Grrl Power #756 – Human plus
Needless to say, Cora’s photosynthesis would be more effective if she had more surface area. I guess she could have mechanical arms with solar panels or uh… wait, that wouldn’t help feed her. Uh, panels of translucent gel full of some kind of photosynthetic bacteria… that dumps nutrients out to her bloodstream?
Or she could just eat a hot dog. But a tinkerer like her or Dabbler would spend time trying to invent a cybernetic photosynthetic solution just to see if they could.
I know it’s confusing that Cora says it’s hard to put a number on how human she is, but then says that gen-modding doesn’t alter base DNA. It’s… basically she’s got an alien grandparent, and one of her parents is like 1/16th something else, but mostly human. Also if you took a DNA sample from her while her mods are active, you’d get screwed up results. Don’t worry about the math.
Here’s how a comic artist’s mind works; I realized if I made a joke about chlorophyll, I can draw a red butt sticking out from under the shadow of an awning.
Looking at this page now before posting it, I see a missed opportunity for a cameo there. It’s just some random demoness friend of Dabbler. I assume she’s dating the demon guy in the back playing volleyball. (Or knowing that group, the sleeping arrangements are more accurately described as Round Robin.) But I could have put… I don’t know Sheeva from MK. The 4-armed Goro chick. For some reason she was the first chick to come to mind, but anyone recognizable from the back would work.
BTW, on the double res Patreon version of this page, you can see little peachfuzz hairs on that red butt. Just barely. But they’re there. Yes, I made a peachfuzz brush in Clip Studio Paint just for that.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
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"Mature"Mature subject matter and occasionally something explicit but usually safe. Can't guarantee the ads are safe though.
Dongs Ahoy!Full frontal and backal. Lots of skin, sex on some or all pages, explicit or otherwise.
I think you mean “illegal and invasive”, a mod to see through clothes isn’t just “inappropriate”, and how exactly is she part alien? She said aliens aren’t coming to our planet to do things or “steal” our women (and kindly stay the hell off Earth if you aren’t going to share your tech because it’ll affect our development. We’re not a vacation resort, you don’t get to have your spacecake and eat it too.)
What makes you think it’s a mod to see through clothes?
Plus it’s been established in this comic there is a lot of sex tourism from off-planet. Spacecake is already consumed.
I was thinking the blur out may have been more a *I have special muscles in my vagina you don’t* kind of situation.
reminds me of the hbo documentary I saw late night at a hotel one night… er, well. Let’s just say that a person holding up a spinning plate on a stick in each hand.. was done with those “muscles” you just mentioned. on a stage in public.
Dolphins are neat. Cora is blue. Cora’s best friend is a succubus.
Dolphins are sweet. Cora is too. Cora’s best friend is conspicous.
i’m not sure if you missed the reference to Risa at the bottom of the comic but Risa is a pleasure planet from Star Trek, they aren’t frolicking on an Earth beach there
Wasn’t referring to the last panel, I meant in general. Not going to share your sweet tech? Ok gtfo and let our primitive asses develop our own. We’re not here to entertain you.
Especially the Alari refugees. Seriously, life may not be great where they escaped to but them coming to Earth is like Americans fleeing to VENEZUELA.
Emma – First, it would be Americans after America was destroyed by Mecha-Cthulhu.
Second, it’s not Venezuela, it’s Argentina. Earth is not run by depraved Socialists, it’s run by … well, okay, not Argentina either.
It’s run by a junta of mixed power elitists, commercial interests, ideological and cultural special interests, and your odd supervillain/antihero.
So, it’s… Earth. Let’s just say “Central America” and leave it at that.
maybe the Alari are former city dwellers forced to live in the countryside post-Kaiju rampage? Kaiju really love to smack around skyscrapers, not too many of those in the countryside
Yeah, there you go. But, a post-apocalyptic countryside divided between decadent semi-warring tribes who don’t know there was ever a pre-apocalypse, because for them there wasn’t.
You know… Earth.
I dunno. After all, they did build Tokyo right on the Kaiju migration route. Which was poor planning, but it means you can’t really generalize from their treatment of Tokyo and say that they like smacking skyscrapers around in general.
You’re right. She did say that aliens aren’t coming to Earth to “steal our women”… But women aren’t property and if they want to leave the planet, they have that right. I’m a woman, and I’m sick of this miserable rock. Besides, you know what she didn’t say? She didn’t say aliens aren’t coming to Earth to steal our men.
Emma – As far as I know, there’s no law that says you can’t make a device to see through clothing, so it’s not “illegal”.
Also, it’s not unqualified “invasive”. There’s precedent that allows the police to use infrared instruments to look through walls without a warrant. (Don’t know if that was later overturned, it’s at least 25 years old.) “Invasive of your privacy”, as in “rude”, sure.
As far as “stealing our men”, why would anyone steal what they can’t even give away?
Shes a futa? #painfullycool
With her hard light projectors she could be basically anything she wants to be.
We could have been anything that we wanted to be.
We could have been anything we wanted to be.
Probably not.
Additionally, if said were case then Cora would be a trans-woman do to the whole ‘zinc finger on the y chromosome is biologically male’ thing us humans having going on. I’m going to go ahead and side with the “extra muscles” or something similar camp.
*’due’ not ‘do’
Fetishizing people for physical characteristics isn’t cool.
Hollywood and the fashion media has been doing that for decades…
Breathe deeply if you can remember corsets
Centuries.
Remember, malnourished shut-ins used to be sexy. Wait, when will my time come again?
