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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
 Posted - 05/24/2003 : 11:04:14
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Sars 'from the stars'
By Richard Black
BBC science correspondent
The virus believed to cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) may have come to Earth from outer space, according to scientists writing in a leading British medical journal.
In a letter to The Lancet, the scientists, led by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Britain's Cardiff University, say the Sars coronavirus is so unlike other viruses that an extra-terrestrial origin is logical.
However, a number of Sars experts believe the theory itself seems to have come from another planet.
The idea that Sars comes from the stars relates to a theory called panspermia. This says that life itself evolved somewhere out in the cosmos, and is carried from one planet to another on comets.
Professor Wickramasinghe, who is a leading panspermia enthusiast, says the Sars coronavirus is so unusual that it could not have arisen on Earth.
"The particular genetic sequences of this Sars virus appears to be dramatically different from all the other known coronaviruses; and that has suggested an independent evolution of that virus to be required."
Flawed evidence?
In other words, the virus evolved somewhere else, perhaps on another planet, before coming to Earth.
Professor Wickramasinghe admits there is no hard evidence for his theory; and researchers who have been working on Sars reacted with a mixture of disbelief and ridicule.
There is nothing strange about the Sars coronavirus, they said; it certainly evolved from other known viruses.
One leading expert said Professor Wickramasinghe's letter "must be a joke"; another said it was simply ridiculous.
And a spokesman for the World Health Organization re-assured me that they had no plans to send Sars inspection teams into outer space just yet.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/2931246.stm
Published: 2003/05/23 06:52:50 GMT
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Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 05/24/2003 : 18:17:22 [Permalink]
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It's hard to understand how an organism which evolved entirely away from the Earth would share enough similarities with a group of terrestrial organisms to be classified as a member of that group.
If the differences in its genetic material are profound enough to suggest hypothesizing an extraterrestrial origin, wouldn't it deserve its own, separate niche in our taxonomy?
And, if the ET hypothesis is supported, how'd it get lumped in with an existing family of cold viruses?
There's gotta be a bad mistake in there somewhere. Question is, who's making it? |
"The Republican agenda is to turn the United States into a third-world shithole." -P.Z.Myers |
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jmcginn
Skeptic Friend
343 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2003 : 07:17:46 [Permalink]
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I believe we can put this claim to rest, it appears that the virus is very similar to a virus that infects the civet, which also happens to be considered a delicacy in Asia. This like most suddenly appearing viruses is probably of zoonotic origin not exobiological.
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030526/5/singapore40604.html
A couple of the points about the article are typical of "science" in the news. First this was in a letter to the Lancet not a fully submitted article. Secondly from the Lancet's web page here is a description of how to write for the Lancet (emphasis mine).
quote:
The Lancet is an international general medical journal that will consider any original contribution that advances or illuminates medical science or practice, or that educates or entertains the journal's readers. Whatever you have written, remember that it is the general reader whom you are trying to reach. One way to find out if you have succeeded is to show your draft to colleagues in other specialties. If they do not understand, neither, very probably, will The Lancet's staff or readers.
Back to the article:
quote:
Professor Wickramasinghe, who is a leading panspermia enthusiast
hehehe not an axe to grind here???
quote:
One leading expert said Professor Wickramasinghe's letter "must be a joke"; another said it was simply ridiculous.
LOL
A search through the faculty at Cardiff U did not find a Wickramasinghe.
http://www.cf.ac.uk/cgi-bin/PhoneDirectory
I am still trying to find out if that name is some sort of joke name with another meaning, but I can't find it. LOL |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2003 : 10:57:37 [Permalink]
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Chandra NameIcan'tpronounce has been around for a long time, although I've not paid much attention to him.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he's an astronomer. Every couple of years or so, he comes up with something amusing for which neither he nor anyone else can offer the least of supportive evidence. He gets a certain amount of un-warrented media attention, then, like the Loch Ness Practical Joke, fades from sight again.
I'm not sure, but I seem to remember him being quoted by Creationists, as well as the outer-space-invasion dingbats.
Edited to add: He's from India and the name, as far as I know, is his real one.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 05/27/2003 11:00:50 |
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jmcginn
Skeptic Friend
343 Posts |
Posted - 05/27/2003 : 13:16:45 [Permalink]
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Ahhh Filthy you are so right. Thanks for the reminder.
http://www.panspermia.org/chandra.htm
and
http://www.holysmoke.org/cretins/wicram.htm
quote:
"Viruses, although often bad for the individual, are in the view of Sir Fred Hoyle and myself of paramount importance to the evolution for species on our planet. They carry with them the store of cosmic genetic information needed for the generation of new species, classes and orders, and for the progressive forward march of life."
You are right he is a professor of applied mathematics and astronomy. Just the kind of expert I won't commenting on the genetic make up of viruses. :< |
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BorderCoyote
New Member
Canada
8 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2003 : 11:00:41 [Permalink]
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| I thought SARS was a punishment from GOD upon us all for the sin of having lungs...... |
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Computer Org
Skeptic Friend
392 Posts |
Posted - 06/27/2003 : 07:52:24 [Permalink]
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Message Preview
From Kil's original post (quoting Sirrah Richard Black): "And a spokesman for the World Health Organization re-assured me that they had no plans to send Sars inspection teams into outer space just yet."
This cutsie comment may have been true when Kil posted it but it is no longer true. Just recently, in fact, (IIRC) NASA (ESA??) launched a probe headed for the planet Mars to, among other things, search for extra-terrestrial (microscopic) life-forms.
The basic idea is fairly straightforward: Microscopic (encysted) life is shot into space by an astroidal impactor. The debris eventually lands on some other planet with an environment hospitable to those lifeforms----which then procede to populate (some of) the new planet.
Meanwhile, of course, on the original planet, evolutionary processes continue. After eons, there are two (or more) planetary evolutionary-trees of the original microbe.
Eventually, perhaps, a second impactor sends a second wave of microbes which may eventually land and populate along side of their now-very-distant relatives---which had landed eons earlier.
So: Is the SARS virus a recent immigrant----a distant relative to the much earlier immigration-wave----or is it just an evolved species. The "evolution" answer is the most straightforward and easiest one; but the recent-impactor-arrival is an adequate answer too.
And so: We are spending money sending probes to Mars (and other planets) to see what---if any---microbial lifeforms are there and whether or not they seem to have a far-distant anscestor in common with our microbial life.
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Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life. --Falstaff |
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