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.
Oh. Yes. I also worked a crossword puzzle. That took 15 minutes and shouldn’t have.
I do the WSJ crosswords early in the week, but I usually don’t bother to try by Thursday.
We have choir practice in a few minutes. Still trying to get some songs into the right key.
Wordle 301 5/6
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Took 5…
Tough Wordle!
But you did it! Good job!
This time, the wait for the Walmart excursion was an hour. “We’ll be there in about 20-30 minutes.” Then, “Your son is having a hard time getting started so about 10 more minutes.” Full hour. Rain. Rain, rain, rain. Rain.
I stood for a while, then sat, then stood, then sat. Finally they showed up. I “ran” through the store, trying to ease the pain in my back, but all it did was make my right knee hurt.
Anyway, I’m home and I’m going to be a slug.
Favorite Son did say that “business would be slowing down” whatever that means, and he’ll be able to come and put some things together. I hope so. I haven’t nagged him or done anything else to bring attention to the fact that he promised. But it’s obvious that the weather is keeping me from doing it myself.
So we’ll just have to wait and see.
Families ... unnngh.
Choir practice is over. Naptime is approaching. It is not currently raining.
And mine is a very small family. Of course, now, Favorite Daughter wants me to move to CO to get away from the tornados. As hard as this move has been on me, that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
It’s currently not raining and the sun is trying to shine, but more rain is on the way. *sigh*
I’m going to try and stop thinking in any negative capacity about anything in my life. Remind me of that when I start to whine, OK? LOL! ;o]
I’ll remind you only occasionally. I’m back from my nap, which was longer than I expected, but there wasn’t anything I needed to do.
LOL! Big responsibility, so I absolve you from undertaking it!
I’m ready for bed, emotionally, but it’s still a few hours away at the moment. I’m watching Cadfael, again. Lots of episodes I’ve missed. These at least have been digitized so the lines are clean and the details crisp.
Oh, that’s good. That’s a good show, although they had to decomplicate the plots to fit 1-1/2 hours.
I sat in the yard and read the lectionary for tonight’s Mass, and now I’m going to arrange the song lyrics for next Sunday.
Everyone is confirmed for dinner tomorrow except Elen, who is in Okinawa.
Well, Cadfael certainly has a good cast. Not necessarily the recurring casts, but from show to show.
When Elen calls, be sure to wish her a Happy Easter from me. I think of her often and wonder how she’s doing. And of course, she’s on my prayer list.
She’s doing well. She sent me pictures today from a botanical garden with a light display (it was evening there) and it was really nice.
I loved visiting the botanical garden when I went to NC, I can imagine a botanical garden with a light show must have been fun!
I’m missing out on a lot of things, but no one invites me so I don’t know what things I’m missing. ;o]
I hope you have a good night, and I’ll see you tomorrow!
I hope you have a good night!
We will get our lives sorted out, and I will come to visit you with my special Arkansas Trip money and take you to places and things.
I wish you all a very blessed Easter.
Thanks!!
There are lots of things to see and do here! FS used to take me places before he married PW. Arkansas is pretty and has Things to See and Places to Visit.
Happy Easter Everyone! He is Risen and He LIVES!
HAve an amazing day celebrating His Life!
‘Face
;o]
Every place can be nice if you have some time, some money, and cheerful company.
Happy Easter! We need to clean the bathrooms since we’re having non-family personnel over ;-).
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