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We not only could have a common ancestor, it seems to me to be almost certain. What are the chances that some other life has evolved with DNA completely indepen
by joelburget 16y ago
We not only could have a common ancestor, it seems to me to be almost certain. What are the chances that some other life has evolved with DNA completely independently
- olalonde 16y agoI second, but that's what the first article posted on HN seemed to suggest. http://skymania.com/wp/2010/11/alien-life-form-is-here-on-earth.html/ http://skymania.com/wp/2010/11/alien-life-form-is-here-on-ea...
- yread 16y agoWhy do you consider it certain? It could have just died off being much less efficient than us.
- joelburget 16y agoWell, DNA is fairly complex. Of all the elements and compounds life could involve it seems rather unlikely that DNA evolved in two places completely separately. Not impossible, but very unlikely.
- dnautics 16y agoactually, no. DNA/RNA are in fact, just about the simplest chemical choices that can perform replication. Ribose, for example is the lowest energy pentafuranose, which means in a random mix of sugars you'll find ribose in the highest concentration. The funny thing is that the KSS principle seems to hold in nature, we've tried in the lab to design alternatives to DNA/RNA, and none of them seem to work quite so well. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/284/5423/2118.short http://www.sciencemag.org/content/284/5423/2118.short
- joelburget 16y agoVery good point.