Life originated in a nebular cloud, over 10 billion years ago, but may have had multiple origins in multiple locations, including in galaxies older than the Milky Way according to Rudolf Schild of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Rhawn Joseph of the Brain Research Laboratory. Multiple origins, they believe, could account for the different domains of life: archae, bacteria, eukaryotes.
The first steps toward life may have been achieved when self-replicating nano-particles initially comprised of a mixture of carbon, calcium, oxygen, hydrogen, phosphorus, sugars, and other elements and gasses were combined and radiated, forming a nucleus around which a lipid-like permeable membrane was established, and within which DNA-bases were laddered together with phosphates and sugars; a process which may have taken billions of years.
DNA-based life, they propose, may be a “cosmic imperative” such that life can only achieve life upon acquiring a DNA genome. Alternatively, the “Universal Genetic Code” may have won out over inferior codes through natural selection. When the first microbe evolved, it immediately began multiplying and spreading throughout the cosmos via panspermia carried by solar winds, Bolide impact, comets, ejection of living planets prior to supernova which are then captured by a newly forming solar system, galactic collisions and following the exchange of stars between galaxies.
Bacteria, archae, and viruses, act as intergalactic genetic messengers, acquiring genes from and transferring genes to life forms dwelling on other planets. Viruses also serve as gene depositories, storing vast numbers of genes which may be transferred to archae and bacteria depending on cellular needs. The acquisition of these genes from the denizens of other worlds, enables prokaryotes and viruses to immediately adapt to the most extreme environments, including those that might be encountered on other planets.
Whether the universe was created by a Big Bang Universe or an Eternal Infinite Universe, once life was established it began to evolve. Archae, bacteria, and viruses may have combined and mixed genes, fashioning the first multi-cellular eukaryote which continued to evolve. Initially, evolution on Earth-like planets was random and dictated by natural selection. Over time, increasingly complex and intelligent species evolved through natural selection whereas inferior competitors became extinct. However, their genes were copied by archae, bacteria, and viruses. If the first steps toward life in this galaxy began 13.6 billion years ago, then using Earth as an example, intelligent life might have evolved within this galaxy by 9 billion years ago. As life continued to spread throughout the cosmos, and as microbes and viruses were cast from world to world, genes continued to be exchanged via horizontal gene transfer and copies of genes coding for advanced and complex characteristics were acquired from and transferred to eukaryotes and highly evolved intelligent life.
Eventually descendants of these microbes, viruses, and their vast genetic libraries, fell to the new born Earth. The innumerable genes stored and maintained in the genomes of these viruses, coupled with prokaryote genes and those transferred to eurkaryotes, made it possible to biologically modify and terraform new Earth, and in so doing, some of these genes, now within the eurkaryote genome, were activated and expressed, replicating various species which had evolved on other worlds. Genes act on genes, and genes act on the environment and the altered environment activates and inhibits gene expression, thereby directly influencing the evolution of species.
On Earth, Schild and Joseph conclude, “the progression from simple cell to sentient intelligent being is due to the activation of viral, archae, and bacteria genes acquired from extra-terrestrial life and inserted into the Earthly eukaryote genome. What has been described as a random evolution is in fact the metamorphosis and replication of living creatures which long ago lived on other planets.”
Tag: earth
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Was DNA-based Life Spread Virally Through the Universe?
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Close Flybys of Two Moons in Less Than Two Days
About a month and a half after its last double flyby, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will be turning another double play this week, visiting the geyser moon Enceladus and the hazy moon Titan. The alignment of the moons means that Cassini can catch glimpses of these two contrasting worlds within less than 48 hours, with no maneuver in between.
On the left, Saturn’s moon Enceladus is backlit by the sun, showing the fountain-like sources of the fine spray of material that towers over the south polar region. On the right, is a composite image of Titan. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI and NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.
Cassini will make its closest approach to Enceladus late at night on May 17 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 18 UTC. The spacecraft will pass within about 435 kilometers (270 miles) of the moon’s surface.
The main scientific goal at Enceladus will be to watch the sun play peekaboo behind the water-rich plume emanating from the moon’s south polar region. Scientists using the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph will be able to use the flickering light to measure whether there is molecular nitrogen in the plume. Ammonia has already been detected in the plume and scientists know heat can decompose ammonia into nitrogen molecules. Determining the amount of molecular nitrogen in the plume will give scientists clues about thermal processing in the moon’s interior.
The second of Cassini’s two flybys is an encounter with Titan. The closest approach will take place in the late evening May 19 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 20 UTC. The spacecraft will fly to within 1,400 kilometers (750 miles) of the surface.
Cassini will primarily be doing radio science during this pass to detect the subtle variations in the gravitational tug on the spacecraft by Titan, which is 25 percent larger in volume than the planet Mercury. Analyzing the data will help scientists learn whether Titan has a liquid ocean under its surface and get a better picture of its internal structure. The composite infrared spectrometer will also get its southernmost pass for thermal data to fill out its temperature map of the smoggy moon.
Cassini has made four previous double flybys and one more is planned in the years ahead.
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Picture of the Day – Io Transit of Jupiter
Io is roughly the size of Earth’s moon but 2,000 times farther away. In two of the images, Io appears to be skimming Jupiter’s cloud tops, but it’s actually 310, 000 miles (500,000 kilometers) away. Io zips around Jupiter in 1.8 days, whereas the moon circles Earth every 28 days.
Io Transit of Jupiter. Credit: J. Spencer (Lowell Observatory) and NASA/ESA
The conspicuous black spot on Jupiter is Io’s shadow and is about the size of the moon itself (2,262 miles or 3,640 kilometers across). This shadow sails across the face of Jupiter at 38,000 mph (17 kilometers per second). The smallest details visible on Io and Jupiter measure 93 miles (150 kilometers) across, or about the size of Connecticut.
