Was just rereading - it was the radioactivity and the large natural satellite that was unique in his universe. Tides are interesting because once you have life in the oceans, it's a kind of forcing function to adapt to land conditions
Was just rereading - it was the radioactivity and the large natural satellite that was unique in his universe. Tides are interesting because once you have life in the oceans, it's a kind of forcing function to adapt to land conditions
Forcing function + making a stretch of land which is neither dry nor enterily wet. A gradient. If there are no tides the leap life has to make is much bigger.
And perhaps the advantages of this gradient extend up as far as aquatic apes.
Not sure what this means.
I assume they are referencing the long-debunked theory that man evolved from a line of apes that became semi-aquatic for a while.
Yup that's where I was aiming. Is it thoroughly debunked ? It's a cool idea.
Fascinating
Why are tides a forcing function? Marine life has been perfectly content just not going near a beach.
> Why are tides a forcing function?
"Nucleotide formation and polymerization are both more favored thermodynamically when subunit and nucleotide concentrations increase and the water concentration decreases (i.e., at low water activity)" [1].
Tide pools provide a regularly-cycling low-water and high-water environment. (And you get thermocycling, nutrient refreshment, and a path to the oceans, too.)
They're not a forcing function, generally, because we don't know how life formed. But I believe they're close to one in a RNA-first or metabolism-first origin-of-life universe.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07389-2
Very interesting, thank you!
I was thinking more on the lines of "if marine life never found itself stranded on land, it wouldn't need to evolve to survive on the land"