Does the Milky Way Influence Earth's Biodiversity? Research Says "Yes"

Horoscope enthusiasts will be happy to hear that a grand cosmic force does indeed seem to be responsible for controlling the direction of all life on Earth. However, this grand cosmic cycle has more to do with extinction than finding a tall, handsome stranger.

Research has revealed that the rise and fall of species on Earth seems to be driven by the undulating motions of our solar system as it travels through the Milky Way. Some scientists believe that this cosmic force may offer the answer to some of the biggest questions in our Earth’s biological history—especially where evolution has fallen short.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that marine fossil records show that biodiversity increases and decreases based on a 62-million-year cycle. At least two of the Earth's great mass extinctions-the Permian extinction 250 million years ago and the Ordovician extinction about 450 million years ago-correspond with peaks of this cycle, which can't be explained by evolutionary theory.

Early last year, a team of researchers at the University of Kansas came up with an out-of-this-world explanation for the phenomenon. Their idea hinges upon the fact that stars move through space and sometimes rush headlong through galaxies, or approach closely enough to cause a brief cosmic tryst.

Our own star moves toward and away from the Milky Way's center, and also up and down through the galactic plane. One complete up-and-down cycle takes 64 million years- suspiciously close to the Earth's biodiversity cycle.

Once the researchers independently confirmed the biodiversity cycle, they then proposed a novel mechanism whereby which the Sun's galactic travels is causing it.

It’s no secret that the Milky Way is being gravitationally pulled toward a massive cluster of galaxies, called the Virgo Cluster, which is located about 50 million light years away. Adrian Melott and his colleague Mikhail Medvedev, speculate that as the Milky Way rushes towards the Virgo Cluster, it generates a so-called bow shock in front of it that is similar to the shock wave created by a supersonic jet.

"Our solar system has a shock wave around it, and it produces a good quantity of the cosmic rays that hit the Earth. Why shouldn't the galaxy have a shock wave, too?" Melott asks.

The galactic bow shock is only present on the north side of the Milky Way's galactic plane, because that is the side facing the Virgo Cluster as it moves through space, and it would cause superheated gas and cosmic rays to stream behind it, the researchers say. Normally, our galaxy's magnetic field shields our solar system from this "galactic wind." But every 64 million years, the solar system's cyclical travels take it above the galactic plane.

"When we emerge out of the disk, we have less protection, so we become exposed to many more cosmic rays," Melott has said.

The boost in cosmic-ray exposure may have a direct effect on Earth's organisms, according to paleontologist Bruce Lieberman. The radiation would lead to higher rates of genetic mutations in organisms or interfere with their ability to repair DNA damage. In this way, the process could lead to new species while killing off others.

Cosmic rays are also associated with increased cloud cover, which could cool the planet by blocking out more of the Sun's rays. They also interact with molecules in the atmosphere to create nitrogen oxide, a gas that eats away at our planet's ozone layer, which protects us from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.

Richard Muller, one of the UC Berkeley physicists who co-discovered the cycle, said Melott and his colleagues have come up with a plausible galactic explanation for the biodiversity cycle.

If future studies confirm the galaxy-biodiversity link, it would force scientists to broaden their ideas about what can influence life on Earth. "Maybe it's not just the climate and the tectonic events on Earth," Lieberman said. "Maybe we have to start thinking more about the extraterrestrial environment as well."

Posted by Rebecca Sato.

Related Galaxy posts:

GAIA -Mapping the Family Tree of the Milky Way
The "Hubble Effect" -A Galaxy Insight
The 6th Mass Extinction
"The Great Extinction" & the Rise of Modern Species
Coming of Age in the Holocene

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Comments

[Jiva]

check out the Mayan calender and the so called Mayan "Long Count". It's about time modern technology caught up with the natural cycle of things.

