Redesigning the human body to flourish on a high-gravity world?
This answer states that "guided evolution" would help babies develop under constant 3-4g's. This answer has inspired me to ask , what sort of genetic tinkering would help humans adapt to life on a planet with 3-4 G's?
Basic background information:
Humans have mastered star travel. FTL travel and FTL communications have been mastered. It is the late 2300's. Humans have decided to found their first interstellar colony. They have chosen a relatively nearby world with 4G's and otherwise hospitable conditions. Human satellites and drones have been surveying this world and mapping it's continents for decades. It orbits a sun-like star, and has no known indigenous intelligent races. Five thousand colonists have set out to establish a settlement.
Human technology allows massive biological changes. Humans can not only modify their physiology, but also their genes. Essentially, humans can do anything they want to their bodies at a good price. Assuming infinite ability to change their bodies, how can my humans modify their bodies to better adapt to the environment of this world?
For the sake of argument, most of the planetary surface is covered in "grasslands" and is dotted with lakes and small seas connected by rivers. There are some mountains, but very few.
EDIT
I want humans to be able to survive on the surface of the world on the great plains. They must be able to stand upright and must still be recognizeable as humans. We will assume that food is in abundance and all we need to account for is the plains and gravity. If you want to, you can take other considerations into account, such as adaptations suited for the plains, but for the purposes of this question answers should include anything that helps remain identifyable as a human while providing as much advantage to humans over native life as possible. Some ideas for points to cover might be;
How would we change our inner biology? Would organs be better placed in different places?
Would bone structure require modifications?
How would we modify our bodies to help them bear children?
What about reducing mass reducing weight and muscle strain?
It must obviously be biologically possible for the human to survive.
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/40958. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
0 comment threads