New answers tagged xenobiology
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Software for diagramming food webs?
After quickly asking Mr Google “food web maker software”, here’s what I’ve got:
Creately
Insight
Visual Paradigm
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but hopefully this helps :)
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
So would an organism that uses XNA not be affected by any bacteria, viruses, etc., that would affect a normal, DNA using organism?
Viruses yes; bacteria no. The "immunity" to these ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
Hopefully this answer isn't too off topic, as it's mostly advice for baseline worldbuilding principles, not advice specific to worldbuilding a particular world.
Realism in a story is realism about ...
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
Replacing the alphabet for how the organism internally work might make it safe from infections due to DNA/RNA based organism, making the two mutually incompatible.
However you cannot exclude that the ...
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
If you're completely replacing the CTGA alphabet with something different, then existing pathogens wouldn't be able to interact with it. It would generate a completely different set of proteins which ...
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
It might complicate the existence of retroviruses, because they insert themselves into the host's DNA. RNA viruses would not be affected unless the RNA also changed.
Bacteria would not be affected at ...
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Would an XNA based organism be immune to all pathogens?
"Affected" is a broad term. If the creature operates under completely separate information carrying molecules, but everything else is familiar, then on a couple counts maybe. If not then the ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
I am going to abuse science here and make a suggestion.
First off, your individual dust particles vary but share some common features. If you looked at them you'd find vaguely radiolaria like ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
You are not the first person to think of this, and - despite most of the other answer's assertations, it is less implausible than you might think.
This video describes many different possible ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
Evolution of complex life in space seems to be impossible. Open space is very hostile to life as we know it. We have single example of life emergence, Earth. Anything that significantly differs from ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
If in doubt, use dark matter. We can't see it, so – modulo some constraints from how it's known to behave (assuming it exists at all) – the sky's the limit!
Your alien being's dust cloud body is just ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
If this alien being is a life form, it must reproduce. If you want to model the dust after life on earth, you would need a substrate of some kind (gravitational perhaps [akin to basaltic glasses upon ...
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Why would bioluminescence evolve in a Europa-like world?
However, in the seas of Tateos Prime, there is no sunlight, and therefore vision (at least in the visible-light spectrum) would never have evolved to begin with.
You don't need sunlight for sight to ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
I'm going to give a tangential answer here - Sometimes you need what we call 'Hand-Waivium' or 'something that doesn't exist or is not known to currently exist that solves the paradox or technical ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
You can't. This isn't possible nor even semi-realistic.
imagine some kind of energy will have to hold the particles together in a loose network
What we have
This is the problem, this simply doesn't ...
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How do I design a scientifically plausible alien being that is a network of space dust?
Before answering your question, please be aware that we still don't know what causes the emergence of consciousness in our brain. With that in mind, you can avoid worrying much about giving a ...
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Why would bioluminescence evolve in a Europa-like world?
"On Earth, bioluminescence arose because it was advantageous to organisms that had vision" - maybe. We don't really know why bioluminiscent bacteria evolved on Earth.
According to https://en....
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Why would bioluminescence evolve in a Europa-like world?
The problem in other words: why would a light-sensing organ develop if there is no light source, and why would bioluminescence evolve if there were no light-sensing organs, and how could they evolve ...
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Why would bioluminescence evolve in a Europa-like world?
Because even in the deep ocean, there are natural sources of light, and you don't need a complex eye to make use of them.
First, you've got geologic sources. Geothermal vents emit red and near-IR ...
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What is the most air-tight substance an organism can produce?
Some seaweeds actually have air bladders specifically for floatation:
https://sciencing.com/function-air-bladders-seaweed-8003965.html
If there was sufficient evolutionary pressure for such things ...
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What is the most air-tight substance an organism can produce?
Cheeks
Looks pretty airtight to me!
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What is the most air-tight substance an organism can produce?
Air tight is not the problem
The most air tight substance is probably silica, produced by diatoms - it's tough, glass like and could form a very good seal. There's a range of biological substances ...
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What is the most air-tight substance an organism can produce?
Bladders
In ancient Greece, Rome, and China, bladders, from pigs, goats and other animals were used for ball games. They weren't as airtight as modern materials but constantly inflating them from ...
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What is the most air-tight substance an organism can produce?
The most air-tight substance that an organism can produce is likely a combination of natural polymers, similar to those found in some biological structures. One such substance is chitin, which is a ...
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