The origin of life on Earth has been a really controversial issue, in which even religion has had an influence. Science, for its part, has postulated various theories, which indicate that life may have come from another part of the universe in meteorites and upon arrival found the optimal conditions to prosper.
This does not tell us how it started, or where it came from, but it does give us an overview of the possible causes of why we are here.
As far-fetched as a theory may sound, it must be refuted so that it ceases to be one of many possibilities and that is why, as strange as it may seem and unlike the example of the “space kettle”…
Not long ago, an article with decades of information was published, which has caused a stir due to the nature of its approaches. The article was named “Cause of Cambrian Explosion – Terrestrial or Cosmic?”.
Although it is richly referenced and peer-reviewed, it presents approaches that are a bit far removed from what is currently thought.
Scientist Stephen Fleischfresser gives us an up-close look at two of the most well-known scientists involved in the article: Edward Steele and Chandra Wickramasinghe.
On the one hand, Steele poses evolution as the acquisition of genetic changes determined by the influence of the environment instead of just random mutations, he calls it metalamarckism.
On the other hand, Wickramasinghe confirms Fred Hoyle’s hypothesis regarding the production of organic carbon molecules from stardust.
The problem of studying cometary biology and that is involved in the work raises that evolution was affected by the fact that the biochemistry so described of the formation of the first amino acids did not occur on Earth.
Wickramasinghe mentions that “comets are the carriers and distributors of life in the cosmos, and life on Earth arose and developed as a result of contributions from comets.” However, his approach goes beyond just a few amino acids put into space and sent to Earth, but mentions that it is likely that viruses and even cell forms as complex as a eukaryotic cell might have arrived here on Earth and without further ado. with the right conditions they might have proliferated.
A rain of retroviruses that he suggests have arrived play a radical role in this, since he mentions that they are the cause of the great diversification of life, as they have been influencing evolution for regarding 500 million years.
This was achieved by attaching segments of genetic material to life on Earth.
The group of cephalopods that appears in the oceans at that time, they do not mention that it has been altered in such a way to have branched out into so many species of different shapes and sizes in a short period of time. Rather, their complete genomes in eggs may have arrived in what they describe as “icy fireballs several hundred million years ago,” thinking that not only might the origin of life have been outside of Earth, but that really complex forms might have come with him.
These arguments are as valid as any and there is always the possibility of overcoming fiction and perhaps discovering in the future that many of these facts have a certain truth. For the time being, it is worth highlighting the interesting nature of the subject and the great research carried out.
It is a really interesting article published in the magazine Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology.
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