[knoxvilledaniel]

The Earth is by no means inseparable from the larger universe. The Earth is bathed in solar winds, for 1 example. Thinking of Earth as separate from the cosmos goes back to the days when the Earth was thought of as unique & one of a kind, at the center of creation. Now we know that while it's the home of our species, it is only a small world orbiting a mediocre Main Sequence ( G - G2 class ) star.
& of course, there's the concept that life on this planet was kick - started by cosmic dust / " star stuff ". Anyway, separating Earth from the larger universe & the influences " out there " is really akin to bisecting a sneeze & putting the sections in a box.

[Marty Ferguson]

If you can find it online or in a video store check out the mini-series HYPERSPACE with Sam Neil. Studies show that this entire solar system passes through a heavily-populated section of the galaxy, pretty close to several stars. This has happened five or six times since the beginning of 'time'. Passing close to a number of stellar objects no doubt has an effect on us and probably has in the past.

M

[steve]

heres my thing, how far are we away from the last cycle and why isn't that talked about more, from what i've read i might be alive ( 21 yr ) for the next cycle and may not survive it. of course when were talking about 32 myr cycles you could assume i might miss it by say 10,000 years easily. but this genious ( when it comes to astronomy ) civilization were dead set on a exact date. really scary stuff. also these increased radiation levels could be the exact cause of rapid evolution. which is why there are such big anomolys in the evolution theory.

[PEWPEW]

I believe that the Mayan's used numbers to the base 5 or something along those lines.

[JOHNBUSH]

The mayans azteks and Incas were in permanent contact with external VISITORS.

They MASTERED THE ASTRONOMY.

They did not make mistake.Their masters went trough devastation and they were continuously OBSERVING the skies and the motions of celestial bodies.
Their life was orbiting around these events.
So...YES...
2012 WILL BE DEVASTATING.Some will survive undergrounds,welcomed by reptiles who did it before.Then,the survivors will be repositioned on the surface when suitable.Anunnakis won't come this time after 2012.Later on they will.And...so on...
(I know we lived this all before,didn't we?BECAUSE EVERYTHING IS CYCLICAL.SAME ABOVE AS BELOW.Infinity.
A big machine with myriads of FACES...
AND...We all chose to come here for the BIG SHOW.
Remember?Or is your implant malfunctioning /owed?Or?
Have an iced day...
btw:annunaki took a reptilian blood to cover their vibes and maybe their ...bottoms for when TSHTF.
Clever boys...(remember?salomon/sabah queen...)hoho!

[Melissa]

The significance of the 2 instances is that there isn't a clear reason for them. Other mass extinctions have a paticular direct cause which exclude them from this set. It's the timing and lack of other explanations that makes this theory plausible.

[Bob]

The planet Nibiru's year of orbiting the sun is 30,000 years so the Annunakai are due soon.
They have complete control over an unspecified variable in the equation determining when we pass over the galactic plane so bow shock causing us our gakaxy to move outside the plane resulting in increased cosmic rays is not the problem .
It is true , the cosmic waves would be more prevalent outside the galactic plane but we are KEPT inside so there is no cycle of 62 Million years and so we must look for the unspecified variable in control.
Perhaps we will discover another "dead sea scrool" with more information about the Annunakai and perhaps this unknown variable.
Also that idea about 2012 is pure poppy cock ,balderdash and has no scientific merit.

[Greg F.]

Actually, the Permian and Ordovician extinctions can be explained by natural selection going into overdrive thanks to catastrophic climate change or the Siberian Traps. Mass extinctions are part of evolutionary theory just like the booms in biodiversity. The galactic wobble can definitely be a contributor but it's not a home run explanation.

[Grammar]

"travels is causing it" correct to "travels ARE causing it"

[morteza]

in the name of god

[MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ]

MY THOUGHTS ARE THAT ALL PARTS OF OUT UNIVERSE, PLANETS, PLUS AFFECT EVERYONE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, BUT ESPECIALLY NOW. I THINK WE OF ALL NATIONS NEED TO CONCENTRATE ON JUPITER AND ALL ITS SURFACES.

[Connor]

idk bye