Posts tagged biology
What would be the major changes to our bodies if we were herbivores? Would our bodies be weaker because they were not getting any protein from meat? Would we be completely different? (Probably, I s...
Back home, the bird order Passeriformes consists of roughly 100 families totaling up to roughly 5400 species--that's over half of the entire class. But if the songbird order never existed, how wou...
The humanzee is the theoretical hybrid of human and another primate. No such humanzee has ever been documented in the modern era, though genetics suggest in our distant evolutionary past primitive...
Mycolaria is my working name for an alien planet featuring a much more visible role for fungi of all kinds, large and small. There are also animals and plants on this world. This is the second in a...
Modern mechanical EM transmitters, like radio towers and radar guns, rely on finely tuned mechanical structures. If these structures do not have the right shapes, the device fails to function. Or...
I would like to explore how to design an alien planet featuring plants and animals but with a much more prominent ecological role for fungi. More fungi, larger fungi, more complex and beautiful fun...
Magneto is way over-powered, even for a mutant. With the given relation between electricity and magnetism, what could be possible? here is already study work on biomagnetism, we know the nervous s...
Back home, the phylum Cnidaria (jellyfish, coral, anemone) and the class Amphibia are two of the most ancient groups of animals on the planet. But let's say that, on an alternate Earth, many milli...
In my world I have a couple species of sentient animals, mainly cats, who among other things are capable of communication with human beings. While I am perfectly happy to resort to explanations i...
In relation to this question, what would plants do if they were taken from their environment to another gravity level, in particular zero g. For example would the daisy manage to grow higher bec...
Note: I am aware of a previous question Physiological effects of living on a world close to a black hole As I understand it, that question refers specifically to a planet that is in a non-ideal ...
If a pair of twins developed when their mother's egg split in half and they were fertilized by different sperm, could one of them develop situs inversus? The child with the condition would be male,...
I'm working on creating a race of humanoids with "hollow" bones like birds (they have criss-crossing struts for internal support). They are short - an individual is unlikely to top five feet. Woul...
I read in this question that the minimum viable population without causing large problems in genetic diversity is about 50. If we have a larger population (say a hundred) and genetic diversity beco...
I'm trying to make a world that human sex ratio is 2:8 (male:female). Most of the females are homosexual, and male is not necessary for reproduction. I thought it was easy at first, just say that t...
For 10,000 years since Beringia, the bridge connecting Asia to North America, had vanished, the Asian and Native American races show great distinction. But if Beringia has persisted to this day, c...
As the question title suggests, I'm looking to find out how long a human could live for if they didn't age in their sleep. Assume that this ability kicks in at about the age of 16 and they have com...
In this scenario, corals, sponges and bryozoans have been extinct for 65 million years. In their place as reefbuilders are echinoderms, bivalves, barnacles and worms of the infraclass canalipalpat...
Is it possible that any life on earth could evolve to live off a liquid which is not water? Something like oil or some other natural liquid?
Bioships - biological spaceships - appear in a lot of SF, so I thought I'd have a go. However, in most books they are depicted as more powerful than conventional tech in all and any regard. This ...
By some combination of changes in both the environment, and human biology, humans evolved on Earth in a way that basically makes them 100% unable to alter their minds using traditional methods: A...
In my world, Earth populated the Moon. Even if people are concealed in stations they got to go out from time to time (to explore or repair things that robot can't). My question is: Is it possible...
If we had Full-Body Immersion MMORPGs, how would morale-boosting and morale-lowering skills work for players? By that, I mean, how would the game forcibly make players more or less confident, even ...
Would it be possible to modify a human to be able to survive in space without protective gear? Genetic engineering and cybernetic enhancement are both allowed, although when not in space the perso...
Diamonds are carbon. Plants take in CO2 and use the carbon. Chemically, could the right kind of plant have diamonds for berries, or is there some other limiting factor?
