Sudents build a cosmic radio to listen for dark matter

Apr 28, 2026 Last reply: 3 months ago 30 Replies

Do you even take yourself serious? If DNA is detected or even RNA, further 'evolution' will happen if environment allows. In millions of years very clever electronics designers will appear .. electric cars, airplanes, smartphones and aliens flying bit more time and the 'replicator' and 'beam me up' app will be on very phone ;-)

"RNA World" evolution in muddy puddles is still conjecture. Some clever scientists should demonstrate how that could evolve into our cellular life form.

Even non-randomly would be impressive.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

DNA isn't a "pile of rocks". Under suitable conditions, it copies itself and evolves to get better at it. Rocks don't do that.

The suitable conditions are probably quite rare, is true. Then again, the universe is patient and very large. Given enough time, it will succeed somewhere. Proof is we're here to talk about it.

Jeroen Belleman

The debate is on how one gets from zero life to some life. The following article reduces the barrier to that just happening by chance:

"RNA comes close to copying itself", Science

12 Feb 2026 Vol 391, Issue 6786 pp. 645-646 DOI: 10.1126/science.aeg3559

.

formatting link

Joe

<snip>

They already did.

Impressing people who haven't got the wit to understand what's going on is notoriously difficult.

Right! I was reading some article yesterday about a freezing-melting cycle may have been a the basic of 'life' forming

formatting link
Scientists just found a chilling way life may have begun Repeated freezing and thawing might have been the hidden engine that helped life’s first cells come together and evolve

If you look a the 'origin' then even element forming is at the basics of 'life' forming. and beyond that ! We are just stardust forming ever more complex patterns.

Does 'random' even exist? Lots about that in cryptography.. :-) They are trying so hard to make 'random' Somehow all is connected quantum world... Much more beautiful

It is quite possible that we are all Martians.

Mars being smaller would have been cool enough for liquid water to form first and meteorites from Mars are found on Earth.

RNA world is the initial bootstrap of more nearly stable genetic codes following on from a handful of self catalysing peptides before that. We saw the latter arise spontaneously with BSE when cows were forced into cannibalism by insane UK feed producer behaviour.

A single bad prion protein that catalysed its own formation ran through the UK system like wildfire until the cannibalism practice was stopped. It was even capable of cross infecting a few very unlucky humans.

The world record for the most complex genome is presently held by an insignificant fern. Humans are not even close to maximum genome length.

formatting link
Our DNA is just marginally longer than the Venus fly trap. There are many important plants with *much* longer genomes than humans.

formatting link
Aloe Vera has about 5x more genomic DNA than a human.

And quite possible there was never life on Mars.

Armies of biochemists are struggling to demonstrate RNA world. Biochemists are made of DNA.

Genes are cheap, especially spare "junk" sequences that consume no resources but are available as macros, when needed for survival. There seems to be very little selective pressure to eliminate them. Sort of like a junk pile in the garage; you never know when you might need that old hinge.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

Just in the news today:

From:

formatting link
Evolution isn’t random. Scientists find the same genes used for 120 million years Date: May 4, 2026 Source: University of York Summary: Evolution seems to follow a script more often than expected. Researchers found that distantly related butterflies and moths have reused the same pair of genes for over 120 million years to produce strikingly similar warning colors. Rather than altering the genes themselves, evolution modifies how they’re switched on and off. This discovery hints that life may evolve in more predictable ways than previously believed.

That script is "natural selection". That was a crucial component from the very start. Read "On the origin of species by means of natural selection". It's right there in the title!

Jeroen Belleman

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required