Living with extraterrestrials: Scientists suggest octopuses may be aliens in new research paper
When someone tells you that there are aliens living amongst us, it is usually a safe bet to assume that they are either raving mad or a conspiracy theorist; which at the end of the day boils down to the same thing. But when a group of noted scientists makes the same claim, then it's something worth taking interest in.
According to the New York Post, a paper which was published in 'Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology' suggests that cephalopods, the family of marine creatures including squid and octopuses, may have originated somewhere other than Earth. It does not, however, suggest that there are Lovecraftian alien squid monsters preparing to invade the planet.
The purpose of the paper was to attempt to tackle the question of how life originated here on Earth. The researchers evaluated a number of proposed scenarios and discussed their implications on life on the planet as we know it.
Octopuses and squids are fascinating creatures with a highly complex nervous system and a very intelligent brain.
“Evidence of the role of extraterrestrial viruses in affecting terrestrial evolution has recently been plausibly implied in the gene and transcriptome sequencing of Cephalopods,” the researchers write. “The genome of the Octopus shows a staggering level of complexity with 33,000 protein-coding genes more than is present in Homo sapiens.”
The scientists question the belief that modern cephalopods evolved to their present form here on Earth. The alternate model that they propose is the possibility that those we see today are the descendants of creatures that arrived on Earth frozen in an icy comet as eggs and hatched here.
“Its large brain and sophisticated nervous system, camera-like eyes, flexible bodies, instantaneous camouflage via the ability to switch color and shape are just a few of the striking features that appear suddenly on the evolutionary scene,” the paper says. It also proposes that the evolutionary data suggests that cephalopods do not have their oldest ancestors on the planet.
The research points to the possibility that this “great leap forward” in complexity was due to “cryopreserved squid and/or octopus eggs” piggy-backing on comets and crashing into the ocean millions of years ago. Despite how far-fetched that sounds, theories that life came to Earth from elsewhere have been around for quite a while.
Scientists have already conducted studies on the possibility of life arriving from outer space before. There is plenty of evidence supporting the idea that biological material from other worlds may have seeded a young Earth and produced everything we see today. While these theories have not been conclusively proved, they do paint a rather interesting picture.