "I finished eating a Google translation...." Dang. I'm worse off than I thought! LOL!
I'm cold and I want something but I'm not sure what. Maybe a sammich would go down good right about now. For a Monday, this is shaping up to be a fine Thursday afternoon.
I plan to have a shower in a while.
I’ve been a little antsy this afternoon, but maybe it’s just the cold and the fatigue.
It will be a while before I do anything productive, like sleep. Several hours, in fact! Maybe tomorrow will be a better day for me.
I feel like I’ve accomplished quite a bit today. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll clean the stove!
I have to make a list of things “that haven’t been addressed” but none of them have so I’ll make the list tomorrow, anyway. I don’t think the inspectors will do much, but I think they need to be aware of what ISN’T being done.
I made myself come cocoa, but it would be nice to have some cinnamon toast, if I had a toaster! I like toast and cocoa any time of year, kinda like ice cream.
I just sent Kathleen to bed, and I’ll be going in a minute. It’s cold in here!
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