5 ms·

Implications for the search for extraterrestrial life! The unusually unique features of the cells suggest that it MAY have evolved elsewhere in the universe.

deleted 4y ago
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anonymouskimmer 4y ago
We're all very much mixed at this point. But think of the other possibility: That the ancestor of the archaea lineage evolved on Earth while the ancestor of the bacterial lineage came from space.
- ch4s3 4y ago
  > while the ancestor of the bacterial lineage came from space. I don't believe this is supported by evidence. Finding a few organic molecules in a meteorite is pretty thin, and as Carl Sagan pointed out the lethal doses of radiation in space make panspermia highly unlikely.
  - anonymouskimmer 4y ago
    Oh sure, this is all wild speculation. It's fun though.
    - ch4s3 4y ago
      That seems fair, it is an interesting idea.
dan-robertson 4y ago
What about the similarity of their dna to other superphyla?
Kaijo 4y ago
The genomic studies described in the article clearly show the phylogenetic relationship of Asgard archaea to other archaea and thus better resolve their place on Earth's singular tree of life. The excitement is over their potential to resolve the deep branching structure of that tree. They plausibly share a most recent common ancestor with all eukaryotes and in some sense represent an evolutionary grade of transition towards eukaryotes. It's also exciting that some strains have been maintained in pure culture for the first time, so that we can rule out the findings as being merely artefacts of metagenomic sequencing methods. How did you to get aliens from this?
Symmetry 4y ago
I think the speed at which the first life evolved on Earth but the painful slowness with which photosynthesis, eukaryotes, and complex life evolved on Earth make me optimistic about finding life forms but pessimistic about finding intelligent beings.
MagicMoonlight 4y ago
No, you’re falling for the creator fallacy. “How could something so complex have started here? There must be a wizard who made it on rigel 7” But who made the wizard? “…” The problem is, if it could have been created elsewhere then it could have been created here. It’s a meaningless statement. It’s like saying “no she didn’t shoot him, she called a man from mexico and he flew over and pulled the trigger and then gave her the gun and flew back”, you’re just making something up and adding random extra complexity with no evidence.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

anonymouskimmer 4y ago

We're all very much mixed at this point. But think of the other possibility: That the ancestor of the archaea lineage evolved on Earth while the ancestor of the bacterial lineage came from space.

ch4s3 4y ago
> while the ancestor of the bacterial lineage came from space. I don't believe this is supported by evidence. Finding a few organic molecules in a meteorite is pretty thin, and as Carl Sagan pointed out the lethal doses of radiation in space make panspermia highly unlikely.
- anonymouskimmer 4y ago
  Oh sure, this is all wild speculation. It's fun though.
  - ch4s3 4y ago
    That seems fair, it is an interesting idea.

dan-robertson 4y ago

What about the similarity of their dna to other superphyla?

Kaijo 4y ago

The genomic studies described in the article clearly show the phylogenetic relationship of Asgard archaea to other archaea and thus better resolve their place on Earth's singular tree of life. The excitement is over their potential to resolve the deep branching structure of that tree. They plausibly share a most recent common ancestor with all eukaryotes and in some sense represent an evolutionary grade of transition towards eukaryotes. It's also exciting that some strains have been maintained in pure culture for the first time, so that we can rule out the findings as being merely artefacts of metagenomic sequencing methods. How did you to get aliens from this?

Symmetry 4y ago

I think the speed at which the first life evolved on Earth but the painful slowness with which photosynthesis, eukaryotes, and complex life evolved on Earth make me optimistic about finding life forms but pessimistic about finding intelligent beings.

MagicMoonlight 4y ago

No, you’re falling for the creator fallacy. “How could something so complex have started here? There must be a wizard who made it on rigel 7” But who made the wizard? “…” The problem is, if it could have been created elsewhere then it could have been created here. It’s a meaningless statement. It’s like saying “no she didn’t shoot him, she called a man from mexico and he flew over and pulled the trigger and then gave her the gun and flew back”, you’re just making something up and adding random extra complexity with no evidence.