Wasn’t going to go too far back (Chinese women having their feet bound so that they remained small enough to fit into a teacup for graphic example)
Why would you arbitrarily only go back a specific distance in time? It all still counts as fetishing people for physical characteristics and not being cool. And considering it was banned in 1912, after hollywood had already started…
Because most people only acknowledge shit that has happened in their own lifetimes, would you rather me list every instance of fetish abuse? Already mentioned corsets o_O
If this is in the past, why does Dabbler have a XXXX choker?
It’s quite possible that she likes chokers, had one already, built tech into it, and designed the Archon chokers based on her own communication/location/etc.-equipped fetish-y neck decoration.
We don’t know how long Dabbler has worked with Archon, or if she left the planet at one time or another.
Dave has mentioned, in a blog, that Dabbler had only been at Archon a few weeks before Sydney arrived. Obviously quite eventful weeks, given how well settled in she was, and the fact that she managed to beat Maxima in sparring (when magic was allowed in the rules of engagement).
Cora may have visited during that time (it looks like they are on Earth above). Or she may have provided Dabbler her ride to Earth. We have always assumed that Dabbler had a ship hidden somewhere, but we have only had the laboratory mentioned in canon, and that is just a room in the Archon HQ.
She’s also a dabbler, in everything. it’s possible she made a stargate or something. but didn’t need one on the other end for it.
Dabbler’s had that choker for longer than she’s been on Earth. That will eventually be explained.
So Woodrobin got essentially right with its “she likes chokers, had one already, built tech into it, and designed the Archon chokers based on her own communication/location/etc.-equipped fetish-y neck decoration.” comment
But as far as Earth is concerned, is she also a fan of the Master of Orion games?
It’s been repeatedly stated that the chokers were based on dabbler’s
Now I have to wonder if Dave actually drew something worth censoring for that panel and put a mosaic on it, or if it’s just something random.
We need to hijack a super computer and run reverse engineering algorithms to find out what it was!
Naw, just back up across the room from your monitor and squint. It’s obviously a picture of a gullible.
Interestingly it has human flesh tones, rather than blue ones. So either it predates Cora’s photosynthesis mod, in which case the reason it is unavailable is because it was a picture of an underage schoolgirl (we saw that she was already blue when in school). Or Cora is not blue everywhere. Or, as you say, a lesser spotted gullible.
Is that a spotted or a herbaceous backson?
You would have never struck me as a Winnie the Pooh fan!
I used to commute past the bridge which is believed to have inspired AA Milne to invent Pooh Sticks. Which I have played there a number of times.
I was privileged as a child to be exposed to a fairly wide variety of literature, including your typical children’s stories such as Winnie the Pooh and extending to various mythologies including Christianity.
Let me let you in on a little inside info. God hates it when it’s referred to as “mythology”.
Dogma was hilarious and all, but it was still a movie about a mythological religion. And now that I think about it, “mythological religion” is just a redundant term…
Well if it was old time tech detective show and TV’s you could just adjust the ‘Sharpness’ knob. ;)
Or simply zoom and enhance, but un-blurring an image to see the original doesn’t always show you something pleasant.
If she is genetically modified, how did she get born with no arms or legs? Seems like birth defects like that would be archaic with genetic alterations so easily obtained.
I believe she said her parents were too poor to afford the gene mods in utero, and that she’s just used to the prosthetic limbs now (when she’s well wealthy enough to get the work done) and doesn’t really want to grow stuck-to-the-one-configuration flesh limbs.
she has post birth gene mods not pre birth ones.
the kind the person get to choice for themselves later in life and not have forced upon them by their parents.
*nods*
And it may be that she was born on Earth and, when her family realised how poor her quality of life would be, with those defects, that they decided to take her off planet, where she could get all the modifications that were beyond Earth technology.
*looks at paws*
*sighs*
But would you _really_ want Ghost-in-the-shell Paws? I might go for a Brain to terminal connection instead, maybe ala Borg type tubules.
Not fussed so long as I could open cans without a human servant.
An orbital death laser, with a ‘can opening’ setting would be fine too.
These tubules tickle!
*sets orbital death laser to ‘gentle head rub’*
I remember once you said you couldn’t draw butts. I think you’ve improved.
Also compare his early boobs to now; much improvement there too.
Re: Redjules
I remember once you said you could’t draw butts. I think you’ve improved.
He still hasn’t drawn them in this particular p;anel. He sculpted them.
I’m picturing the first fourteen or fifteen messages to the galactic community being court summons for stealing cable and/or pirating anime. By the 16th message we’ll have probably noticed the alien invasion and give them an angry “You PROMISED this wouldn’t happen!” message.
Its not an invasion. They are revenue spending, tax generating, tourists!
Make sure they are not bad tourists, like a recent flock of bad Irish ‘tourists’ (and no, not saying all Irish tourists are bad, just that these bad tourists happened to be Irish)
I agree with you here, your racism is usually more general.
Why not surprised you would butt your face in here
For those slow in the head
By the way, ‘Irish’ is a Nationality, not a race
Irish travellers are an “ethnic group” who used to be OK with being called “gypsies”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Travellers https://www.lifestyle.com.au/style/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-gypsies-and-travellers.aspx
irishcentral is a little more distinct than wikipedia. https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/who-are-the-irish-travellers-in-the-us
Wasn’t going to get into different sub-groups
“Racism” is a general purpose dis-word now, pretty much meaningless in real terms. Wanting to leave your own money to your own kids is “structural racism”, for example, because certain minorities have smaller estates to leave, so the policy of ALLOWING filial inheritance perpetuates different average wealth between the groups. This definition brought to you by the Department of Urban Studies.
