5 ms·

This article gives direct quotes from the authors, and the quotes are exciting, (33 authors FWIW) https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/958247/alien-octopuses

This article gives direct quotes from the authors, and the quotes are exciting, (33 authors FWIW) https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/958247/alien-octopuses-cephalopods-earth-outer-space-aliens-cryopreserved-eggs-cambrian-explosion https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/958247/alien-octopuse...

ianai 8y ago
Not entirely sure I can take that site seriously. Their ads seem pretty strongly in the fake news territory.
- AlexCoventry 8y ago
  The original paper is here. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007961071... Not sure I can take this paper seriously, either, but it's clear they're taking themselves seriously (in a good way.)
mirimir 8y ago
OK, but "gene complexes", not necessarily octopuses, per se.
- Nomentatus 8y ago
  Not necessarily, true. But these aren't bacteria and this is a whole lotta genes - so life here absorbing so much DNA coherently doesn't sound more plausible than eggs hatching to me. (Meteorites are freezing cold if you touch them right after they land, despite ablating most of their mass on the way down. Or rather, iron ones are - carbonaceous, I have no idea.)
  - mirimir 8y ago
    We humans use genes that were delivered by viruses.
    - stephengillie 8y ago
      We get DNA not just from viruses, but also vesicles. All cells, from humble bacteria all the way to our relatively huge and dynamic human cells, package snippets of DNA to send to other cells. It's like a message in a bottle, thrown out into the "sea" of our atmosphere. Or an email, and viruses are spam. Previously on HN: Cells Talk in a Language That Looks Like Viruses. [0] 800 million viruses fall onto every square meter of Earth every day. They kill 20% of bacterial life every day. [1] Video simulation of HIV infecting a cell and reproducing. [2] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17005810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17005810 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16839636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16839636 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16982396 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16982396
    - Nomentatus 8y ago
      Yes - a bit at a time, I take it whereas some bacteria can swallow whole chromosomes entire (so-called "competence"); so I was skeptical about so much DNA transferring to just one kind of creature, at once. But now I think about it, the frozen octopi or eggs would bring a lot of alien octopi viruses along with them that might be able to do the job for all I know.
      - mirimir 8y ago
        Sure. But this isn't science. It's fiction. Or religion. If it's not testable, it's not science.
        Nomentatus 8y ago
        We don't have spacecraft? We never will? It's recently been found that Europa sprays out detectable water to great distances, and that traces of amino acid would be preserved at such temperatures. So we may have one answer re life soon. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/14/europa-moon-of-jupiter-prime-candidate-for-alien-life-after-water-blast-found https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/14/europa-moon-... If you're assuming that life from, say, Europa, even if we found it, and it was the point of origin for octopi, would have altered so much as to have no genetic or chemical similarity to octopi now, I have no idea what your evidence is for that. To the contrary, there are plenty of very highly evolutionarily conserved proteins, hormones, etc - melatonin is one (it was originally an antioxidant for one-celled creatures.) Refusing to entertain hypotheses by reason of expense isn't science.

ianai 8y ago

Not entirely sure I can take that site seriously. Their ads seem pretty strongly in the fake news territory.

AlexCoventry 8y ago
The original paper is here. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0079610718300798 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S007961071... Not sure I can take this paper seriously, either, but it's clear they're taking themselves seriously (in a good way.)

mirimir 8y ago

OK, but "gene complexes", not necessarily octopuses, per se.

Nomentatus 8y ago
Not necessarily, true. But these aren't bacteria and this is a whole lotta genes - so life here absorbing so much DNA coherently doesn't sound more plausible than eggs hatching to me. (Meteorites are freezing cold if you touch them right after they land, despite ablating most of their mass on the way down. Or rather, iron ones are - carbonaceous, I have no idea.)
- mirimir 8y ago
  We humans use genes that were delivered by viruses.
  - stephengillie 8y ago
    We get DNA not just from viruses, but also vesicles. All cells, from humble bacteria all the way to our relatively huge and dynamic human cells, package snippets of DNA to send to other cells. It's like a message in a bottle, thrown out into the "sea" of our atmosphere. Or an email, and viruses are spam. Previously on HN: Cells Talk in a Language That Looks Like Viruses. [0] 800 million viruses fall onto every square meter of Earth every day. They kill 20% of bacterial life every day. [1] Video simulation of HIV infecting a cell and reproducing. [2] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17005810 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17005810 [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16839636 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16839636 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16982396 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16982396
  - Nomentatus 8y ago
    Yes - a bit at a time, I take it whereas some bacteria can swallow whole chromosomes entire (so-called "competence"); so I was skeptical about so much DNA transferring to just one kind of creature, at once. But now I think about it, the frozen octopi or eggs would bring a lot of alien octopi viruses along with them that might be able to do the job for all I know.
    - mirimir 8y ago
      Sure. But this isn't science. It's fiction. Or religion. If it's not testable, it's not science.
      - Nomentatus 8y ago
        We don't have spacecraft? We never will? It's recently been found that Europa sprays out detectable water to great distances, and that traces of amino acid would be preserved at such temperatures. So we may have one answer re life soon. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/14/europa-moon-of-jupiter-prime-candidate-for-alien-life-after-water-blast-found https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/may/14/europa-moon-... If you're assuming that life from, say, Europa, even if we found it, and it was the point of origin for octopi, would have altered so much as to have no genetic or chemical similarity to octopi now, I have no idea what your evidence is for that. To the contrary, there are plenty of very highly evolutionarily conserved proteins, hormones, etc - melatonin is one (it was originally an antioxidant for one-celled creatures.) Refusing to entertain hypotheses by reason of expense isn't science.