A summary of decades of
research on a rather 'out-there' idea involving viruses from space has recently
been published, and it's raising questions on just how scientific we can be
when it comes to speculating on the history of life on Earth. This may sound
weird and strange but its serious.
It's easy to throw around
words like crackpot, rogue, and maverick in describing the scientific fringe,
but every now and then a paper like this comes along, leaving us blinking
owlishly, unsure of where to even begin.
A total of 33 names are
listed as authors on this review, which was published by Progress in Biophysics
and Molecular Biology. 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 already 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, recognised for empirically
confirming Sir Fred Hoyle's hypothesis describing the production of complex
carbon molecules on interstellar dust.
Read more here.
So they hitched a ride on a comet? Asteroid? Dropped off by Aliens? Just wondering, does one of those scientists have really freaky hair?
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