Questions tagged [biochemistry]
For questions regarding the chemistry of living organisms.
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Could alkaline digestive system work?
So a human digestive system is generally acidic, especially at the stomach part, when it goes down to even 1.5 pH. Similar things must be happening in other mammals and to an extent, probably in all ...
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How long would someone last in excruciating pain while assisted by chemicals?
My setting is just like the real world, except for a twisted Excess God. Who demands rituals to exacerbate its Worshipers feelings, which he in turn feeds on.
There's just a problem, these rituals are ...
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Could You Use Mitochondria to Power Your Cell Phone?
Halfthawed replied to vicky_molokh in 2019 regarding her question associated with External ATP Synthesiser Plausibility. Halfthawed stated:
ATP is kind of already synthesized by battery power. In fact,...
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Ammonia transporting blood
Okay essentially I am designing an alien ecosystem with an ammonia and methane based metabolism. Here's the formula for the metabolism animal analogs use on this planet:
$$\ce{3CH2O + 4NH3 -> 3CH4 +...
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What is the minimum complexity of summoned "food" that a person could live long-term on?
This question is inspired by an another question which asked how long a mage could survive on pure water, NaCl salt, and sucrose, which they could summon.
In taking this a step farther, what is the ...
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Which hypergolic compounds are best suited for dragon fire?
I'm looking for input from chemists, biochemists, and those familiar with rocket fuel propellants. I'm a fantasy world builder, but that doesn't mean everything in my fantasy world is excluded from ...
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Are there any alternative genetic systems which could allow for the development of emergent complexity?
DISCLAIMER: I am an (intensely interested) layman, not a scientist. Please take my summation of the following concepts accordingly.
I'm currently trying to worldbuild a plausible alien species down to ...
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How does this microbe recognize specific chemical patterns?
This species of bacteria is electroreceptive, and when it receives an input pattern of electric spikes, it can “translate” that input pattern into a pattern of chemical signals internally via its ...
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Replacing Light in Photosynthesis with Electric Energy
I am currently attempting to construct my alien planet with exotic forms of life that use alternative metabolisms.
I got an idea that I could perhaps somehow replace the photon energy required in ...
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Could this hypothetical molecule “read” gene code, to allow universal epigenetics?
Here’s the idea: I want to create a biological info-storing material, probably much like RNA, that—like noncoding RNA does—is able to mediate and enact epigenetic changes to the genetic code/material ...
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Could a species with multiple types of genetic material, like a “universal donor”, reasonably naturally exist?
As of late I’ve been developing a concept for a species able to transmit traits through genetic information, basically putting that information into a “host” organism to enact some sort of epigenetic ...
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Could a (semi-)universal information-storing molecule exist?
So let’s say I’ve got a new product, some sort of injection or other substance that allows customers to put a trait of some sort into some of their cells. It doesn’t have to be self-sustaining or ...
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Could plants orbiting an active enough star (one that’s around F-type) evolve photo-voltaic cells as the star “calms down”?
Wanted to create Flora (and maybe organisms overall) that evolved near stark white coloration due to the high output of radiation from it’s, at the time, high energy F-Type star.
It’s a star and of it’...
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Could a life form be genetically modified to use D-form amino acids?
It is now known that life on earth uses D-form sugars and L-form amino acids. However, it is also known that life on other worlds might be the other way around; using L-form sugars or D-form amino ...
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How can a plant have pure graphite cell walls instead of cellulose?
So like, how could a plant extract carbon out of other organic molecules and make their cell walls out of graphite instead of cellulose?
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How could a remote controlled bacterium work?
How could a radiowave controlled remote-controlled bacterium be possible?
Criteria:
The receiver for the radiowaves would not be bigger than the bacterium (which is the size of a cyanobacterium)
The ...
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What could be an alternative for chlorophyll for cyanobacteria that use five micron infrared to make energy?
What would be a viable chlorophyll like protein be for a cyanobacterium that absorbs infrared light at the 5-20 micron range to produce energy in the form of ATP?
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Can combustion create ATP
Could the heat and light from slow and controlled combustion produce ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate? Could the heat and light drive proton pumps and then could ATP synthase produce ATP from the ...
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Can cells and other materials be controlled electromagnetically
I'm trying to make a creature with a specialized organ that can be controlled telekinetically with cellular precision. Basically the creature would have a specialized organ connected to the brain that ...
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Can just heat be used to power ATP production?
I want to have some lifeforms that live around and in hot environments and absorb the heat around them to produce ATP without using any other energy sources. Is this possible? How can this be done? ...
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Reductive instead of oxidative based metabolism
Is it possible to have a cellular metabolism based on reduction instead of oxidation? All known life currently uses some sort of oxidation in cellular respiration, either from oxygen or from oxidizing ...
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On a planet whose waters are super rich in iron, could life forms use the iron as a basis for their skeletons?
One of my planets has surface waters that are incredibly rich in oxidized iron, and I was intrigued by the possibility of alternate materials for bones when I came across Stephen Gillett's Clorox ...
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To what are humans from one world allergic to humans from another? [closed]
Assume that there are two types of humans. One is your bog standard Earth like. The other is slightly biologically different. A few extra glands and hormones, maybe even an extra organ. The ...
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How would an animal produce oil that creates a purple flame when burned?
In a short story I'm writing, a non-tropical island nation has an economy centered around selling an oil made from a particular animal. The oil is special because it produces a light purple flame when ...
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Effects of metal-augmented skeletons on behaviour and evolution
In the planet I'm working on, strong tidal forces meant early on in evolutionary history most organisms developed a nacre or chitin-like composites with calcium carbonate, even in internal skeletons.
