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The Covid pandemic has already changed life as we know it – and arguably prompted some people to want to leave the planet.
Now, a leading scientist has warned that viruses could not only be found on Earth, but could occur – if life existed – elsewhere in the universe.
Professor Paul Davies, astrobiologist, cosmologist and director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University, said the idea of aliens ranges from microbial life to super advanced civilizations that might signal us.
But Davies supported the idea that a wide array of microbes and other microscopic agents would likely be needed to support life as a whole, whatever form it takes. And it looks like viruses – or something that plays a similar role – could be part of the equation.
“Viruses are actually part of the web of life,” Davies said. “I would expect that if you have microbial life on another planet, you necessarily have – if it is to be sustainable and sustained – all of the complexity and robustness that comes with being able to exchange genetic information. “
Viruses, Davies said, can be thought of as mobile genetic elements. Indeed, a number of studies have suggested that the genetic material of viruses has been incorporated into the genomes of humans and other animals through a process known as horizontal gene transfer.
“A friend of mine thinks that most, but certainly a significant fraction, of the human genome is actually of viral origin,” said Davies, whose new book, What’s Eating the Universe ?, was published last week.
According to Davies, while the importance of microbes in life is well known, the role of viruses is less widely appreciated. But he said if there was cell life on other worlds, viruses or something similar, it would probably exist to transfer genetic information between them.
Plus, he said, extraterrestrial life is unlikely to be homogeneous.
“I don’t think it’s going to go to another planet, and there will be only one kind of germ and he’s perfectly happy. I think it must be a whole ecosystem, ”he added.
While the idea of alien viruses may sound alarming, Davies suggests that there is no need for humans to panic.
“Dangerous viruses are those which are very tightly adapted to their hosts,” he said. “If there is a truly alien virus, chances are it isn’t in the least dangerous.”
Davies’ comments come after a study, published in late August, suggested signs of life could be detected beyond our solar system within two to three years.
But the need to consider entire ecosystems doesn’t just apply to extraterrestrial life.
Davies – whose conversation is interspersed with nods from former colleagues and associates from Stephen Hawking to Fred Hoyle, the tall but unconventional former director of the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge – said that ‘It is also important that humans attempt to colonize another planet.
“Most people think we would need a really big spaceship and then sort of recycle things for the really long trip and then all the tech that you would need,” he said.
“Actually the hardest part of this problem is what would be the microbiology that you would have to take – it’s not good to take some pigs and potatoes and things like that and hope when you get to the other end, everything will be wonderful and autonomous.
While Covid has left most of us with a grim view of viruses, Davies said not all of them are bad. “In fact, most of the time they’re good,” he said.
Among their positive roles, viruses that infect bacteria – called phages – can help control bacterial populations, while viruses have also been linked to a host of other important processes, ranging from the survival of plants in extremely soils hot to influence on biogeochemical cycles. And, as Davies notes, a significant fraction of the human genome may be made up of remnants of ancient viruses.
“We hear about the microbiome inside of us, and there’s a planetary microbiome,” Davies said. But, he argues, there is also a human and planetary virome, with viruses playing a fundamental role in nature.
“I think that without viruses there may not be sustainable life on planet Earth,” he said.
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