Is the octopus an 'extraterrestrial import' that arrived to Earth via comet? Paper resurrects controversial theory that life began elsewhere in the universe - and claims alien viruses raining down on our planet drove evolution New paper resurrects controversial panspermia theory to explain life on Earth Theory claims universe is a single biosphere, and life did not originate on Earth Instead, says life was transported here by cosmic objects which drove evolution The researchers say the octopus could be a living example of this phenomenon Its features, which appear suddenly in family tree, may be due to imported genes But, many experts have dismissed the theory, and say it can't be taken seriously Roughly 540 million years ago, life on Earth changed dramatically; the planet, once dominated by simple organisms, suddenly became home to most of the major animal groups known today. The Cambrian Explosion marked a critical turning point on the evolutionary timeline – and, some speculate it may have been driven by forces from out of this world. A bizarre and widely dismissed theory known as panspermia argues that life on Earth was seeded by biological material transported from elsewhere in the universe. And, according to a new study based on the theory, octopuses could be evidence of this. Given the complexity of the octopus’s nervous system, ‘camera-like eyes,’ flexibility, and camouflage abilities – which appear seemingly out of nowhere in its family tree – the study proposes the cephalopods may have alien origins. It’s one of the many bizarre claims in a new paper published to the journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology. The study, authored by 33 researchers from universities and institutes around the world, reviews evidence that is consistent with the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology – or, panspermia. By this theory, ‘the entire ensemble of habitable planets in the galaxy constitutes a single interconnected biosphere.’ This would mean that life exists all across the universe, and arose long before the first organisms began to emerge on Earth. The researchers argue that ‘life may have been seeded here on Earth by life-bearing comets as soon as conditions on Earth allowed it to flourish (about or just before 4.1 Billion years ago).’ ‘Living organisms such as space-resistant and space-hardy bacteria, viruses, more complex eukaryotic cells, fertilised ova and seeds have been continuously delivered ever since to Earth,’ they continue, ‘so being one important driver of further terrestrial evolution which has resulted in considerable genetic diversity and which has led to the emergence of mankind.’ Viruses and retroviruses play a critical role in the argument, due to their ability to alter the genetic makeup of the organisms they infect. Alien viruses raining down onto Earth could, for example, have given rise to the ‘staggering level of complexity’ seen in the genome of the octopus, the researchers suggest. The researchers point to the differences between the octopus and the ancestral nautilus, arguing that the sophisticated features seen in the octopus ‘appear suddenly on the evolutionary scene.’ As the transformative genes responsible for the octopus's complex features can't be easily traced back through its family tree, the researchers say they 'seem to be borrowed from a far distant "future."' ‘One plausible explanation, in our view, is that the new genes are likely new extraterrestrial imports to Earth – most plausibly as an already coherent group of functioning genes within (say) cryopreserved and matrix protected fertilized Octopus eggs,’ the authors wrote. ‘Thus the possibility that cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted as that would be aparsimonious cosmic explanation for the Octopus’ sudden emergence on Earth circa 270 million years ago. ‘Indeed this principle applies to the sudden appearance in the fossil record of pretty well all major life forms,’ the researchers add. With such bold conclusions, it’s little wonder why the paper has drawn criticism from other scientists. At the very least, some experts say it calls for additional research to put the hypothesis to the test. There’s one thing, however, most appear to be in agreement on. The article ‘is worth thinking about,’ says virologist Karin Moelling of the Max Planck Institute Molecular Genetics, in Berlin, and Institute of Medical Microbiology, Zürich, in commentary published in the same journal issue, according to Cosmos. But, ‘the main statement about viruses, microbes and even animals coming to us from space, cannot be taken seriously.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...evives-theory-life-Earth-began-elsewhere.html
Even if this theory held evidence you get no further to the truth... Where did the Aliens originate? How did they evolve? Ask the wrong questions and you get the wrong answers. What is often the most important of the 5 W’s!
They do have better designed eyes than us (no blind spot) so clearly their god is smarter than our god. (And their crucifixes are 8-pointed.)
Its a fun concept but the biggest assertion on their part - octopuses showed up brilliant, can easily be explained in other ways, more plausibly too. They are soft tissue creatures not easily preserved in the fossil record. Nor would their immediate ancestors most likely. From the nautilus to the octopus is a huge amount of time absolutely ripe with all the requirements for massive evolution yet without record. But cool story bro
That isn't controversy, it is nonsense. Octopuses are mollusks without shells like squid, they share close genetic relationships with other mollusks. There are more than 800 species, are they all extraterrestrial? They have DNA that is the same as the DNA of all other terrestrial organisms, they have the same metabolic pathways, the same RNA, the same basic reproduction. They have the same basic organs. It is biologically impossible for something on another planet to evolve exactly like life on earth with the same DNA, RNA, proteins, structures, functions. It quite simply does not/will not happen. There is no reason aside from click bait to think they are anything else but terrestrial.
The article speculates that these frozen eggs on asteroids bombarded the earth 540million years ago...and that many species entered the primordial soup around that time...I find it an interesting theory but we can't really compare the mollusk evolution since then...over half a billion years ago. This is why it's not nonsense to me but an interesting theory. Everything I've read about evolution traces life back to the sponge ..this is definitely a different take on it. Your post says something from another planet evolves like life on earth...yet the opposite could be possible.
I remember when the Yucatan asteroid hypothesis was first introduced, Luis and Walter Alvarez were pretty much laughed out of the conference where they first presented it. Not saying that this is on the same level but panspermia is a valid theory worth investigation and debate vs a magic cloud man that created everything in 6 days.
I don't know if it's a valid theory, or just a really wild hypothesis, but I agree that there's nothing wrong with rigorously investigating its claims if you can find the grant money and/or time to run it to ground.
The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs is guaranteed to have ejected material into space and that material would have contained microscopic life. What is not known is if that microscopic life could become active again once found and brought back to earth.
My guess is that to go from that extreme cold of the vacuum of space, to the super-heated temperatures of entering an atmosphere, coupled with the wildly violent impact should be enough to vaporize/pulverize/tenderize just about anything that leads to life. Couple that with the infinitesimally small odds of landing on a watery planet conducive to incubating life and I feel like we're getting closer and closer to the same odds as "magic cloud man creating life, the universe, and everything in six days." But, hey it's still interesting.
I believe that it’s actually been demonstrated that this is incorrect. Remember, we could be talking about a virus or even just a protein. Don’t get me wrong, I put no stock in these claims. Evolution is pretty well documented, and we can track many genes from the beginning of life through today. The only part of the theory I see holding any water is the potential original seeding of life on earth. That would not be disproven by evolution if the first specks of life were extraterrestrial in nature. At this time I see no reason to believe one or the other about the first fife, but since then evolution writes a compelling book.
Having met Sly in person, I can say with 100% confidence that he his mother was probed by an alien octopus.
Which "this" are you referring to? If it's proteins/aminos being delivered via extraterrestrial bodies and the elements essential to life and acreting to the terrestrial mass I don't have an issue with that, but maybe I missed the part where a single extraterrestrial bacterium or virus has ever been observed -- let alone an octupus egg -- on an extraterrestrial body (that's not meant to be snarky, I don't really pay any attention to the study of astrobiology, maybe they have found such evidence and I completely missed it).
Just that AA’s can persist against the riggers of space and atmospheric forces. It doesn’t need some delivery method if we are talking back to the original seeding.
