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.
Amazing universe...
I’m here. In which habitat is it the right time to hit the bar? And has anyone seen my other sleeping bag? I think it’s blue ... Shannon took the green one.
“seems legit!”
Works for me.
Any habitat is the right one for the bar, since it’s always open! Go for it!!
Way cool! Glad you could make it! (I was worried!)
What if a paranoid-arachnoid-octopy occupied only one-quarter of a circular building?
What is the value of an hate-filled ate-sided pi?
Unnngh, they said there would be no math at this bar!
Who does maths? I gave up once I counted all my fingers and toes!
I still have ten of each.
Octagon? π=3.313
I just had a weird event. I was sitting here reading an article about wildlife when I heard a gurgling in the kitchen. I walked in to see what it was, and the coffee make was on and steaming a little even though I hadn’t put new coffee or water in yet.
“Huh,” I thought, “Maybe a kid punched the On button,” so I turned it off ... and it turned back on. And I turned it off again, and it turned back on. And I unplugged it and then plugged it back in, and it turned on. And I turned it off, and it turned on.
The immediate workaround is that I’ve left it unplugged, with the coffee and water in, and I’ll plug it in when I get up in the morning. Then when it’s daytime, I’ll go to Walmart and get a new one.
That water looks very cold, for some reason!
Weird, is right. Something right out of the Twilight Zo-an.
I have to contact management again. I’ve already told her about the gap under the door left by the replacement of the threshold, but I just realized that when the switch was replaced in the bedroom, the trainee did it wrong so that when I turn the wall switch off, the lamp on the dresser shuts off. If I turn the switch on, the overhead light comes on. I don’t want that.
For now, I have to live with both problems. But not in the near future!
the fact that she got on these today was pretty good, considering. We’ll see how good she is when she has to get the doors replaced.
Keep saying you’re not safe without secure doors.
Trust me. I won’t feel safe until it’s up to what it should have been when I moved in. I don’t like to make waves, but when I pay rent, I expect value for my dollar. I’m not getting it, yet. I’ll be here a long time, and I want to make sure everything is working properly to start with. And if I don’t feel safe, then they have to fix things so I do. “It’s a safety issue,” is not what they want to hear. I may talk to someone...
In other news, I got the paperwork for the pain clinic today. Unngh. I’d rather fill it out now than when I get there!
It’s just one thing after another, isn’t it?
Well, it most certainly keeps life interesting, and there’s not much chance for boredom setting in, so I’ll take it. Some things, I can handle better than other things. Today was one of those days. However, the length of time it took for today’s events to actually take place was pathetically inept.
It would never have gone this long without being taken care of had I been the one in the office. I wasn’t trained to be lackadaisical on the job, so things like this are petty irritations for me. I resent the fact that I had to send another letter and state the obvious: My apartment is unsafe and should never have been rented.
So, there are three things left, now, and I’m really hoping I don’t have to send a third letter to get them done.
My brain is tired, or maybe still fluffy, so I’ll close for now. Dyslexia is setting in. I hope your night is a good one!
*<)
Eyes, fingers, toes...
2, 10, 11...
/Addams Family
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