Straight from the Urban Dictionary?
My first thought when reading about the double res version honestly was “Why would you make a brush for that?”
I then quickly realized that the answer would be “Why wouldn’t you?”
I think this community is starting to rub off on me.
:-D
Dabbler’s propaganda campaign is working!
Mmm, I wonder if she is one of Dave’s principle patreons?
Plot twist – Dave has been hired as a biographer, and this entire comic is dramatic retelling of the team’s autobiographies.
Yea, we figured that one out years ago. I still haven’t managed to get a date with Sydney yet mind. Not even an offer of walkies!
*ears drooping*
Your *ears drooping* all innocent look doesn’t get away from where you stuck your nose, mister. There are reasons you aren’t allowed in the girls locker room anymore…
I would never enter the girls’ locker room without an invitation!
As for the sniffing, its like a handshake alright? We just lack hands. Smelling is a vital way to enquire as to the health of an individual, find out how well they have been eating and to check their identity with absolute certainty. Far more useful than a handshake!
Now all we need is an effective way of being able to tell humans ‘I can smell that you have early stage cancer. You should receive urgent medical attention!” I understand some specialist teams have been set up to do precisely that. However it would be so much nicer if humans and doggies could find a way to chat, so that any doggy with a keen nose could pass on such vital information.
(Cue Dabbler popping around the corner and saying “Who’s rubbing of on who now?”)
Has anyone asked — if Cora is “from space”, how is she human?
Someone has said that would be a good question to ask. Which is doubtless one of the many that Suzie News alludes to in panel 2.
Cora may not be ‘from space’, she just works in space. Although it is not yet public knowledge, do bear in mind that we know, this side of the 4th wall, that aliens have been on Earth for at least 3,000 years, hidden behind the Veil. So doubtless there will be a lot of mixed race individuals either on Earth or in space. Assuming that there is either serious technology (such as we know the succubi use) or some other good reason why humans are sexually compatible with aliens (i.e. that many races may be able to breed with humans).
Ben 10 fan theory I saw once stated the special power of humans was to interbreed with and produce powered offspring with any humanoid species. Thus why humans could have so many human/alien hybrids but not see this among other aliens.
It’s not a singular theory. Several authors have written stories based around the humans built in need to breed with outsiders. On our own planet this is a fairly simple thing, with women welcoming foreign men into their beds and men doing what men do just about anywhere. Extrapolate that to a multi-racial situation with actual aliens and things can get very weird, very fast.
You… are aware there is only one human race on this planet, right? So there is no actual ‘inter-breeding’ with ‘outsiders’
You are aware that it’s pretty ironic for you to be pointing that out, right?
On a more serious note, you’re obviously misinterpreting what Oberon wrote (accidentally or for trolling purposes). Humans have a tendency to encourage mixing in from other tribes/groups that is only prevented (and then with frequent transgressions) by particularly strict social structures. It makes sense genetically, as it helps to prevent inbreeding. Oberon’s thesis is that, assuming that impulse carries over to different races (aliens) from different tribes (within the singular human race), and assuming the ability to procreate thereby, things (that is, combinations of genes expressing in offspring) could get very weird, very fast.
The suggestion that Oberon is stating that humans are not all one race requires a complete misreading of the sentence “Extrapolate that to a multi-racial situation with actual aliens and things can get very weird, very fast”. Oberon is saying that you would be extrapolating to a multi-racial situation, meaning that the beginning situation (humans finding other humans from outside their community attractive as mates) was not multi-racial.
Clearer now?
There is a reason why many humans show Neanderthal genes when they get genetic testing. Those we at least are able to spot because of cataloging. Bigfoot? Other? Nothing to match against but it would not surprise. How many folklore/myths revolve around crossbreeding with Elves, Demons etc etc.
“a complete misreading” pretty much sums up Guesticus’ state of being.
Carefully explaining things to one who wishes to remain ignorant is never going to bring about understanding.
Guesticus – You are using an erroneous and ambiguous modern definition of “race”. There is one human **species**, there are many human races within that species.
“Race” in humans is akin to “breed” in other animals or “strain” in plants… and while there are very few purebreed humans any more, and while the phenomenon of “hybrid vigor” means that individual crosses are usually healthier than any “pure race” individual is, that does not change the fact that “race” used to mean something clear, and still can be used for clarity within that context. Just because my dog was 1/16th something else, doesn’t mean I couldn’t call him a Cocker Spaniel.
One hundred years ago, the term was more meaningful. Writings of the early 20th century referred to the Irish race, the Italian race, and so on, which were largely meaningful genetic populations. At some point, the concept was altered to the “white race” and the “black race”… the former might be argued to be a significant concept, but the latter is nonsense. An arbitrary individual black American is, on average, closer related genetically to a randomly selected white American than to another randomly selected black American.
Anyway, when someone uses the word “race” to represent groups below the level of the entire species, that is an entirely normal use of the word. The word has never meant anything having to do with the ability to reproduce.
Except, most people who use ‘race’ in regards to ‘humans’ use it to either denigrate or elevate one over another
‘Ethnicity’ is not the same thing as ‘breed’ or ‘strain’
And the point about the ‘1/16th’ brought up on the last page was in regards of those who use that 1/16th as either being greater the remaining 15/16th or as means of getting special treatment
Ethnicity was exactly the same as “breed” or “strain” until about 400 years ago. Ethnic groups were genetically isolated populations with fairly rare crossovers. In most cases, you could identify people’s ethnicity by phenotype. (Genotype was not available at the time, but directly determined phenotype.)
