Posts by Anonymous
So aliens find Earth to be suitable for colonization and disregard humanity's claim. Not because they are racist, but because they are so different biologically and psychologically that humans simp...
While the vampire is a monster of folklore, modern technothrillers (e.g. Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, Ultraviolet, Blade, Underworld, Daybreakers) have portrayed vampires as humans infected b...
So I have an alien biosphere in which trisexual reproduction predominates. As far as we can tell, trisexual reproduction does not offer an advantage when it comes to shuffling genes. The biological...
As far as I have been able to determine, the majority of life reuses the same plumbing for reproductive and digestive/excretory systems. In fact, the anus is believed to be derived from the male go...
I am trying to figure out the sex-determination of a very foreign form of reproduction. A species has three sexes X, Y, and Z. X produces X gametes, Y produces Y gametes, Z produces Z gametes. The...
There are few examples of radiotrophic ecosystems on Earth. Of those discovered, the radiotrophs are limited to single-celled organisms and unique mutant fungi. The reason seems to be due to a lac...
Some species which reproduce sexually will replace one sex with (or add) hermaphrodites. The coexistence of males and hermaphrodites is androdioecious, females and hermaphrodites gynodioecious, and...
Biradial symmetry occurs in ctenophores: the body plan consists of two halves which independently display radial symmetry. Spherical symmetry occurs in Volvox algae: any cut through the center of t...
This hypothetical marsupial species raises young in a manner loosely similar to seahorses. Only the males have pouches: after gestation the female deposits the fetus into his pouch to compete devel...
A hypothetical organism is tetraploid and isogametous. To reproduce, four haploid gametes must meet and fuse into a tetraploid zygote. Any four individuals are sexually compatible, barring self-inc...
Humans are derived from arboreal shrew-like animals that survived the cataclysm which wiped out the larger dinosaurs. As far as I am aware this series of events is entirely the result of chance. Wo...
A hypothetical organism alternates between plant and animal stages over its life cycle. The organism exhibits equally extreme sexual dimorphism. The generations are diplobiontic a la some species ...
A hypothetical species is divided into males and females that exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism. The males are further divided into multiple morphs (e.g. α-male, β-male, γ-male, etc). This po...
I am attempting to devise a mechanism whereby a species may reproduce in a communal manner. A number of individuals, ranging from two to arbitrarily high, may contribute gametes to a mass spawning ...
A hypothetical species reproduces by females impregnating males a la seahorses. However, their reproductive system appears woefully ill-suited to this task. Their genitalia are outwardly similar to...
I have wondered what a terrestrial ecosystem would look like dominated by cnidarians and ctenophores rather than insects and tetrapods. In order to fulfill the same niches I imagine they would need...
I need a planet that is a combination of chlorine world and vitriolic world. The planet is extremely hot and under high pressure, covered in oceans of pure sulfuric acid and a chlorine/fluorine atm...
I am trying to fact check a consistent set of properties and applications for the titular unobtainium from the Mass Effect games in order to avoid introducing contradictions. Certain sources I rea...
An interstellar civilization has superluminal travel which allows for travel between two points, effectively without traversing the space in between so they don't crash into anything between them a...
The hybrids were created when unseen aliens sent SETI a message explaining how to combine human and alien DNA. (Ignoring the scientific illiteracy and contradictions in the films) Under the constra...
Under what circumstances would a species develop an adaptation to employ surrogate wombs of their own species or others? The species implants its zygotes/eggs in the uterus/brood pouch of a surrog...
A hyperparasite is "a parasite whose host is itself a parasite" and is the closest analogy to an apex predator in the ecology of parasites. Human sociability, intelligence and status as apex predat...
Certain aphids and mites reproduce by telescoping generations, but do so in different ways (parthenogenesis and intercourse in utero, respectively), Hypothetically these methods could be combined....
Real parasitic plants target only plant hosts and in certain species fungal hosts. How plausible are parasitic plants (or algae, lichen, or other photosynthetic organisms) that targets animal hosts...
Two vastly dissimilar organisms turn out to be the same species upon gene sequencing. In this hypothetical animal species one or more components of the life cycle is a fungus, algae, plant, lichen ...
