Oceans as a memory of evolution

I have encountered with a fascinating article! It is about tracking the evolution of viruses and how they make the other species sick by observing flora and chemical composition of oceans! Here is the most influential parts for me:

“The chemistry of the ocean also carries memory of the atmosphere—of the carbon dioxide (and other gases) its waters have exchanged with the air, which can be stored at depth in the solid form of calcium carbonate for tens to hundreds of years, ready to be redissolved with the right priming or triggering event (anthropogenic inputs), in the process helping to regulate whether the ocean remains at a neutral pH or becomes acidic (which can harm many forms of life).”

“But in many cases, the viral relationship to the host is simply unknown. Some 44 percent of human genes are transposable elements—“jumping genes” that can change position in a genome. A remarkable one fifth of those genes, or 8 percent of the human genome, are derived from retroviruses. By far, most of these grafted-on pieces of us are of unknown function for us.”

“All organisms employ a suite of tools to communicate at a molecular level, with chemistry (as in quorum-sensing) serving to accomplish this metabolic “diplomacy” across habitat boundaries. Usually an endless stream of communications provides a general sense of equilibrium, but imbalances or irregularities in the network can emerge, demanding “correction.”

“As the novel coronavirus becomes more familiar to the human body, it offers a memory of the deep connection that human evolution—all life—has to early ocean history. Might a shared focus on the surfacing of entrenched memories of human evolution, systemic racism and the trauma in individual lives lost galvanize humanity towards collective change that is mindful of our history and ecology?”

 

See the original source: The Ocean Carries ‘Memories’ of SARS-CoV-2

 

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