With regard to 1/16, I have no opinion. Not sure if I’m 1- or 2-32nds Cherokee, and don’t much care. Also don’t care how much Cajun, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, English or Jewish I am.
Race and ethnicity aren’t really a thing, as far as I’m concerned. Treating “race” or “ethnicity” as significant, when they are explicitly made-up social categories, is outmoded ideology. Nowadays, physical sex isn’t considered a thing, even though binary sexes are a biological fact for 99% of all humans. The same side arguing that ethnicity is paramount to identity is schizo.
Completely agree with you in regards to ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’
*looks at the comment about Authors Writing Stories* and you do realize that authors writing fictional stories about there being more than one distinct race of human on earth. are authors writing fictional stories that have been written at times. The comment was clearer than you read it to me.
or rather clearer to me than the way you read it for yourself
Also, even if she is from space: there was a time there were no humans anywhere outside Africa, yet nowadays there’re lots of humans elsewhere – birth location’s no issue. No reason some humans couldn’t’ve gone off-planet and had children a few light-years away.
I figured the red girl was of the same species as Coras crewmember.
How about ‘wings’ between her arms and body, like a sugar glider for increased photosynthesis surface area. Could also double as actual gliding wings, ala wingsuit.
My thought was just having the suit cover all of her skin, and have the inner surface generating light at the ideal frequency and intensity for the photosynthesis mechanism in question. Seems like force field projections would use a lot of energy anyway, why not convert more directly?
Get those dirty thoughts out of your head immediately! Cover all that sumptuous skin? You monster!
Feel I should mention the average human retina is able to detect what’s typically considered ultraviolet light, but most human eyes the lens absorbs that particular wavelength. Some of us of Scandinavian descent, and some people with artificial lens, don’t have that handicap.
Humanity does have one fully functional, scientifically documented, tetrachromat. Who would benefit from an artificial lens, as she would be able to see in the ultraviolet. Along with being able to differentiate other colours that the rest of humanity (and doggy kind) is unable to perceive.
Yeah, my mom got those early replacement lenses that didn’t filter out UV. Came with two significant downsides:
1) Just because it comes through, doesn’t mean it gets focused. On sunny days there was a purple haze over everything.
2) Really awkwardly located sunburn unless she wore sunglasses while outdoors.
I imagine a competent UV vision gene mod would include increased UV resistance for your retina and achromatic lenses.
Purple Haze you say? o_O
‘Really awkwardly located sunburn’? You mean, people could see where she was looking? O_o
Nah, she could get a sunburned retina. Believe me, you do NOT want a sunburned retina!
Oh, was kinda imagining people around her would get sunburn from where she was looking: in awkward places for them, embarrassing for her :P
I might be totally off, but I think these are the ordinary numbers:
A normal person without much activity uses 2000 kilo calories per day x 4.18 = 8.300.000 Joule.
ordinary sunlight does at max 1000 watts per square meter. She covers about half a m2. Then the sun is usually at an angle, so lets divide by 4 (doesn’t really matter much which value).
So, at max, she can get 250 watts times 16 for a full earth day. which is 4000 watts = 4000, maybe 6000 joules IF it was 100% efficiency.
6.000 Joules in, 8.000.000 out. Hm…
Maybe I totally got everything wrong.
“Maybe I totally got everything wrong”
Not everything, but you messed up the watt-hours to joules conversion.
250 watts * 16 hours = 4000 watt-hours * 3600 joules/watt-hour = 14,400,000 joules.
A joule is one watt-second, not a watt-hour.
Plant photosynthesis is only theoretically 11% efficient though, and less in practice. She probably doesn’t use chlorophyll, but even if she can reach 20% efficiency, that’s only 35% of her energy requirement from photosynthesis.
So she won’t starve quickly, but she can’t live on just light for long.
Oddly enough green is not the optimum colour for photosynthesis on Earth. Purple is. It is just that chlorophyll is what our plants evolved to use, and that requires a green shade. So Cora may actually be a bit more efficient than our plants, if her blue is closer to the ideal purple than our plants’ typical shades of green.
The optimum would be matte black, but then you have nasty problems with heat buildup. Plants may be green because it allows for enough energy to be absorbed without cooking.
That is one of the two prevailing theories. The other is that there was another class of life which used a specific alternative to chlorophyll, which gave them a purple colour. Predating the rise of plants they would have dominated Earth’s ecosystem, in the photosynthesis role.
Only leaving room for niche rivals, in this case organisms which could thrive on light despite having a green pigmentation. Presumably in places where it would get too hot with a purple colour? With the ebb and flow of deep time the plants’ purple rivals have gone extinct, presumably due to plants having other advantages (or not suffering from cooking).
Direct evidence supporting the theory though is lacking, despite the purple alternative to chlorophyll being a genuine thing. There isn’t a black one that I am aware of though. Hence purple being the optimum, for practical purposes.
If you stick with chlorophyl then you are limited to what colours chemistry allowed.
There are however black surfaces that convert electromagnetic radiation at much higher efficiency than chlorophyl: mono-chrystalline sillicon polluted with trace quanties of several kinds of rare earth metals. It comes in Cora blue also…
It sounds very unlikely to form naturally in a plant-like organism, especially on Earth, if it requires any amount of rare earth minerals.
But nice to know that Cora Blue is a valid body mod for photosynthesis.
It seems Physics Girl anticipated this thread and gave us five possible ways that we ended up with green plants. Including the one I mentioned above.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BRP4wcSCM0&ab_channel=PhysicsGirl
But, bottom line, we don’t know why.
