By Dimitra Kallinikou, researcher in cultural anthropology and folklore

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2/5/2018

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THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

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The origin of life remains a scientific puzzle that has not yet been fully solved, while the sciences of Biochemistry, Geology and Astrobiology continue trying to shed light on the mystery. Life is the result of countless mutations and billions of years of evolution, which began in the Earth’s atmosphere, where the combination of volcanic gases, meteorite impacts, violent electrical storms and cosmic radiation led to the formation of amino acids that in turn formed proteins, became the first organic compounds and eventually created the first cell.

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The basic components of life as we know it on Earth consist of carbon compounds and their chemical derivatives, the so called organic molecules. Science is searching for their origin and wondering whether they exist exclusively on Earth or can also be found in space.

The theory of panspermia claims that life came from space in the form of organic molecules, and then, in combination with the composition of the primordial atmosphere of the planet, life evolved. In other words, the organic molecules undertook an intergalactic journey and, depending on the conditions of each planet where they landed, life either developed or did not. According to this hypothesis, other planets as well could host life, either at the level of microorganisms or at more advanced levels.

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These “precursor seeds of life” may have been created in stellar (interstellar) clouds, where, inside the mixture of stardust and gases, they were enriched by cosmic radiation and, attached to a comet or meteorite, eventually fell onto our planet and fertilised it.

But how old is the history of panspermia? Aristarchus of Samos, in the 3rd century B.C., is considered the father of the theory of panspermia, while almost 2000 years later, in 1908, Svante Arrhenius, who had received a Nobel Prize in Chemistry, adopted it. In the mid 20th century some scientists began to wonder to what extent the distribution of life in space happened by chance or whether something else had occurred.

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DIRECTED PANSERMIA – THE THEORY OF HUMANITY’S COSMIC PARENTS AND THE STRANGE FINDINGS

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In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the double helix of DNA, and in 1962 they were awarded the Nobel Prize together with Maurice Wilkins, who had supported their research.

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In 1972 Crick, together with Leslie Orgel, published an article titled “Directed Panspermia” and presented to the scientific community the possibility that panspermia might have been directed by some Intelligence by a technologically advanced civilization far from Earth. Their theory had first been presented a year earlier, in September 1971, at a conference organised by Carl Sagan on the topic of communication with extraterrestrial intelligence.

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They proposed that, at some point, humanity itself could send microorganisms from Earth aboard a spacecraft travelling at the speed of light. Algae could be among the candidate microorganisms, because under sunlight they can process carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water. They considered that, even if we are not technologically ready to attempt it, the main problem is that we do not know what the evolutionary processes of life on other planets beyond our solar system might be.

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Through the proposal of Directed Panspermia, Crick and Orgel essentially posed a question that is both existential and scientific:

If humans come to realise that they are alone in a vast universe, perhaps they will enter into the process of becoming creators. Conversely, another civilization somewhere in space might have attempted to sow life on other planets, sending organic molecules that reached Earth and contributed to the evolution of life here.

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The theory of Crick and Orgel regarding the possibility of an extraterrestrial creator was reinforced in 2015 by an announcement from Professor Milton Wainwright of the University of Sheffield, claiming that a sphere had been discovered in the stratosphere which appeared to be a product of nanotechnology. The find was named the “seed of life”, something also supported by the University of Buckingham and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe.

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Wainwright and his team sent a weather balloon into the stratosphere, reaching an altitude of 41 km, with the aim of collecting particles for research purposes. They discovered a spherical particle, and analysis showed that it consisted mainly of titanium and partially of vanadium. A sticky organic substance containing carbon and oxygen was oozing from its centre. Wainwright claimed that this artificial particle is the piece of evidence the scientific community had been seeking for the theory of Directed Panspermia.

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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21672857.2015.1087751

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He argued that the spherical particle was deliberately constructed from these two materials so that it could withstand the high temperatures during its journey to Earth, and that when it reached suitable conditions, it opened and released its organic material which, in the distant past, contributed to the creation of life.

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The counter argument is that it may have detached from some aircraft capable of reaching great altitudes, which would explain the need for high durability. Its organic material might not be inherent to the sphere itself instead, bacteria or fungi could have developed on it and begun decomposing it. Another explanation is that it comes from the ISS, satellites, or other space debris.

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However, for Wainwright and Wickramasinghe the find is an indication that the intelligent civilization that constructed this particle continues to sow life. Together with astronomer Fred Hoyle, they had previously proposed in a series of studies that stellar dust contains organic molecules in large proportions, which continue to bombard our planet and may explain the appearance of diseases that reach pandemic proportions. Thus, mass sudden diseases like the bubonic plague, which appear suddenly at intervals and cannot easily be attributed to a specific cause, could perhaps be ascribed to extraterrestrial invaders.

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In this direction the Institute for the Study of Panspermia & Astro Economics, headed by Wickramasinghe, has turned its research efforts since 2014, seeking evidence that life on Earth originated from cosmic genes and cosmic viruses. The Institute searches for correlations between findings in meteorites and in the stratosphere. In a 2016 announcement it suggested that the Zika virus, which causes babies to be born with microcephaly and can be transmitted through sexual intercourse, may indicate a genetic mutation responsible for the shrinking of the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, during human evolution we see genetic changes that can be identified as genetic imprints responsible for the expansion of the cerebral cortex, and thus the emergence of intelligence and language in humans.

