Questions tagged [genetic-engineering]
For questions about artificially modifying the DNA of a life form.
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How would be society's reactions if scientistis created an hermaphrodite man capable of giving birth? [closed]
If genetic engineered and/or bioengineering was used to create a man with true hermaphroditism( he would also have male gender identity) who could get pregnant on his own by self fertilization or ...
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Could genetically engineered mint take over the planet?
Mint is a highly invasive plant that rapidly takes over gardens with its sprawling root systems. In my story, a group of scientists engineer a particularly prolific strain of mint in order to increase ...
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Is it reasonable that the people of Pandemonium dislike dogs as pets because of their genetics?
The world of Pandemonium is a world in another universe where humans may exist, that is gravitationally connected to Earth in our universe. Over the course of history since the big bang, these ...
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Would a genetically-inserted “memory” be present in all neurons? Or just specific neurons?
So a hypothetical concept I’ve been playing with lately involves the “RNA memory transfer/storage” hypothesis, recently notably demonstrated in slugs a few years back which made a few headlines. The ...
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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 could a radiowave controlled cyborg-mutant be possible?
The cells of certain gene edited superhumans were changed to make them produce molecular radiowave receiver inside the cell to allow the superhuman to coordinate the movements and even change genetic ...
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Can migration be planted into an animal's instincts by humans
So animals will migrate for many different reasons and I wondered if humans could take a species (example:rabbits) that doesn't migrate, and somehow make it develop a yearly migration pattern without ...
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Could some sort of genetic engineering allow for "renewable" immortality?
Is there a way that a sort of immortality could be achieved through genetic engineering or some other type of biological/medical technique? Not necessarily permanent immortality until the heat death ...
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Could gene therapy become the new plastic surgery?
In an EXTREMELY near future (the story is set in June 2028 of the Gregorian calendar), there are some people that use the gene therapy because they want to change their physical appearance.
For ...
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Would there be any side-effects of modded humans breeding with vanilla humans
Context
I plan on creating a world with two human populations, one that would have their respiratory and blood systems genetically modified (suited to be more resillient against oxygen poisoning ...
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Transgenic Peach DNA Splicing
It is possible to put a tiny amount of Human DNA in a plant:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-story-of-how-an-artist-created-a-genetic-hybrid-of-himself-and-a-petunia-25148544/
https:/...
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Supersoldiers enabling man-powered vehicles
Just as an exercise in worldbuilding, imagine a world where genetic engineering (on subjects that already reached maturity, so no need to modify embryos and raise them to adulthood) creates ...
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Genetics of a human-animal hybrid
It’s the age of genetic engineering, and Scientists, in league with shady corporations, have created a group of human-animal hybrids, hereafter referred to as Metamorphs.
Metamorphs are designed as ...
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Why are my Orcs so Big and Strong? [closed]
Here are the usual "Since warcraft 3" Orcs.
Men are between 2.0 and 2.7 meters tall.
In women from 1.7 meters to 2.5 meters.
Almost no fat.
Much stronger than humans "One orc is as ...
user100265
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Are artificial genes discernible from natural ones?
In a sci-fi project, bioengineering is now a fashionable and profitable industry. A couple of bioengineers decide to play silly buggers with the exobiologists downstairs by cobbling together an ...
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Body shape of a bioengineered tool-using fish [closed]
So, the dolphins are revolting! They want rights! They demand equality! They insist upon humans sharing all those wonderfully human things with them, like jobs and housing and social media and ...
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Are there ethical ways to profit from uplifting?
Humans have entered a period known as the biotech renaissance, where the advent of new forms of genetic modification gives rise to a host of new bioengineered life forms.
One of these are animals that ...
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Colonization of the Siberian taiga by engineering crops and ecosystem
(REVISED)
It usually is common sense to believe that any crops would just die within Siberian soil. But I just thought about creating genetically modified crops which are adapted to boreal, permafrost ...
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What would the technical problems be of mass genetic editing? Keidran Animal-Human Hybrids
The Setting
I hear you, I'll make this brief. It's been almost 30 years since the Aurea slow cargo ship arrived at Ilus. When they launched the Aurea, almost a century ago, they had the technology to ...
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Designing a bipedal/quadrupedal canine
So, in this sci-fi scenario, humans create uplifts or “algernons”; sapient animals created through genetic engineering. Torn between making these animals identical to their counterparts or being more ...
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Manage Exotaxonomy [closed]
My story is set on a huge ring megastructure (Banks' Orbital), with properties (E.g. axial tilt, diameter, rotation) that allow it to have an Earth-like atmosphere.
The biosphere is similar to the ...
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Biology of a dyson-tree
The concept of a dyson tree is a genetically engineered plant that can exist in vacuum conditions, and uses the raw materials found in extraterrestrial regolith (I.e. comets, asteroids etc) to produce ...
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Can we modify sportsmen to have muscle latches for spring-action punches and kicks?
Given that safe and reliable genetic modification are relatively common and accessible in my setting, I got interested in all the possibilities and implications that would occur by this, one of these ...
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Eyes that work like mirror telescopes [duplicate]
So the thing is, I made a question regarding seeing all of the EM spectrum(or at least all that it's possible through biological means) and someone pointed out that the image would be distorted ...
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economics of uplifiting an animal species
So, the concept of uplifting, or “Algernonics” as I term it, (based on the book “flowers for algernon”, look it up) is the idea in science fiction of raising an animal species to sapience, (whether ...
