Panspermia theory

The origins and global spread of two recent, yet quite different, pandemic diseases is discussed and reviewed in depth: Candida auris, a eukaryotic fungal disease, and COVID- 19 (SARS-CoV-2), a positive strand RNA viral respiratory disease. Both these diseases dis- play highly distinctive patterns of sudden emergence and global spread, which are not easy to understand by conventional epidemiological analysis based on simple infection- driven human- to-human spread of an infectious disease (assumed to jump suddenly and thus genetically, from an animal reservoir). Both these enigmatic diseases make sense however under a Panspermia in-fall model and the evidence consistent with such a model is critically reviewed.

Panspermia theory holds that microbial life is present in space or on bodies like comets or asteroids, and it can be safely delivered to Earth and start life there. For the theory of panspermia to have credence, it is necessary to demonstrate that life could exist in the harsh condition of space. The discovery of microorganisms able to survive permanently in frozen environments, such as ancient permafrost and ice, makes in principle realistic for bacteria to be carried through space in ice-cold comets. Due to the increasing interest in astrobiology, research in the microbial ecology and diversity of psychrophiles has increased considerably over the past years. In this review, a brief summary of the latest results on biology, ecology and physiology of microorganisms colonizing cold and icy habitats is reported.

The 2013 data from the Kepler Mission gives a current estimate of the number of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, as 144 billion. We propose that this estimate has caused a consciousness change in human belief in the probability of life off Earth. This seems to have affected NASA's public statements which are now leaning to the more visionary mission goal of the " Search for Life " rather than the 1975-2012 focus of the " Search for Water ". We propose that the first confirmed Earth-like planet, expected to be announced later this year, be called " BORUCKI " in honour of the visionary USA scientist Bill Borucki, the father of the Kepler Mission. We explore the 2013 status of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe Model of Panspermia, its hypothesis, propositions, experiments and evidence. We use the Karl Popper model for scientific hypotheses(1). Finally we explore Sir Fred Hoyle's vision of a planetary microbe defense system we call the Hoyle Shield. We explore the subsystem components of the shield and assess some options for these components using breakthrough technologies already available.

We propose that a reservoir of respiratory viruses in clumps of micro-sized dust exists in tropospheric clouds from which virions can be seasonally released into the lower atmosphere and thence to ground level. Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Seasonal Influenza and Human Para Influenza Virus (HPIV) are all diseases that fall in this category, including SARS-CoV-2. The seasonal incidence of disease at ground level would appear to be patchy over distance scales that are largely dictated by viral-laden dust cloud size modulated by scales of atmospheric turbulence. This could produce clustering of cases in space and time that has given rise to 'contagion' concepts of community spread and of superspreaders.

The authors comment on, and discuss the flaws inherent in, a recently published review by the Chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh which concluded with her summation that some scientists just refuse to accept that they "got in wrong" in their discussion of many of the faults with the way governments, scientists and clinicians in general handled the response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We suggest that this polemic has added nothing useful in terms of meaningful discussion of the pandemic, and worse, belittles the conflicting cogent arguments that there is indeed a wealth of data which has not be adequately understood/interpreted, and lessons which can be learned from so doing.

A clay disk that looks like a child’s game has become a headache for archaeologists and historians.
And for the throngs of tourists who visit Crete, it is fascinating for its mystery.
This is a completely new interpretation of the meaning of the Phaistos Disc, which opens new horizons never before imagined by archaeologists and historians.
The utilized interpretative methodology is new as well: It presents a new way of investigating artifacts that are mysterious due to their age; direct evidence isn’t possible and interpretation is difficult. The ancients’ access to ideas was much different than now. The difficulty of understanding lies in the code of communication, which is no longer understood and in the contents themselves, since neither of the two falls within our wealth of knowledge.
The result with the classic historical-archaeological method can only be “un-understanding”.
This book presents one possible solution.
If we are willing to mix “Sacred and Profane”, “Rational and Intuitive”, and “Scientist and Artist”, we can reach the result of this book: The unveiling of a meaning that would otherwise remain mysterious to the mind of modern man.

"Capita a volte che ci siano luoghi che ci attraggono particolarmente, in cui veniamo richiamati da qualcosa che sfugge alla nostra comprensione.
Quanto sto per descrivervi appartiene a questo tipo di situazione.

Il Disco di Festo è un mistero. Esso appartiene al genere di manufatti non interpretabili con il metodo storico-archeologico classico. La Pietra di Kernos, invece, non è considerata un mistero: essa è stata sommariamente classificata come una superficie per le offerte.

Per gli studiosi tradizionali, cosa unisca il Disco di Festo alla Pietra di Kernos è presto detto: si tratta di due manufatti che appartengono al patrimonio archeologico cretese. Nulla di più.