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Wainwright argues that since our planet is constantly bombarded by particles from space, all living organisms, including humans, incorporate these “foreign guests” into their biology a conclusion that can be drawn from the fact that 40% of our DNA is viral.

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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21672857.2015.1087751

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An additional finding that reinforces the theory of panspermia is the so called “dragon particle”, discovered by Wainwright and a team of scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Buckingham. The finding is considered to be of biological nature, possibly part of an organism. The particle landed on the weather balloon launched on 31/7/2013 at an altitude of 27 km, leaving a tiny crater which, for the research team, suggests that it came from space. Analysis showed that it is composed of carbon and oxygen, but its appearance is unique and nothing similar has been found on Earth. They argued that it could not have come from Earth because an organism of such size cannot reach that altitude. That would be likely only in the case of a volcanic eruption but no such eruption had occurred in the previous three years.

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However, there might be some other reason why it ended up at that altitude, and this does not, in the absence of strong evidence, prove that it is of extraterrestrial origin. Chris McKay, an astrobiologist at NASA, argued that if it is found to consist of D-amino acids and not L-amino acids (which are the ones present on Earth), that would be strong proof that it does not originate from Earth.

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AND IF LIFE DID COME FROM SPACE, MIGHT ITS CREATION STORY NEED TO BE REWRITTEN?

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In 2015 NASA, through the program Microorganisms in the Stratosphere (MIST), studied the survival of bacteria in the stratosphere, in an attempt to simulate Martian surface conditions. In the stratosphere we find intense cosmic radiation, low atmospheric pressure and low temperatures. The findings showed that within 8 hours 99.999% of the bacteria did not survive. Those that did survive had undergone mutations in their genetic code, so more research is needed before scientists can reach firm conclusions about the survival of bacteria outside Earth.

Recently, Russian cosmonauts discovered marine plankton attached to the surface of the Russian part of the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Their announcement stated that it could not have been transported from Earth and is probably of space origin. NASA said it has no official information on the findings yet, so there is no clear scientific position on this discovery. Wainwright argued that particles the size of plankton could not reach the altitude of the ISS (about 200 km above the planet’s surface), and thus, for him, this reinforces the theory of panspermia.

Today, 120 years after Arrhenius’ proposal and 45 years after the publication by Crick and Orgel, we still have no definitive answers, and humanity continues to search for its origins. The Kepler space mission, which searches for exoplanets with Earth like conditions, has discovered 4,496 candidates with suitable conditions and 2,341 similar to Earth. We can only wait to find out whether they host some form of life.

 

Carl Sagan argued that it is impossible for a seed of life travelling to Earth to survive due to the enormous cosmic radiation. However, the discovery of extremophiles (ancient organisms that live in extreme environmental conditions, such as very high or very low temperatures, like under the Antarctic ice) proves that life can, in fact, exist under any conditions.

In 2011, Sweden sent a DNA plasmid into space on the rocket TEXUS 49 and studied it upon its return to Earth. The plasmid had survived temperatures of 1000°C and returned intact.

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In 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) sent the small spacecraft Philae to comet 67P. The few data it managed to send because it failed to land in a position where it could receive sunlight to keep operating indicated the presence of grains composed of organic molecules as well as ice beneath the surface.

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Recently, a team of scientists from NASA, in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and other international research institutes, announced that the meteorites Zag and Monahans, which fell to Earth in 1998, contain crystalline salts and organic molecules. The findings are 4.5 billion years old, as old as our solar system, and will from now on change the theory of the origin of life. We are thus talking about the possibility that salt crystals preserve life by trapping it inside them.

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The findings suggest more than one “parent” and the possibility that organic life passed from one host to another. Potential parents are the dwarf planet Ceres (Δήμητρα) and the asteroid Hebe. The salt crystals indicate a parent rich in water, most likely Ceres, through its volcanic activity. The research team concludes that it is very likely that life exists elsewhere as well.

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https://www.hellenicmythology.com/demetra.html
https://www.hellenicmythology.com/demetra.html

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The materials that make up 97% of the human body’s mass are hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, phosphorus and sulfur. We find the same materials in the stars of our galaxy, so we contain the primordial materials of the universe, as well as others that, when they reach Earth, become incorporated into our DNA.

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Astrophysicist Karel Schrijver and Professor of Pathology at Stanford University Iris Schrijver, in their book Living With the Stars: How the Human Body Is Connected to the Life Cycles of the Earth, the Planets, and the Stars, write that 40,000 tons of cosmic dust fall on Earth every year, and elements of that dust are continually incorporated into our bodies. Our search for our origins continues, as we have only just begun to investigate and detect signs of biology out there. All the evidence is still at the research stage, and there is no decisive proof to convince us that the theory of panspermia is the answer to the creation of life let alone that an advanced civilization is its creator. Perhaps humans cannot accept that they may be the product of random events or something within us compels us always to search for our Creator.

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Bibliography

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Γραμματικάκης Γ. (2014). Η Κόμη Της Βερενίκης. Πανεπιστημιακές Εκδόσεις Κρήτης.
Βέμπος Θ. (2001). Μαύρα Υπόγεια Ρεύματα. Μια περιπλάνηση σε πολύ επικίνδυνες περιοχές. Εκδόσεις Μάριος Βερέττας.

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https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/access/scbccp.pdf
https://www.nasa.gov/kepler/discoveries
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21672857.2015.1087751
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http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/1/eaao3521
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http://www.ispajapan.com/page/news