Should scientists be trying harder to detect viruses in the cosmos as a step in findinig aliens?

[NorseThing]

I tend to think simpler explanations are better if I do not know, but others find it interesting. I would think that the origons of the virus as a form of life is just a dead end development for our life here on earth. But who knows??? Maybe there are signs of viruses in other rocks on other places in the cosmos.


https://nypost.com/2018/01/22/biolog...inding-aliens/

The viruses are probably out there.
Viruses are considered one of Earth’s most abundant organisms – about 10 to 100 times more plentiful than anything else on Earth. But they’re also one of the least understood.
One team of scientists think that other planets could be teeming with these cellular organisms. Since viruses are often believed to have played a role in the formation of life on Earth, studying this could be a crucial component in the search for alien life. But currently, there’s no research to understand if or how these organisms might exist outside of Earth’s atmosphere.
“More than a century has passed since the discovery of the first viruses. Entering the second century of virology, we can finally start focusing beyond our own planet,” Ken Stedman, a biology professor at Portland State University, said in a statement.
Stedman and his colleagues have written a report urging NASA and other space agencies to begin looking for viruses in samples from Saturn and Jupiter’s moons. Their article, “Astrovirology: Viruses at Large in the Universe,” will be published in the February issue of Astrobiology.
In addition to collecting samples, the team wants NASA to develop technology and methods that could detect viruses in ancient Earth deposits, as well as learn if viruses from Earth could survive in space.
“Viruses have a bad rap. If we find viruses on other planets it is an indication of life, not something to be scared of,” Stedman told Gizmodo. “Viruses rock!”

[Sar1n]

Viruses sit right on the border of life. They carry genetic information, but are unable to reproduce themselves without a host providing necessary organelles. That aside...viruses aren't exactly hardy. What remains of terrestrial virus after few days in space is few pieces of mangled bases in twisted remains of proteins, thanks to effects of ionizing radiation. That makes unambiguous detection a tricky thing. It is possible that some material already discovered in space could be remains of extraterrestrial viruses, but then...we might never recognize it.

They're right in one thing, an extraterrestrial is very unlikely to be infectious-the only way it could happen if its host life and us share a common ancestry, raising whole load of questions...in addition to worldwide pandemic, as we'd totally lack antibodies to fight it...

[Common Soldier]

No. Viruses depend on other life, and are much harder to detect. They don't produce waste products like methane, oxygen, that are much easier to detect, and you look for the existence of proteins and DNA, RNA for regular life, you will detect virus also, but it much more difficult to detect protein and DNA than look for methane and oxygen.

lus virus usually are smaller, and harder to detect.

[Owlparrot3]

You would be better off going for plain old bacteria .

[Elfdude]

In terms of astronomy, no, in terms of xeno-biological research of course. Viruses are very difficult to detect at any level (it took us forever to prove HIV existed and even longer to prove it wasn't harmless) and detection science on them would be a boon to medical communities as well as to analyze debris from space. I don't think it's practical or likely that we could detect them at a distance.

[TerryLewis]

Viruses are now being considered as the basic point in Astrobiology (in both: scientific and academic projects). Mostly, they want to concentrate on the question how life begins and what could be the alternatives of live on other planets. But their detection is indeed a very difficult process and analysis may be close to impossible.

[Muizer]

The first proof of extraterrestrial life will most likely come from the study of the atmospheric composition of exoplanets. In Earth's case, it's the otherwise inexplicably high concentration of oxygen that's been broadcasting "there's life here" for billions of years now (and very 'loudly' for the last 800 million years or so) . I cannot recall who it was but I've heard one scientist say that with the advances made in this field mean that if life is out there we will find such evidence within one or two decades.

[Sir Adrian]

My guess is that the first akien life will be found by probing europa or one of the other local moons. Scanning other planets is extremly unreliable with current tech and has a high rate of false data. I mean it has recently become apparent that we may have overestimated the size of andromeda by several orders of magnitude, and we determined the initial size using pretty much the same procedure as athmospheric scaning - using the light emited by the planet to determine size and composition.