The discovery of uracil by
Japanese space agency’s Hayabusa2 mission from Ryugu (a near earth asteroid
found within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter) last month was a
significant advancement in understanding origin of life on earth. The technical
complexity and dexterity displayed in this feat included precision separation
of the spacecraft’s collision equipment, called a small carry-on impactor (SCI),
and firing the bullet so that it accurately struck Ryugu’s surface, to the
probe’s maneuvering in retreat to a position behind the asteroid to avoid
getting hit by flying shards from the blast, collection of samples ejected
by the blast which were then brought back to Earth for analysis. It’s an
amazing achievement. The reason why am I writing this now is in the context to ‘rapid
unscheduled disassembly’ as described by SpaceX team when it apparently, and very
evidently, exploded -in full view of millions of viewers, a spectacle
that was also a compelling metaphor for people involved. Social media went hysterical
over this description, and I too brought in my worst side of sarcasm. Someone responded
that ‘this is how science progresses, by failures and learning…”, another
fellow called me ‘evil’ so on. Well to start with this is not science -in its
fundamental research or intention or abstract values, but just an application. It’s
a market display of applied technology. Also, the spectacle was arranged by a
narcist billionaire to showcase his grand plans. The fellow is essentially Trump
of tech world, an unchecked incrementalised flaw of self-referenced reverential
system controlled and manipulated by few. A mechanistic and reductive evaluation of humanity, product of incomplete education. An pubescent market mind in juvenile excited brain trapped in middle aged body. He has displayed enough reasons for
us to be extremely wary, and be alarmed by the influence in narration. Indeed, he
is a necessary pause in evaluating hedonistic system created narcistic agendas
of fragile egos that lack nuance or awareness, that lack necessary existential humbleness
when dealing with awe inspiring forces and brilliance of nature. The loud, the
crude, the crass, afflicted with pointers of market spectacle can garner
attention, hence money, but will fall well short in the scale of complexity of
infinite and subtlety of moment. Matter of research is about meticulous attention
and care, and essential awareness of context and complex links. A true researcher
will be always in awe.
Discovering uracil in an asteroid
is evidence that strengthens theory of extraterrestrial origin of life. It’s an
amazing find and culmination of meticulous research by scientists. Basic school
science will tell you that RNA has three letters i.e. nucleotides same as DNA (not
going into the detail) except Thymine. RNA has Uracil. Flow of genetic
information happens from DNA to RNA (through transcription) to protein (through
translation), and this is the central dogma of molecular biology. Every three
letters of RNA when read together equals one amino acid, so a sequence of nucleotides
from gene is equal to sequence of amino acid in protein. In 1980s Tom Cech, US based
scientist, discovered self-splicing ribozymes, a breakthrough discovery because
the existence of self-splicing ribozymes suggested that life on earth arose
from molecules of RNA that could both encode genetic information and replicate that
information in primitive cells. RNA achieves this spectacular feat of both as a
repository of genetic instructions and chemically reactive molecule capable of changing
shape and biological behavior as it can fold up into three-dimensional structure,
unlike DNA which is double helix.
