I bet that if they found out the opposite, that the current chirality is less prone to mutations from cosmic rays, we'll have an identical article which celebrates their finding, except that they would propose it's better to have less mutations.
They need to prove that increasing number of mutations is even a desirable property.
I wonder why the parent comment is downvoted. To a layman like me, it sounds completely reasonable.
Maintaining an exact copy of RNA/DNA through generations and generations is a real challenge, right? Loosening up the copying mechanisms to allow for more mistakes would probably be quite easy to achieve, if that was beneficial, right?
I’d be interested to hear what makes the idea wrong.
I’m no expert in the field and the only remotely relevant experience I have is a tiny amount of genetic algorithm programming at a rank amateur level.
I assume that making perfect replicas is the default way for a given type of life to dominate. Making “random copies” (an oxymoron) is not likely to result in domination of any individual type (of building block, single cell, or multi-cellular life). Making perfect copies allows a build-up of “winners”.
If that implies a very strong selection process for perfect copies, then after that a selection process for increased (but still small in aggregate) mutation rate would seem globally helpful.
I believe cancer is only a problem for us overly complex, multicellular organisms. Cancer happens when some of your cells go rogue, so you have to have at least two cells to get cancer.
The easy way to get asymmetry is the "winner takes all". Why we have 5 fingers? 6 is probably a good number too. Cartoon characters have 4 fingers and they seem to do fine. Why all 5 and not a mix?
The answer is that there was an old fish with 5 whatever in it's fins, and the offspring conquered the land and evolved and now we have 5 fingers. If a 4 whatever fish tries to do the same trick, it will face a strong competition an if the offspring ever reach the technological level to create a small country, we would nuke them from orbit.
They need to prove that increasing number of mutations is even a desirable property.