Over the course of Homo-sapiens, we have become larger, because of diet & selection. Even in the last couple centuries. Today, we vary across geography and cultures, too, of course. Now it i...
So let's say that an alien civilization that we have made enemies with decides to use an advanced non-lethal biological weapon on the Earth as a warning. The aliens, while not infamous for any tec...
What effect would a crystalline material that is inert under ordinary environmental conditions have on someone if it was injected into their bloodstream? Examples materials include finely pulverize...
I have been reading on Wikipedia about cloning and am considering it a possibility for reproduction in my world. I am finding it slightly difficult to find all of the cons and pros associated with ...
When you mention livestock you think of creatures such as cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and so on. We've been domesticating animals for like 17,000 years or so and have used them for a variety of mea...
Inspired by this question, and my own answer to it: Avoiding galactic pandemics. World ending pandemics are a common disaster/after-the-end story trope, I'm trying to determine if plausible, and h...
In my alternate Earths, the plant class Ginkgoopsida has retained its prehistoric diversity, unlike back home, in which only Ginkgo biloba remains. In order for that diversity to be possible in th...
70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens sapiens suffered a genetic bottleneck that reduced the population of likely 100,000 to 3,000. Over seven billion people of several distinctive races are descended fr...
In this world I'm building, a bunch of previously inactive genes in humans have started expressing, and changed newborns' metabolic system dramatically. As a result, a portion of population cannot...
Consider a planet similar from Earth: very suitable for life, with vegetal and animal life forms thriving onside. I wonder if one of these life forms could raise as a civilization as humans did, i...
Disclaimer : I'm working on the entire pseudo-science thing , so the scientific part of this whole thing isn't made up properly... Certain things have not been explained , this is to keep the post ...
Could primitive human like species evolve into highly advanced race only using bio materials (other than wood) during their advancement (instead of other tools as early humans developed from iron, ...
Similar, but a bit more broad, to Would a zombie apocalypse be possible if a zombie existed? A secret lab (owned by a private company) near Chicago creates a virus strain called 'ZB01' (to be so...
Here is the setup: Elves, through magic, have the ability to cause regeneration of limbs/healing of wounds through natural cellular processes. Regenerating a limb, while now possible, obviously tak...
I'm trying to find explanations for a strain of beans (or any other food-producing plant) that have become large, maybe as large as most trees, and about as wide in girth, that overgrows countries ...
I am specifically interested in a form of reproductive cycle something like that of aphids on earth, where several generations of female-only parthenogenesis go by, followed by a generation being b...
You go to sleep one day, and wake up on a different planet. Let's say the atmosphere of this planet has about the same composition as on Earth. Actually, this planet has pretty much all of the same...
I was trying to create a world that has extensive massive rain-forests unlike anything on earth where the trees interlock with thick branches to allow them to rise much higher into the air (several...
I am building a race of humans (or humanoid constructs) that have the ability to alter their DNA (or store a second set and use it selectively) as to gain superhuman (or meta-human) abilities. Is ...
These questions are a sort of follow up of my question about white pupils. I'm designing some other creatures whose defining traits involve "weird" eyes: How would a creature with oddly shaped pu...
This is loosely linked to my nature Mage questions. In my fantasy world I want a race of Orcs. These are the characteristics they have to have: Stand between 6 and 7 feet tall Have crude weapons ...
One science fiction short story I read (I don't remember the title or author, sorry!) featured some small creatures (unnamed) that were formed from metal, with the argument that "just like life dev...
Major Camila de Ocampo, "La Comandante", wakes with a start. As she's been trained to do when coming out of stasis, she flexes each muscle, beginning with her toes until she finally finishes by rai...
Imagine a world in which the structures and resources are our own organs, tissues and cells. The society would be run by special cells and living microorganisms. My inspiration is from the animati...
Could life be sustained only by a gas? Humans need food, water and air but can a ET or Alien could just live off gas.