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What would life be like that uses liquid nitrogen as a solvent instead of water? [closed]
I'm working on a worldbuilding project and want to have an intelligent species from a planet where liquid nitrogen is the dominant solvent, not water. I plan on building the planet backwards from here ...
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If humans were killed out in the Great Oxidation Event, would they leave behind any evidence?
I was thinking about the Great Oxidation Event - how, when they evolved and starting dumping a ton of oxygen into the atmosphere through photosynthesis, they accidentally killed off almost all life on ...
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What would be required to allow a human brain to function for thousands of years?
Could a human brain be kept functioning (thinking, alive, etc.) for thousands of years by use of some sort of machine or technology by the machine preserving the brain? What would such a machine have ...
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How would a bioengineered warbeast get energy from fossil fuel products?
In the somewhat far future, mankind has become fairly adept at wet nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Allowing them to not just modify what exists in nature, but build beyond it with almost ...
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CHOS Biochemistry: Is it even possible, and what would it actually be like? [closed]
For weeks now, I have been trying to find a significantly different alternative to normal biochemistry; I've had some good ideas, but I sadly don't know enough about Earth's biochemistry to be sure if ...
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How would copper based skeleton evolve in an alien species
I'm working at a special biology project for my art degree. Of course, as an artist I am lacking when it comes to chemistry.
I want the organic compounds that make their skeletons or exoskeletons ...
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
XNA is a nucleic acid analogue that could hypothetically be used by an organism in place of DNA. and is "invisible" to natural biological systems. In medical applications, it has the ...
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Carbon planet gardens [closed]
This is a restart of my previous question: let's say there was a carbon planet with life. That means it would use hydrocarbons as a solvent and since the molecules are more complicated, all reactions ...
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Carbon planet autotroph [closed]
Life on a carbon planet is supposedly plausible. But what would the autotrophs, or plants, be like? The life would use hydrocarbons for a solevant, but that's all of the biochemistry I have fixed, ...
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Plausibility of a planetary ocean containing both $H_2O$ and a form of potassium?
To give a bit of context, I'm trying to tackle a challenge I set out for myself in writing up a speculative biosphere wherein complex land life emerges, without the advent of photosynthesis at all. As ...
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What vampires get from blood [duplicate]
My vampires eat normal food too, but if they don’t drink blood they get really hungry for it. If their hunger goes on for too long they become unhealthy and weak.
I figure that blood of mammals ...
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Could bioengineered nanobots be used to grow/develop organs and tissue inside the human body?
Like the title states, could a bioengineered organ meant to produce specially designed nanobots, be placed into a human body, and once properly activated is capable of developing multiple organs ...
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What would a crystal-based creature look like? [closed]
One kind of alien concept I want to explore in my sci-fi is Jean Schneider’s hypothesis about a non-chemical crystal biology. According to Schneider, the organism’s primitive ’central memory’ is based ...
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How can technologically-advanced civilisation achieve healthy tanning?
I am looking for the ways to allow humans with technology that allowed them to colonise the entire galaxy (150 thousand light years wide) to avoid the negative side-effects of tanning (premature ...
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Could bioengineered trees grow high explosives?
The setting I'm trying to develop is a post-apocalyptic partial Dyson Swarm. The world has very advanced AI and one of those developed the system as a caretaker god inhabiting the star. It has gone ...
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How to make chocolate safe for Keidran? (Basically Dog-people)
Backstory (skip if desired)
Let's take our cute and self-conscious protagonist, Jayden! (For the people that read and responded to the post about the genetics behind keidran and the colonization of ...
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Alt. Biochemistry - Which of these is a suitable alternative/mirror to DNA?
This question is tied to the “Glass Trees” question I asked earlier which everyone seemed to like. Since y’all had such good opinions on that, I figured I’d bring this particular quandary to y’all in ...
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Glass Trees - how feasible is it?
Edit: For clarification, this question is in regards to silicate use in carbon-based biochemistry, not silica-based biochemistries.
The microorganisms you see above are called diatoms; they are a ...
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Could supercritical co2 act as a biosolvent?
Let me break it down:
Having failed to terraform venus, I am now trying to the process of pantropy to inhabit this world, (pantropy = to adapt humans/Terran life to other planetary environs through ...
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What kind of material could tooth enamel be made out of to change the tooth colour besides iron?
The world I'm making isn't hard science fiction nor science fiction, really, but I'd like to be somewhat realistic in some aspects, like this one.
I'd like my humanoid fantasy/alien species to have ...
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How can I create an emotional computer?
In this project of mine, AI are described as being smart, but emotionless, for the simple reason that they lack any hormonal system to influence the way they think. In layman’s terms, they’ve got no ...
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Replacing proteins with starch in alien biochemistry
So, I am trying to come up with forms of alien biochemistry that are different but not so different that these life forms are drinking battery acid or breathing methane. One idea I read about on Orion’...
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What do Titanians drink instead of alcohol?
It is the year 274 After Singularity (2384 AD) Humans have settled on Saturn’s moon Titan and are adapting humans to the methane-rich environment through pantropy. The results are the Titanians: ...
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A planet with acid rains but its atmosphere is breathable
I am trying to create a planet that rains acid, and that has acidic oceans of water, but a breathable nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere.
This planet has native lifeforms that have evolved to withstand these ...
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Why is my organic computer the only thing capable of manipulating my special particles?
I have a few fictional particles in my setting that can do many things, however getting them do something specific is the challenging part. There are a class of particles that only work while in the ...
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