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.
Humph. I go wandering off for a little New Year’s break and when I come back, everyone’s gone.
Ah, well, nice place here. Some of the shadow seem to be moving down by the baseboards, but I’m sure that’s nothing. Off for some coffee and unpacking.
I suspect it’s going to get a lot colder. Milk is essential!
The clothes are hanging and I have some things to do before I can be a slug.
However, you haven’t seen the last of me! :o]
Well, we sort of had to strike while the universe was hot and spewing out octopuses (octopi) but we did leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you! You found us and that’s the important thing!
Happy first Monday of the New Year!
Good morning. Happy Monday. It’s the first Monday of the New Year!
(looks around)
How disappointing. Everyone’s still treating COVID like we’ve never had a virus before. Biden’s still President. Pelosi’s still Speaker. I still have to owrk for a living. I thought this was a new year.
(sigh)
Oh, well, back to it.
We went for a little drive from Friday morning to yesterday afternoon. In that other place temps were in the 50s. Here this morning it was 19. Maybe we shouldn’t have come back.
Well, it won’t be cold forever.
We’ll all die either from heat or cold, drought or flood. I’ve forgotten which. For the new year, I would like to get away from beginning every sentence with, “You know you’re not allowed to ...,” but instead, I’ll just live with it.
Well, only 362 days to go, and maybe time will wound all heels.
But there seems to be a real undercurrent in this country that lots of people are mad as heck and aren’t going to take it any more. I’ve seen it coming. I think it will make the communists think again about trying to sabotage the Constitution.
There is a lot at stake here, and it isn’t just this country. If we fall, the rest of the world falls with us. The armed populace here is the biggest army in the world. NOT going to worry about Biden and Pelosi, since they are both only temporary and will not live long enough to gloat.
Like the song says: I’m gonna live, live, live until I die. Like that.
I have a very large pile of papers that need to be shredded, but I have to go through them one by one. Unngh!
Owrking is such a pain.
I gave it up.
Unnngh. I feel like I should do something, but I don’t know what. The temperature is dropping.
You got that right!
Yeah well, that's why they always say: Meet the new year, same as the old year... or something along those lines...
Good morning. I was taking a break from cleaning out my closet, but now I’m going back. Seeya.
We watched “An Interview With God” this past weekend. We started it with some trepidation, but it was actually quite good. The theology was sound without being preachy and the story was interesting with even a little plot-twist to keep you attentive.
It was 97 minutes well spent.
I did too, but not because I wanted to.
It’s finally up to 21°.
I did something, and now I really do have to file the papers I sorted last week to see what needs to be addressed. Then maybe I’ll fill out the form for the pain clinic. Who knows what will be after that? Besides waiting for the mail.
I watched the first season of “The Chosen,” before I moved here, and I recommend it to anyone who just wants a feel-good movie about who was chosen and how they were chosen to follow Christ.
It was filmed in an area in Utah that I’m very familiar with, but was just a cluster of homes when I was growing up. The Sea of Galilee is really Utah Lake, but it is so similar...
Anyway, it’s a good thing to watch it. The characters are very real.
The timing wasn’t mine. 26° here. Practically tropical.
Yeah, I remember that! And a lot of other things. I’m really glad you’re OK, though! :o]) And also that Zeus has you!
Still raining, they say it will continue until mid-afternoon. Down to 71 fs in the house and 39 outside.
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