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.
Comets are not a trivial thing to study up close and scientists have only landed on one so far. It doesn’t appear scanning for lifeforms was part of the mission (Rosetta).
They did prove it does contain pockets of cryogenic water ice below the surface, however.
Cryogenic ice enclosed in thick rock is as ideal a carrier of life through the cosmos you can get. It would block radiation better than any man made spacecraft. See my last post above.
Considering the almost impossible long odds of DNA developing on earth, then having compatible DNA develop in multiple parts of the universe, then make the incredible long journey through space (and survive that journey through a vacuum) and then all converge on earth, (after surviving the burn of re-entry), this theory sounds more like a C- high school paper.
The math of DNA on earth boggles the mind.
There are also folks who thing fungi is of non-terrestrial origin.
Freegards
Considering that interstellar space is a continuous bath of deadly radiation, I am skeptical.
Thick metallic rock would block radiation.
Cryogenic ice deep inside space rock is an ideal transport for life through the cosmos
Lol!!!
I wonder what it could have accomplished with a typewriter?
I agree! It’s like “we’ll, what happened BEFORE the Big Bang?”
“ Duhhhhh, we don’t know”.
Maybe God clapped his hands?
It has to be 100% absolutely correct. It’s science and Americans are told every day. Put the mask on. Take the shot. It’s settled science just like climate change
It’s all the same space, earth is just one of a billion spots in this area of space. This doesn’t sound weird at all.
It’s no more strange than life moving to different areas of the planet itself. We think of space as foreign and empty when ‘space’ just contains the other rooms in our house.
>>I thought it was “Octopi”
Technically, since ‘octopus’ is of greek origin, the correct plural is octopodes. But both barbarisms ‘octopuses’ and ‘octopi’ are common.
You think that one tests science? Gather ‘round and allow me to tell you the tale of the “scientists” who claimed that the vaccinated were in danger because some people chose not to take the vaccine that didn’t protect the vaccinated in the first place. The contorted logic in that story will melt your brain better than any time travel yarn.
That is why Ringo wrote Octopuses Garden. He’d heard a similar story. Appears they do make decorative gardens.
Except I can get to any room in my house in under 5 minutes. Traveling millions of light years would take a bit more time. Don’t think I could hold it all the way to the bathroom
They are cousins of octopi, as are squid and nautilus...........
As computing and gene sequence reading becomes cheaper, the mysteries of evolution will be read like a book. If there is any odd outside influence, it will become obvious. Notice there aren’t any cartographers anymore? Technology replaced them with satellites. Same with geneticists, there will soon be no need for them — just look at the computer results.
In the year 2525........................
Octopus might be the strangest animal on earth.
They can change the texture and color of their skin at will. And because they have no bones, they can squeeze through any hole large enough for their eyeballs to pass through.
The motion of their arms is so complex, each arm has its own brain. Plus there’s a ninth brain for centralized control.
Their blood doesn’t use iron-based hemoglobin to carry oxygen, it uses copper-based hemocyanin, which makes their blood blue instead of red.
Despite the fact that parents play no role in their upbringing (=no teaching in infancy), despite the fact that most species only live for two years (the longest-lived only last for about four years), they demonstrate both problem-solving and tool use (but not tool creation).
If there’s an animal that deserves to be the descendant of space aliens, ... it’s the octopus.
In the year 2025 more like.
Never go to bed after playing Space Invaders. The resulting dreams can affect your judgement.
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