Ma se immaginassimo di collegare questi due oggetti e, anzi, di sovrapporli, magari in uno stesso luogo geografico e in un preciso giorno dell’anno, otterremmo non solo la soluzione di un enigma, ma anche la combinazione magica per svelare il mistero che li unisce e che li avvolge: un antico rituale in cui venivano utilizzati assieme"

The origins and global spread of two recent, yet quite different, pandemic diseases is discussed and reviewed in depth: Candida auris, a eukaryotic fungal disease, and COVID- 19 (SARS-CoV-2), a positive strand RNA viral respiratory disease. Both these diseases dis- play highly distinctive patterns of sudden emergence and global spread, which are not easy to understand by conventional epidemiological analysis based on simple infection- driven human- to-human spread of an infectious disease (assumed to jump suddenly and thus genetically, from an animal reservoir). Both these enigmatic diseases make sense however under a Panspermia in-fall model and the evidence consistent with such a model is critically reviewed.

Ενίοτε υπάρχουν μέρη τα οποία βρίσκουμε ιδιαίτερα ελκυστικά και μέρη στα οποία θέλουμε να μείνουμε γιατί μας ελκύει σε αυτά κάτι που δεν μπορούμε να κατανοήσουμε και να εξηγήσουμε.

Όλα όσα πρόκειται να σας περιγράψω σε αυτό το βιβλίο αναφέρονται σε μια τέτοια εμπειρία.

Ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού περιβάλλεται από ένα μυστήριο. Ανήκει στην ομάδα των αντικειμένων που δεν μπορούν να ερμηνευθούν με την κλασσική ιστορικοαρχαιολογική μέθοδο.
Αντιθέτως, ο Κέρνος των Μαλίων δε θεωρείται μυστήριο. Απλά αξιολογείται ως ένα κυκλικό πέτρινο αντικείμενο, το οποίο, από τη στιγμή που ανακαλύφθηκε, ταξινομήθηκε απλά ως επιφάνεια για ιερές προσφορές.

Για τους παραδοσιακούς μελετητές, είναι προφανής η σύνδεση μεταξύ του Δίσκου της Φαιστού και του Κέρνου των Μαλίων ως δύο τεχνουργήματα, που απλά ανήκουν στην αρχαιολογική κληρονομιά της Κρήτης και τίποτα περισσότερο.

Όμως αν συνδέσουμε αυτά τα δύο αντικείμενα στην φαντασία μας, και όντως βάλουμε το ένα πάνω στο άλλο, ίσως στον ίδιο χώρο και σε μία συγκεκριμένη ημέρα του χρόνου, όχι μόνο θα βρίσκαμε τη λύση σε ένα αίνιγμα, αλλά και το μαγικό κλειδί για να κατανοήσουμε μια αρχαία, μυστηριώδη τελετή, η οποία τα συνδέει και τα συμπεριλαμβάνει.

"Sometimes there are places that we find particularly attractive; places where we want to stay because something that is beyond our understanding calls to us.
What I am about to describe to you belongs to this type of situation.
The Phaistos Disc is a mystery. It belongs to that group of objects which are not interpretable through the classic historical-archaeological method. The Kernos Stone, however, is not considered to be a mystery: it is
simply thought to be a surface for offerings.

For traditional scholars, it is obvious what unites the Phaistos Disc with the Kernos Stone: they are both artifacts that belong to the archaeological heritage of Crete. Nothing more.

But if we link these two objects in our imagination and, indeed, put one on top of the other, perhaps in the same place and at a specific day of the year, we would not only get the solution to an enigma, but also the magic combination to open the mystery that unites them and encloses them: an ancient ritual in which they were used together."

"Bisweilen kann es geschehen, dass gewisse Orte eine so große Anziehungskraft auf uns ausüben, dass wir verweilen möchten, gleichsam gefesselt von etwas, das außerhalb unseres Verstehens liegt.
Was in diesem Buch beschrieben wird, gehört in diesen Erfahrungsbereich.
Den Diskus von Phaestos umgibt ein solches Geheimnis: Er gehört zu einer Art von Artefakten, die man mit der klassischen historisch-archäologischen Methode nicht deuten kann. Der Kernos von Malia hingegen stellt kein Mysterium dar: Seit seiner Auffindung wurde er einfach als Opferfläche klassifiziert.
Was für traditionelle Wissenschaftler den Diskus von Phaestos mit dem Kernos von Malia verbindet, ist in wenigen Worten gesagt: Beide Artefakte gehören zum archäologischen Kulturgut Kretas.
Das ist alles.
Wenn wir uns nun aber vorstellen würden, diese beiden Objekte miteinander zu verbinden, sie sogar übereinander zu legen, eventuell an einem bestimmten Ort und an einem bestimmten Tag des Jahres, würden wir nicht nur ein Rätsel lösen, sondern auch den Zauberschlüssel zum Verständnis eines antiken, geheimnisvollen Rituals finden, das beide verbindet und umschließt."