Chlorophyll is what plants evolved, but there are a number of “accessory” pigments that can extend the frequency range for photosynthesis, and an alternative pigment that some bacteria use that “eats” the middle of the spectrum instead of the two ends.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Biology/ligabs.html#c2
Theory is that the distant ancestors of land plants evolved in the water *underneath* those bacteria, and evolved chlorophyll as a way to eat the light that got past them. Then, once they hit the land, they had so much light available that they didn’t need better efficiency, other limits to their growth would keep them from taking advantage of it anyway.
My personal theory is that chlorophyll deals with CO2 starvation better than the other pigments, and air is a much worse source of CO2 than water, since CO2 is so soluble in water, and that’s why you don’t see better pigments used on land.
Despite all the current hysteria about high CO2, Earth land plants are currently on a starvation diet so far as CO2 is concerned; Before the industrial revolution, CO2 was quite close to the level at which photosynthesis just completely shuts down! For most of the planet’s history, there has been a LOT more CO2 in the atmosphere.
Cool personal theory, and it sounds viable, from what you have described.
As for global CO2 levels, most of Earth’s history lies before plants evolved, so we know that CO2 would have been vastly higher. Until plants started consuming CO2 and producing oxygen, the planet would have been totally incapable of supporting humans.
Which is why it is more sensible to focus on epochs which were similar enough to today’s climate. Plus the closer you get to the modern day the more relevant it becomes, due to the evolving checks and balances within our ecosystem. Were we to model our future climate predictions based on what happened in an epoch which contained many species (of plants, animals and other things) which are all now extinct, the results would be unlikely to be accurate.
If plants are absorbing green light for photosynthesis, why are plants green? Wouldn’t that make them… purple, I guess?
(Hint — if we see green, it means the object is reflecting green light, not absorbing it.)
Plants absorb red light.
That is one of the reasons why photosynthesis is not particularly efficient and also why supplemenal lighting in greenhouses usually is (orange) natrium lights. Or sometimes red led lights (though getting enough brightness out of those is a bit of a challenge)
Tips on how to never again forget a scientific fact: just embarrass yourself enough ( :
She would save a few calories through her nonexistent limbs.
The main problem of course is that food isn’t just calories.
There has been a lot of back and forth about how photosynthesis could work in a humanoid form. I have brought along a specialist in the area to help explain the process.
guest speaker: I am Groot!
Very Interesting, but our readers want you to explain the lack of surface area.
guest speaker: I am Groot!
OK, good point. One last question. How much time would the person have to spend in the sun each day?
guest speaker: I am Groot!
Well, I hope that clears things up.
I am Spartacus!
I am the terror that flaps in the night.
I am not a number! I am a free man!
Better version :P
Groot obviously doesn’t photosynthesize – he doesn’t have leaves.
Neither does algae. Who says it’s limited to leaves?
Or the color green for that matter? Deciduous trees change their leaves to a broad range of colors in the fall to capture more energy from the lower-angle light, which is composed of different wavelengths.
Leaves are useful because they have next to no volume to feed, but a lot of surface area. Algae also barely does anything and just lays there. It doesn’t use a lot of energy, while trees need to move quite a bit and need to constantly lift quite a bit of weight, requiring a lot of energy to do things like pump water up their height (they do this by creating a huge pressure differential (up to 100 atmospheres for really big trees I believe)).
Though I agree that Green isn’t necessary, and blue can work just as well, especially on planets where the main sources of light are reddish – green, instead of reddish – blue, brown is a very dark color, meaning that unless trees had a way of protecting themselves from the sunlight, such as walking around, they would overheat. Brown plants do exist, such as water reeds, but the main problem with them is that they overheat and need ways to counter that. However, a color change isn’t enough to eliminate the need for parts that need to have lots of surface area compared to volume. Groot doesn’t have those
“… pump water up their height (they do this by creating a huge pressure differential (up to 100 atmospheres for really big trees I believe)”
Incorrect. If that were the case high pressure sap would present a significant danger to lumberjacks, when they chopped into a tree!
Rather trees have a network of fine tubes, which rely on the fact that water will tend to climb up such a narrow tube if there is even a slight pressure differential.* The evaporation of water from the leaves is enough to create a minor differential within the leaf, which extends down the network of tubes, to have enough of an effect at root level to draw the water up (through a process called osmosis), from one tube to another.
Here is a detailed discussion on how it works in plants:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-large-trees-such-a/
* Physics Girl recently did a video on YouTube, about the phenomenon, if you want to see it outside of a plant environment. You can actually use straws as a magnifying lens, to see objects under the water, due to the weird effect of water trying to creep up the side of the straw (and thereby creating a lens-like effect in the water itself).
I was wrong about the 100 atmospheres – it’s actually -10 atmospheres, and though it’s pumping through osmosis, that is still a system that requires work, mostly to keep the water pressure that low. The pressure differential needs to remain fairly constant. As explained in slightly different/simpler terms here: http://www.science4all.org/article/the-amazing-physics-of-water-in-trees/
Also as explained at the end of the article you provided, while I was off by a factor of 4, mostly since I heard about this a while ago, – 25-30 atmospheres is still a fairly dangerous pressure difference, though a lot of the work is done by the sun, some of the work done in the leaves has to be done by the tree itself to maintain a constant pressure throughout and ensure the pressure differential remains consistent, even during the night.
Ahh, that order of magnitude decrease also decreases my scepticism by an order of magnitude!
*wags tail contentedly*
As such I stand corrected, regarding the still impressive pressure differential trees have to create. I shall think upon that, the next time I am raising my leg.
