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.
I haven’t been able to warm up all day, so I’ll be heading for bed in just a few minutes, myself.
Tomorrow will be better, I’m sure.
Sleep well and stay warm!
Good morning. Jake got me up a couple of minutes before my alarm would have gone off. Cats are so helpy. I was bothered by a cough a few times, but it could have been worse.
Good morning. Happy Twosday!
We made it through the cold and snow and back to cold.
Our neighbor has run a 50 yard coax cable to the next building, I guess to solve the interwebs problem. But they came back on Sunday morning, after a week.
What a sweet floof!
Good morning.
I slept in.
It’s 29° out and I don’t want to go anywhere. I’ll just have to put on my Big Girl Shoes and do it anyway.
Maybe I’ll get some shredding done before I go. Haha.
High, they’re!
That Interwebs sounds really wonky. The WiFi here is iffy at times, but for the most part, it seems to be consistent.
I hope the outages in your area don’t mess with your job too much.
We bit the bullet and are paying for Spectrum, at least for now.
The Agency I contract for has given us all MiFi devices (they used to be called cellular hotspots) for when we were in the building since WiFi access there was so poor. I used that for much of last week.
Good Morning, I am glad that you survived the weather, and hope that you enjoyed your long weekend!
I think life was much simpler before the interwebs came into being, and now of course, we rely on it so heavily that if it goes down, we won’t even be able to communicate with our families, much less put fuel in our cars or buy groceries.
Everything is computerized these days. I have a nephew who has been “off the grid” for years, and I think he has the right idea. </rant
Happy Tiw’s Day, folks.
I went to my Weight Watchers meeting and saw parts of some familiar faces and most of us larger than the last time we were together, sigh.
James and Abbie will be coming by this evening. They’ve been stuck indoors with Covid, even though both have had shots, due to the nature of their work.
** — **
Wowser.
FS came by to bring me a piece of sandpaper, and since he had some time on his hands, we went to the “revenue” office. On the way home, I noticed the name on the registration was the same as the person who sold the vehicle to me. It wasn’t MY name.
So we had to go back and get it squared away. The seller hadn’t gotten a new title, and instead, just signed it over to me. That’s not the way it’s done here, now. Evidently, some new laws have been enacted, and she needs to physically receive a new title and sign that title to me before I can register the vehicle as mine.
What an eye-opener. Thankfully, FS didn’t have anything but a minor fence repair to do today, due to a mix-up and delay on the bathroom job he’s doing, so he could spend an hour with me.
But he now has to get a new title for every vehicle he buys to repair, restore and sell. Unngh. Someone in the state assembly decided there was money to be had in transferring titles numerous times.
So here I am, wondering if and when I’ll ever get to drive my own car. I’ve officially named it, “Problem Child.”
Not too many people at the revenue office were playing the part of masked bandits, but some were considerably larger than I am. It’s a sign of being cooped up forever, I’m sure.
Before FS came, I washed down the cupboard doors. I didn’t feel like it, but felt it had to be done, and why not today? I washed them with the same solution I used on the walls, but used a paper towel to wipe off the excess water. The paper towels came away yellow-to-brown, so I’m sure that’s where the smell has been coming from.
Just before FS showed up, I was going to hang my clock, so I think I’ll do it now, before I get the ironing board out to make Abbie’s present presentable! If I can recall where I put the spray starch. :o|
You’ve been very busy. Why, we keep asking, does everything have to be so difficult? I need to call WW headquarters because we couldn’t figure out any way I could pay for the meeting (so I didn’t ;-).
I just typed up some more forestry and soil notes while listening to Steely Dan, which is atmospheric. I think I can take a nap while I wait for the Envirothon leader to tell me what to do next. She was texting earlier, but I didn’t understand anything. It could be just me.
The present is now presentable and is drying before I fold it. Once that is done, I’ll put the ironing board away and then fold the clothes that I took off the drying rack this morning, and then, I’m done for the day.
Well, sort of. I need to find a file jacket for my Problem Child. I could call it a Money Bucket, but that would infer that I’m getting something out of it. Not yet, my Precious.
There is a list as long as two pieces of string for the inspectors tomorrow, but I have no idea when, if any, of them will be addressed, now that we have no maintenance man. Still, I want it on record, and will ask, each month when I’m paying my rent, how soon they will be taken care of.
All you can do is keep telling them, but it’s sure annoying!
Good Morning, at least they were familiar faces!
Ugh, more paperwork, more fees (I assume)...
They will refund what I paid today because it was actually for the previous owner, who hadn’t had the title changed. So once it comes back to my account, it will have to go out again for the same thing. It just won’t be in any reasonable time frame.
She should be charged a penalty for wasting the time of my son, me and the employees at the revenue office. But we all know that isn’t going to happen!
You only think it’s annoying because you don’t live here. It’s actually inexcusable, from my standpoint, because I have to keep reminding them of things that should have been taken care of before I ever moved in. UNNGH!
I probably would let some of it go, but unless things change, this will be the last place I live. I want it to be liveable! I don’t want to feel frustrated for the rest of my time here because I see them every day and have to live “around” them until they’re fixed.
I think that sounded more offensive than it was meant to! LOL!
I just meant that it’s annoying from another person’s standpoint because it’s messed up. But when one has to live within the confines of the area that needs attention, it becomes frustrating and beyond the ability of the mind to reconcile. The stupid. It should hurt.
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