Evidence for panspermia "overwhelming"?

[dogjones]

Well, according to this article there is overwhelming evidence that Earth was seeded by a comet.


Here is the paper the article is talking about:

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7174908

I can only access the abstract, but the whole thing appears to be based on the fact that there are organic chemicals in outer space.

Seems a bit of a leap to say this overwhelmingly proves the case for panspermia.

Thoughts?

 

[Marduk]

oh well if hes said it then it must be true, after all he was right about S.A.R.S being an extra terrestrial virus wasn't he
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0603_030603_sarsspace.html

 

[dogjones]

Ah! Here is a link to the full article

 

[Ocelot]

To be fair he doens't say that the evidence is overwhelming. The only time that word is used in the abstract it ts to refer tot he proportion of earthly ogranic chemistry that is tied to earthly biology.

What he does say about the evidence is that it's "mounting." though what this means is open to very wide interpretation.

The evidence that Abba is due to reform this year is mounting. Last year there was no evidence, now there's online speculation - see self fullfilling mounts.

 

[Jorghnassen]

Man, I wish I could submit articles and get accepted within 20 days. Those folks in astrobiology have it pretty sweet...

 

[rjh01]

This is old stuff. See Fred Hoyle^WP

In his later years, Hoyle became a staunch critic of theories of chemical evolution used to explain the naturalistic origin of life. With Chandra Wickramasinghe, Hoyle promoted the theory that life evolved in space, spreading through the universe via panspermia, and that evolution on earth is driven by a steady influx of viruses arriving via comets.

 

[Marduk]

This is old stuff. See Fred Hoyle^WP

Fred Hoyle is new stuff see Anaxagoras 500 BCE – 428 BCE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaxagoras

 

[Generally Rational]

I can only access the abstract, but the whole thing appears to be based on the fact that there are organic chemicals in outer space.

Seems a bit of a leap to say this overwhelmingly proves the case for panspermia.

Thoughts?

According to Nick Lane in "Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life" and "Life Ascending: the Ten Great Inventions of Evolution", panspermia isn't needed. Alkaline hydrothermal vents that would have been countless in the Hadean ocean could do it.

Google "Origin of life: Nascence man" for an article.

Or Google "Chance or Necessity? Bioenergetics and the Probability of Life" for Lane's scientific abstract that also readable by laymen, if just barely.

I'd post the URLs but I haven't reached 15 posts yet.

 

[fuelair]

According to Nick Lane in "Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life" and "Life Ascending: the Ten Great Inventions of Evolution", panspermia isn't needed. Alkaline hydrothermal vents that would have been countless in the Hadean ocean could do it.

Google "Origin of life: Nascence man" for an article.

Or Google "Chance or Necessity? Bioenergetics and the Probability of Life" for Lane's scientific abstract that also readable by laymen, if just barely.

I'd post the URLs but I haven't reached 15 posts yet.

Welcome in!! Seem to be getting off to a good start!!

 

[Generally Rational]

Welcome in!! Seem to be getting off to a good start!!

Thanks for the reply! I posted a link to the August Journal of Cosmology (and Nick Lane's abstract specifically) in the SGU forums but among dozens of views, nobody has replied. I wasn't certain what to make of that.

I just wanted people to know there are other theories of abiogenesis than the primordial soup.

 

[quarky]

Isn't this a moot point?

Big bang-wise?

It all came from something other.