Am I the only one that noticed Gill from Street Fighter is playing volleyball?
Nope. That was picked up on the previous page of comments.
Crap. I just realized Cora is an RPG character whose player bought a ton of advantages for her by taking the “missing limb” disadvantage four times and using the points to buy bc all the stuff she’s listing, and then used her starting cash to by a cheap cybernetic “limb suit” that was at least two tech levels below the local standard with the intention of upgrading as she leveled up.
Yup. And with a fellow PC (Dabbler) helping her to upgrade to hard light, she skipped up three tech levels, getting complimentary shapechanging and other abilities in the process.
The red skinned babe in the bikini I’d date, I have a thing for chicks like that.
Dabbler never beat Maxima…..she fought her to a standstill :)
A fair quibble. But still impressive for a non-super to stalemate the most powerful known super (at that time).
I was thinking of having a snack, and that delicious candied apple was exactly what it turned out I needed. Thanks, Dave!
Nice! I almost missed Gill in the background.
RESURRECTION!
“No, dude, it’s their serve…”
I glad to see others commenting on the somewhat random and rather ineffective collection of genetic modifications she has. They really are all not helpful as they might sound cool but in practice would not help significantly.
Photosynthetic – helps essentially static, low energy organisms that can absorb large amounts of light but by being static, physically configured to do so, and have low energy needs… she has none of these features. Also, has anyone chemically looked at the process of photosynthesis to understand the secondary bi-products are not that good for a mammal to have?
Tertachromacy – has so many structural and neurological limitations that just having a 4th cone receptor (for what we Trichromats would call yellow light) does not add to your vision as the overlap of sensitivity sits within the other three cones. Additionally, as she said she is human, her visual cortex is only set up to interpret 3 channel signals, her eye lens filters out the UV portion of light prior to hitting her retina, her optic nerves would blend any fourth channel out and mix them with the much more dominant green and red, and to be made sensitive to any wavelengths above the normal vision range would require a restructuring of retinal bed at a cellular level that would most likely weaken her infra-red and red perceptions. Yeah, she might see into the UV a bit more, but only by sacrificing her ability to see deep reds due to retinal thickening.
Special modifications again would be one-off and not part of a whole system, sort of like the glow-in-the-dark kittens who have luminescent jellyfish DNA. Now there is a sexy modification for Cora. She could have glowing nipples so you could truly call her chest headlights!
You have to figure that such gene mods are well thought out systems, not just a hack to one gene.
Our neural architecture is actually quite plastic, so I wouldn’t doubt that you’d be able to use four cone receptors if you had them. For instance, researchers have looked at people born with 6 fingers, and it’s not just an additional finger flopping around, or sharing nerve signals. The nervous system including sensory and motor cortex adapt to the condition making those extra fingers useful.
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-sixth-finger-on-our-hands-would-actually-be-super-useful
Now, adapting to gaining those later in life? Tough. But she has mentioned having enhanced neural plasticity; Maybe it was needed to take advantage of some of the gene mods?
But to handle UV vision you’d need some serious retinal adaptations to avoid sunburned retina, your lens would have to be modified to focus clearly over a wider range of wavelengths. Probably put the UV cones on top of the rest, to image the UV AND shield the retina. I think it could be done, but if I had my druthers, I’d go for being able to see polarization. THAT has some major benefits!
A number of animals, mostly aquatic, manage to be photosynthetic, by incorporating symbiotic algae. There’s a species of hornet that does it, too, using it’s own unique pigment.
It’s not something I’d bother with because the energy yield would be relatively minor.
Like Cora, I can see into the UV spectrum, if I concentrate. That is why I must wear very dark lenses.
For somebody who spends a lot of time in space and on space stations I’d say that an adaptation to the skin so i can detect ionising radiation would be life-saving.
And the photosynthesis part might not be overly useful for feeding yourself, but it might be quite useful for producing your own oxygen. After all, once you have the energy to move through space, at speed, the energy required for life support is a percent of a percent. The molecules required to support that life though add to the mass and to the energy requirement, so a shortcut in that system that only requires lots of light would be extremely valuable.
Your comments on tetrachromacy sound convincing. Up until one finds out that there has been a human with that, and she was found to be able to distinguish a wider range of colours than other humans. Bear in mind that mammals are descended from creatures which did have functional tetrachromacy, which has subsequently been lost in our (and other) lineages.
However evolution has neat tricks for hanging onto the coding for such lost abilities, and they are tried out from time to time. So it is not always necessary to evolve each individual step (physical eye structures, nerve signals, brain interpretation, etc), as there are ways for evolution to activate, or deactivate, groups of things as a package.
As for photosynthesis being useless for Cora, I dispute that. Firstly her mods might include incorporating plant-like organisms within her skin, much like the rest of us have bacteria in various parts of our body, providing specialist services.
As such the harmful byproducts of photosynthesis would be used in the same way that plants use them. And the rest can be excreted in a way that the human body could either make use of (what is harmful to a plant, such as oxygen, is quite useful to humans, if popped into the lungs or if supplied in a properly saturated way for the blood to take up).
Any really dangerous ones could be sweated out, rather than having to pass through the blood to the kidneys. I doubt that would be an issue though, otherwise we would have to take far more precautions when handling or eating plants.
As for it only being useful to static organisms, please bear in mind that Cora works in space. Getting stranded in an oxygen poor (and/or carbon dioxide rich) environment is one of the massive risks she faces. Being able to hunker down next to an observation portal and massively extend the time she can survive, without outside help, would be of invaluable potential use to any spacer.
