Octopuses are very strange creatures, unlike anything else on this planet – but could they actually come from another world?
Yes according to a variety of news outlets, the Octopus arrived on Earth millions of year ago in the form of frozen eggs.Reported on the Express and The Australian a reference to a paper in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, suggests that Octopus DNA came from outer space during the Cambrian explosion.
OCTOPUSES are “aliens” which evolved on another planet before arriving on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago as “cryopreserved” eggs via a process known as panspermia, radical new research has suggested.The paper, by 33 scientists (some with reputations as mavericks) is published in the peer-reviewed journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, Cosmos magazine reports.
“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted as that would be a parsimonious cosmic explanation for the Octopus’ sudden emergence on Earth circa 270 million years ago.”
"The Cambrian explosion began 270 million years ago, and the octopus began appearing rapidly 250 million years ago which lead the “authors” to come to the conclusion that “One plausible explanation, in our view, is that the new genes are likely new extraterrestrial imports to Earth – most plausibly as an already coherent group of functioning genes within (say) cryopreserved and matrix protected fertilized Octopus eggs.”
Another possible conclusion is that this is merely a highly sensationalized headline. We’ve been searching for days and cannot locate the actual paper. None of the publications whom write about the study actually reference any link – and a search on the Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology website does not yeild any results.
Karin Moelling of the Max Planck Institute Berlin and Institute of Medical Microbiology, Zurich, said the article was worth thinking about, “yet the main statement about viruses, microbes and even animals coming to us from space, cannot be taken seriously,” she said.“Its large brain and sophisticated nervous system, camera-like eyes, flexible bodies, instantaneous camouflage via the ability to switch colour and shape are just a few of the striking features that appear suddenly on the evolutionary scene.
“The transformative genes leading from the consensus ancestral Nautilus to the common Cuttlefish to Squid to the common are not easily to be found in any pre-existing life form – it is plausible then to suggest they seem to be borrowed from a far distant “future” in terms of terrestrial evolution, or more realistically from the cosmos at large."
“One plausible explanation, in our view, is that the new genes are likely new extraterrestrial imports to Earth - most plausibly as an already coherent group of functioning genes within (say) cryopreserved and matrix protected fertilized Octopus eggs."
“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved Squid and/or Octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted as that would be a parsimonious cosmic explanation for the Octopus' sudden emergence on Earth circa 270 million years ago.”