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How acute can human vision be enhanced to be while retaining the size and shape of the eyeball?
How much more acute could human eyes be biologically engineered to be while keeping the same shape? Animals like eagles have very large eyeballs which due to their size and shape cannot be moved, so ...
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Genetically variable cells that through natural selection achieves evolution in a single individual
I posted a question some time ago about how could genetic engineering design people that could adapt to changing conditions beyond what simple acclimatization or activation/deactivation of genes in a ...
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Feasibility of genetically engineered human "seismolocation"
So, after watching Because Science's video about spider sensory organs that could enable Spider-Mans' Spider-Sense, where it states that if the slit sensila on the spiders exoskeleton joints were ...
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Do we have predictive knowledge of gene editing outcomes for heretofore unseen traits?
We can know what genes affect what outcomes by following the trail backwards, but can we predictively know what changes to what genes would result in completely different and previously unseen ...
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Is lighter-than-air flight possible in animals? [duplicate]
Is it possible for a human to be genetically altered to be able to fly, but instead of wings, they use internal cavities filled with a lighter-than-air gas (possibly hydrogen) which, paired with ...
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Underwater talking
In my sci-fi project, Ganymede has been terraformed but a lack of continents meant settlers had to build an artificial island. Over time, however, this island has begun to sink due to weight of the ...
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How to get the Lilim to breed true?
On my worlds of Earth, Ruquelis and Ersutiabu, there are three sexes relevant to this question, Men (XY male), Women (XX female) and Lilim (LX female), where X, Y and L are sex chromosomes. Lilim ...
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Superbabies can walk right from birth. How many times are they stronger than a normal baby?
XXIII century genetic engineering creates superbabies that can walk straight out of the LDR (labor, delivery, and recovery) room right after being born.
These superbabies are enhanced by a set integer ...
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Could a human metamorphosis work?
I was playing Resident Evil 6 and I was wondering if it could be possible with the help of a virus to make humans metamorphose.
The girl in the videogame basically turns into a chrysalis and by the ...
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Toxin Adaptations
How could humans be modified to be immune to tetradotoxin, as well as be given the ability to secrete it, like a newt or pufferfish?
It appears to be possible at a minute level to be resistant to it:
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Species modification [closed]
Let's say for purely cosmetic reasons, a group of people on Earth who wanted to colonize other worlds to form some kind of galactic empire decided to modify their outward appearance. Prior to doing ...
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Can my optic nerve work?
I'm writing a cyberpunk book and I'm trying to make it as hard-science as possible, my cyborgs have artificial eyes and an artificial optic nerve made of cyanobacteria inside a cable that transmit the ...
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Biological Electroreception/Electrogenesis (Electrolocation) In Air Medium
So i got inspired by the electrolocation senses of some water animals that can be passive like sharks that only detect the electric signature of other animals, to active like electric eels that ...
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Can my organism retain its memories?
In my world there is an organism that goes through a phase where its brain melts like goo and re-forms but not within the same structure, could my organism remember its past memories?
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How could an animal grow hair overnight?
I am trying to create scientifically accurate werewolves. Of course, werewolves are not really possible, but I am trying to make mine as believable as possible. How could they quickly grow hair/fur in ...
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Genetic engineering for "natural selection" in a single individual [closed]
Yes, I KNOW that evolution is a process that occurs through many generations via random mutations and natural selection, but in a world where humans have found a cure for aging and have mind backups ...
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programing genetic memory (or; the hard way to get your kids to clean their room.)
Is genetic memory in higher life forms real? if so can, in theory, an organism be programed for a specific behavior or set of skills? Ie: if genetic memory is a mechanism that does exist, at what ...
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Are current electrodes as good and fast as optic nerves transmiting information?
I'm writing a cyberpunk book where people can regain their vision by connecting an artifical eye and the optic nerve would be replaced by a electrode, is it possible? Ignoring the rejection and ...
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Can my organism see? [closed]
The aliens on my book have two human like eyes but instead of a retina they have a layer of bacteria with the proteins that cones and rods produce! Could my aliens see?
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Implications Of Peak Humans in Sports [closed]
In a world where genetic mods can substancially alter people's physiology even after they've reached maturity, do you think that sports that are physical conditioning based will die out in favor of ...
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Ideal height for space marine super soldier? [closed]
Let’s say you want to create a powerful genetically engineered group of space marines. The main changes we’ll be making are, in order:
increased musculature
increased bone strength
Increased eyesight ...
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Regenerating brain could get rewired differently after getting damaged?
So, the protagonist of the story I'm developing is not a normal human, she was basically a guinea pig for illegal genetic experiments when this whole CRISPR thing was still a novelty(AKA "now&...
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The absolute limits of photosynthesis [closed]
I have found that some crops, like sugarcane, have a photosynthetic efficiency of 12%. Using extensive genetic modification and eliminating all natural barriers, like light wavelength, chloroplast ...
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Is it possble to modify the whole population by introducing a small modified sample into the genepool?
I found a paper on genetical modification of mosquitos disrupting malaria. There is an intresting excerpt conserning proliferation of a desired gene into whole population:
All gametes arising from ...
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Ways and reasons for AI and genetic engineering to be absent when cyborgs are commonplace? [closed]
So, I want to create a world where cyborgs are commonplace but genetic engineering is absent and AI has not progressed much beyond what was available in the late 2010s; at first, I thought that a ...
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