Technically, the harmful product of photosynthesis is oxygen. Massively toxic stuff, when photosynthesis finally used up all the dissolved iron in the ocean, and free oxygen started building up, there was history’s greatest mass extinction.
Even we, with massive protective adaptations, can be poisoned by the stuff if we get too much of it.
Please tell me I’m not the only one to see Gil in the background playing volleyball?
Nope, you are not. In fact you are not even the first to ask the question that way.
The comments are all divided between, “Science discussion”, “Gil spotted”, and “Ooh, lovelies”… And I’m just sitting here thinking, “Wait, was Human Plus an intended reference to Armored Core, or just a coincidence?”
Unfortunately, I’m thinking coincidence. But it would be so awesome if it was a reference to going 50,000 credits in the hole in the first two numbered Armored Core games. Don’t you think, Jacob?
ok but “space” “human” or sol/earth “human”
Cora spends most of her time in space, as a star ship captain, if that helps. LIkewise she went to school with Jabba the Hutt and a bunch of other aliens. So either off planet or in an alien enclave on Earth. The linked page was called “Space High”, so perhaps a hint to it being offworld.
She’s like a character from a certain sci-fi adult themed text based rpg.
TiT?
Yus
If she had wings, she could spread those as her “solar panel” and get more coverage. Of course, that would also limit her, as she’s too heavy to fly.
She could use her hard light ability to grow wings. Possibly with solar panels.
Although that may cost more energy, to project, than it gains.
Demon Alien Beach Goddesses Vacation
‘Inappropriate’ mods … breast size adjustable at will? Hermaphrodite? Mmm, she has an all male crew, that seems less likely. Pheromone control? That seems to fit the bill. But, judging by the variety within her crew, it is probably quite a sophisticated version, which would be able to affect various different species.
Then, of course, extra muscles, for extra pleasure, as alluded to by others.
Mind you there are other mods which could be of great use, such as coming up with a better arrangement for the birth canal. Maybe a natural equivalent to a cesarean section? Complete with zip lock and boosted immune defences. Not exactly risque, but possibly something that Cora might guess more squeamish types might not want to hear detailed on their live news broadcast.
Feel the impulse given some comments to post the types of gene mods; BASED on permanency and when they are applied.
Hereditary: Modifications that can be passed down to the next generation and if dominant enough or radical enough appear either continuously or under special conditions. In fact these could become so common that one may with enough generations not even recognize them as modifications as they have become part of the common racial trait.
For example, in my own universe Aesperians inherit a protein based nanite system in their DNA that codes for enhanced strength, durability, stamina, skin resistance to being damaged, flexibility, agility, and other base like super soldier serum type stuff like that their space faring ancestors needed to compete in the galaxy; but on a world of their own is so base line they completely forgot over 2000 years that other humans weren’t as “tough” as they are.
comic books have more exaggerated versions, the Inhumans of Marvel were descended from humans altered by the Kree to be living weapons, but the reaction of teragenesis stayed in their DNA down the generaations…and due to like three or four retcons after the fact Mutants got their name as “mutants” made inaccurate as the X-gene was introduced in humanity of the Celestials…with later spreading and modifications by Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister.
-do some future forward comics and even mutates *Hulk, Captain America, Luke Cage, ect…enhancements turn out to also be inherited by future generations; so future Marvel Earth really should end up looking like Hero Academia*
I have even seen Bio-androids like this, which feels even darker as while they have the inherited built traits having offspring being regarded as bio-androids and an entire species of them born into a system of servitude because of it.
2nd:
In Vitro: modifications to a human done during embryonic development. But not traits that could be inherited; genes of the unborn are altered for this or that reason. Usually seen in darker clone sci-fi, making an army of super soldiers or monsters. I’ve seen sci-fi declare the results sterile due to the tampering.
3rd:
Post Birth,
sub-sets temporary and permanent.
Permanent makes more sense logistically, and what Cora seems to have. Make alterations to the DNA for specific traits but not affecting the reproductive cells so no additional traits are passed down.
temporary is the same thing, but can be switched off and changed out. Usually see in sci-fi that is trying to be like cyberpunk body modifications but be organic to be different or for body horror. Splicers from Batman Beyond I think were implied to be this for example.
Don’t know if this was mentioned, but even if assuming the most basic form of photosynthesis she needs a source of carbon and water to synthesize basic sugar.
And she’s far more advanced than a plant needing a hundred different nutrients.
Honestly, it’s a funny joke, but I don’t see how that particular mod has the science behind it panning out. Ofcourse, I have only high school biology from 18 years ago, so I am open to being corrected
Just stick it with the science that explains how Maxi’s screwy skin works, or Les, or even Sydney (no, not her balls, Sydney herself)
Speaking of Sydney and balls, I wonder what her reaction to these would be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPpcfH_HHH8
The carbon she would just get out of the air, the same way plants do. Namely using the carbon dioxide. All she has to do is strip off the two useless oxygen atoms and she has the carbon. Although I think she can make good use of the oxygen for the animal parts of her. Water she will need though, just the same as plants and all other life. But our society is pretty good at making sure that water is readily available, so that is hardly a deal-breaker for the mod.
As for vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, yes she would need those too. But just as I carry around a packet of multi vitamins, Cora could do that too (for her meaty bits) and a bottle of Baby Bio (for her plant mods). Or she could eat a balanced diet at times when it is convenient to do so.
The amount of energy photosynthesis would produce though would be small compared to the needs of a human body. But if all she had been doing was laying on the beach, soaking up the rays, it is entirely reasonable that she would not feel hungry.
