Questions tagged [biology]
For questions about the biology of life and organisms in works of science fiction and fantasy. Always use in conjunction with the relevant work tag. Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms. With regards to science fiction and fantasy works, it is generally associated with the practicalities of invented forms of life or life-supporting habitats.
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Are the humans in the Star Wars Galaxy really humans?
Related: Why are there humans in the Star Wars Universe?
This is a subtly different question because I'm not asking whether there's a historical relationship between the two lineages.
I am asking this ...
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What would really happen if you were exposed to space? [closed]
It seems that every science fiction story has a different idea about what would happen if a human were exposed to the vacuum of space.
At the end of Total Recall, Quaid and Melina are ejected to ...
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Why are Vulcan lips Human-reddish instead of green?
We know that Vulcan blood is copper based instead of iron as in Humans, making it appear green instead of red. This is shown when bruised or bleeding as well as in Bones' insults to Spock.
The lips ...
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Where does the energy come from in the Dune ecosystem?
In Frank Herbert's Dune books, the planet Arrakis has an interesting and well thought-out alien ecology. As summarised in this answer, the sandworms eat sandplankton (which consists, at least in part, ...
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Do characters in Star Wars address how odd it is the universe is filled with humanoids?
In Star Wars, basically everyone is a human with facial make-up; is there an attempt at an in-universe explanation of this within this franchise?
Note:formerly this question was for Star Trek and ...
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Invisibility should cause blindness: how does hard sf cope? [closed]
One problem I've always thought of with science fiction characters becoming invisible is that they should go blind, because their retina does not catch any light.
Obviously a lot of soft SF or ...
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Why do the Walking Dead zombies stop decomposing?
Zombies must have a half-life. They exibit signs of decay as soon as they transform into the undead. Their rotting flesh would attract decomposers, like flys and beetles. Those insects should be able ...
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How does cross-species (Klingon/Human, Vulcan/Human) breeding work genetically in Star Trek?
While humanoids across the galaxy theoretically share a common remote ancestor, from what I remember each species has evolved convergently towards humanoidness by different routes. So we end up with ...
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Why aren't there any recognizable elf children in Middle-Earth?
Why aren't there any recognizable Elf children in Middle-Earth?
I don't remember reading about younglings, only adults. Hobbit children, goblin imps and human children are all represented in the LOTR ...
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Do characters in Star Trek address how odd it is the universe is filled with humanoids? [duplicate]
In Star Trek, basically everyone is a human with facial make-up; are there any instances where character comment on this and attempt at an in-universe explanation of this within this franchise?
Note, ...
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Do Shapeshifters, like Odo, shift just shape, or composition as well?
When Odo is shaped as a humanoid, for example, is his eye just the outward shape of an eye? Or does he have a lens, and a retina, and an optic nerve, and a brain made of neurons processing images?
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Why does human racial diversity exist in Star Trek?
In Star Trek, humans of different racial appearances exist, such as Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura. But I assume that if humans have been able to travel easily around Earth, and that there is ...
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How do the Dune sandworms move?
The sandworms of Dune are huge and powerful. But how exactly do they move beneath all that sand? They don't necessarily skim above the surface as they apparently only raise smallish (relative to their ...
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Does Clark Kent have a weight problem?
This question came to mind while watching an overloaded vehicle tilting down the road ahead of me. Are Kryptonians Height & Weight Proportional (H/W/P) to humans? I'm curious to know if Clark has ...
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How does the Space Slug (Exogorth) breathe in the vacuum of space?
Whilst answering this question, an interesting question came to mind.
In the chase through the Hoth asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back, the Millennium Falcon takes refuge in a cave, which ...
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Can't you just bite off a face hugger?
This seems like a serious plot hole to me. The face hugger in the Alien franchise is almost completely soft, short of its crab like legs.
It seems like a serious evolutionary disadvantage if your ...
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Short story about mis-delivered cloning kit from the future
Short story about mis-delivered cloning kit from the future.
Subject man clones himself using scanner and ingredients from the kit (add water), agent arrives (from future) to reclaim the kit, but ...
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What is the earliest example of an accidental origin of life or civilisation?
The trope
The essence of the trope goes like this: Somebody creates a new biosphere or civilisation by accident, such as leaving some sandwich lying around. Often, the product is microscopic with ...
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Do Vulcans get a patina when exposed to the sun?
Does exposure the sun add color to the skin of green blooded Vulcans in the same fashion that it tans red blooded humans?
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How many alien species are compatible with humans?
In the various incarnations of Star Trek across the decades, there have been some important characters who are half-human, one of their parents being an alien:
Mr Spock, from TOS, is half-human and ...
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What is the gestation period of a Klingon?
I am aware of the gestation periods of Betazeds is 10 months and (obviously) humans, but is the time span ever addressed of Klingon gestation? (Perhaps VOY might have a reference with B'Elana's ...
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What function do Xindi cheek holes serve?
All 5 of the extant sapient Xindi species have the same holes (and a line of bumps) on their cheeks, as can be seen below:
Has it ever been explained what purpose they serve, or how such different ...
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Are there Star Trek Species that are explicitly biologically incompatible? [closed]
We know that Klingon and Human DNA is compatible enough to reproduce (B'Elana Torres); same with Human and Vulcan DNA (Spock), and Cardassian and Bajoran DNA (Tora Ziyal).
Are there any examples of ...
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