Complex life evolved here on Earth, but we still don't clearly understand the forces and mechanisms which drove evolution in that direction. Could those same factors exist elsewhere in our solar system and beyond?
An evolutionary geneticist, Frank Rosenzweig with financial assistance from NASA is going to spend the next five years trying to gain some clarity, as phys.org is reporting.
The University of Montana researcher is studying how life evolves complex traits in his lab. From the Phys.org article (which is an interesting read, BTW):
"Over my career, I've been interested in what are the genetic bases of adaptation and how do complex communities evolve from single clones," Rosenzweig said. "Related to these questions are others such as how do the genetic 'starting point' and ecological setting influence the tempo and trajectory of evolutionary change."
...
Rosenzweig's previous NASA funding came from the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology Program. The first project, initiated in 2007, examined how genetic material (or genomes) evolve in yeast species that were cultured under limited resources. A second project, initiated in 2010, is investigating how founder cells in E. coli genotypes, and the environment in which they evolve, influence the diversity and stability of subsequent populations.
The first project led to an unexpected finding: stress may increase the frequency with which genome sequences are rearranged. Stress introduces new chromosomal variants into the species' population that could prove beneficial under challenging circumstances. Indeed, previous studies have indicated that new chromosomal variants are stress resistant. In 2013, Rosenzweig's team, led by University of Montana research professor Eugene Kroll, began studying how yeast cultures respond to starvation.
The yeast research was reported in a paper published on PLOS one in July, 2013.
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Monday December 15 2014, @12:30PM
there's an obvious typo in the title
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 1) by Gremlin on Monday December 15 2014, @01:09PM
LaminatorX is quickly becoming my nominee for worst editor. Proof read before posting please!
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 15 2014, @06:43PM
Wouldn't that be the submitter's responsibility?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday December 15 2014, @08:54PM
Both. But the editor is the proofreader of last resort.
I did chose "users" as the debug option in the Poll. Maybe LaminatorX agrees.
(Score: 2) by martyb on Monday December 15 2014, @02:02PM
Yes, there was a typo and it has now been fixed. Thanks for pointing it out!
[To his credit, it appears the story queue was running empty, and he posted this story at 03:41 UTC — which is well nigh midnight on the east coast of the USA. On a Sunday, no less. Countless times I've seen LaminatorX posting stories in the wee early morning hours and then be back at it late at night, just to make sure our site has a regular stream of stories published. That said, we do make mistakes and appreciate it when the community calls us out on it.]
And, to keep this somewhat on topic: "How did Complex Life Evolve on Earth?" Simple! Just start with a real life and then add an imaginary one — isn't math fun? =)
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 2) by ticho on Monday December 15 2014, @03:00PM
Hm, so without Second Life, as well as any MMO out there, there would not be any complex life? Scary. :-)
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday December 15 2014, @08:57PM
If you need a computer to have an imaginary life, I'd like to have your real life...
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday December 15 2014, @02:58PM
Yes, Yes there is. Not sure how I missed that. Sorry about that folks. :(
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Monday December 15 2014, @12:46PM
Some argue [quantamagazine.org], with a theory (including equations) rooted in Ilya Prigogine's dissipative structures [wikipedia.org] (Nobel price in 1977), that life is inevitable and as natural as a rock going downhill; also that self-replicating complexes (such as RNA) are the most efficient in increasing the entropy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday December 15 2014, @02:32PM
Also, if you replicate the conditions of early Earth in a lab, you get amino acids and other life building blocks within a matter of hours. The idea that somewhere, they'd form the bonds needed to make RNA and related structures, especially when there's nothing preventing them from doing so, seems not only plausible but inevitable. And once you have strands of self-replicating chemicals, you'll start having evolution working for you - RNA strands that can build a wall around themselves will be more likely to last than those that don't, for example.
I'll put it this way: Based on what we know now, the non-theistic non-alien means of getting life on Earth seems quite likely.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 15 2014, @06:47PM
Still, you have to admire the guy's optimism, allocating 5 years to replicate what probably took millions of years the first time around.
How long till Dinosaurs then?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday December 15 2014, @07:25PM
Still billions of years. We already know a lot about the journey from bacteria to reptiles, it's the so-called "primordial soup" into the first bacteria that's the current major unknown (and would cause all sorts of problems for the creationists).
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday December 15 2014, @07:32PM
(and would cause all sorts of problems for the creationists)
What problems? Creationists don't have any problems. They simply hand-waive such things away as the sawdust on the floor around God's work bench.
There is no point at all in doing science for creationists, or piano recitals for the profoundly deaf.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday December 16 2014, @03:49PM
Life is probably inevitable under certain conditions. Once life begins there can only be two results: it either evolves or dies. How many bodies have a large nearby body like our moon to stir the chemicals? What else did young Earth have that may have been rare in the universe?
Evolution is pretty much explained. Abiogenesis hasn't been. The answer to "is there extraterrestrial life," as of now the answer is "we just don't know."
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by Marneus68 on Monday December 15 2014, @12:46PM
Seriously, diid you even read the title?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @01:22PM
Giive hiim a break. Iit's not easy beiing an ediitor. Anyway, you're miissiing the poiint of the evolutiion of liife, especiialy that of the letter 'i'.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 15 2014, @12:57PM
This is why mexicans will survive long after WASP americans will go extinct; in addition to the presence of stress, they make good symbionts to E.Coli.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday December 15 2014, @06:49PM
How did Complex Life Evolve on Earth?
From ever-so-slightly less-complex life, of course.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 16 2014, @06:56AM
This. [biblehub.com]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor [wikipedia.org] anyone?