So it is a useful mod for reducing the amount of food that a person would need, and also would provide a potentially life saving backup if normal food was unavailable. If Cora was shipwrecked, and faced floating in a life-raft, for weeks or months, she would have a far better survival chance than an unmodified human. Provided the raft was equipped with the normal desalination unit, to turn sea water into fresh water,* Cora could just lay back and relax. Although trailing a fishing line, over the side, would help to give a bit of fresh fish. Importantly though Cora could go much longer between successful catches, than an unmodded human.
* The ones used in this role are quite bulky, so it needs a bigger life raft. But it is a solar still. You put salt water in the bottom, it evaporates up onto a transparent plastic sheet covering the unit, like a pyramid. That then drips down the side into a collection container below.
She eats and drinks.
I is likely a safe bet the photosynthesis is a supplementary energy source not a primary one. Just a little extra, take the edge off of hunger, energy boost for activity, that sort of thing; not her primary source for nutrition or energy; which would be from eating, breathing, and drinking; as well implied by her previous statements about Vitamin C.
I think that wasn’t really an answer I was looking for.
What I was really looking for is, Why does she look like a Earthling Human(Terran). And why does it seem that the Human “Model” be prevalent in the extraterrestrials that we have seen so far with the slight changes that make them slightly “different” enough.
“Why does she look like a Earthling Human(Terran)”
Because she is a human, and may even be a Terran Earthling Human. She has just changed a bit. And a couple of her grandparents were ETs.
“And why does it seem that the Human “Model” be prevalent in the extraterrestrials that we have seen so far…”
Because Dave likes drawing pretty girls and ‘pretty’ needs to be relatable to humans.
Although Grrlverse rationale wise the fact that demons, humans and presumably several (or lots) of those similar looking aliens can actually breed would indicate that they would have fairly similar forms. Plus thinking up unique aliens, designing their anatomy and making the results look interesting can be incredibly time consuming. Something that Dave does not have a lot to spare, given the huge workload he has to turn out these comics.
So keeping many of the elements familiar (and thereby easy to draw) allows a feeling of difference, but without disrupting the publishing schedule.
Incidentally (and noting you said prevailing) there were a significant number of supernaturals in the Twilight Council who did not have a humanoid form. The fungi representatives spring to mind as a prime example, and the worm guy that was summoned in the vault. Then there were ones which had two arms, legs & head, but which were not too similar to humans otherwise. For instance the fairy and the cerebral alien who was big and scary enough to even shake Sydney.
Of course some of those may actually be indigenous to Earth. It will be some while before we get the origins of more of those species.
She is Human,
humanoid being prevalent, aside from the meta-real world explination as Yorp gave, in-universe it is implied we could have a Founders scenario (ancient aliens by one means or another…or several occurring concurrently or in sequence spread the seeds for this body type to become prevalent in conjunction with higher brain functions of one sort or another); everything from prionic nanite gene manipulation up to (we just kidnapped a bunch of homo erectus or whole groups of tetrapod mammals and dumped them on thousands of different worlds; yeah sure Earth could be the origin, but doesn’t mean it developed the fastest *a fact many sci-fi authors don’t consider, a colony CAN out pace the home country*.
Also the chance of form bias (as well as ease of communication and interacting in the same places at the same time due to similar architectural needs) humanoids just interact more frequently and in larger numbers with other humanoids as opposed to something that looks like a just basket starfish made of sewing needles or a something looking a cross between a crab,spider,octopus, and briar patch. Or else sharing space with the amoebic space slugs that sweat sulfuric acid and breathe out methane; but are really good at math. A realistic scenario of interacting with alien life is screens only. But what fun is that.,,,and that can be your excuse for so many humanoids; some ancient ultra tech thing was watching the sapient life forms of the galaxy and how they had to keep adjusting sound levels, infra and ultra sonic adjustments, only over screens due to being too different too safely interact with each other directly; or have a hard time communicating due to pure chance genetics resulting in far too many variables for anything lucky enough to get that far also having the astronomical probability of being able to also interact and communicate. So they said, screw it, I’m going to arrange things so in a few millions years or so the next batch of space faring races can actually interact directly, exchange directly, and maybe make something new and interesting as a result.
Ahh, good to see the idea of fixing our vitamin C gene! That seems like the most obvious mod for any sci-fi story taking place in “the real world” and “the present day” — but I never see it. (Maybe I’m just not reading the right fiction.) Such a gene mod exists in a story I’m writing, though not everyone has it because it’s expensive, and mostly unnecessary in the developed world, so it’s seen as a rich-people/transhumanism fad. (Which is unfortunate, since it means that the people who would most benefit from it are the people least able to afford it.)
I like the idea of extending our colour vision, too. Seems like the second-most obvious mod to me, but again I rarely or never see it brought up in fiction. (Again, probably just not reading the right fiction. I don’t read novels as much as I used to, and I don’t read modern or biopunk sci-fi as often as I should.)
I’m a bit ambivalent about the photosynthesis one, since our low surface area-to-volume ratio and our mobility would make it a somewhat pointless mod for anyone who doesn’t already spend a lot of their time sunbathing while staying perfectly still (which, to be fair, maybe Cora does), and even then it’d be a supplemental energy source at best. However, it does appear in Knights of Sidonia, which is one of my favourite anime. It’s admittedly a pretty irresistible idea.
Dave really improved on the drawing asses front.
abc
*later that evening, on the beach*
Cora: Hey, XuXu! Dinner’s ready!
Xuriel *from amidst the large cuddle-puddle of volleyball players*: ooh, I’m not really that hungry…
Cora: Did you… never mind, I KNOW what you “filled up” on.