#exobiology

[exobiotica]

The climate in this region is usually hot and dry, punctuated by sporadic torrential downpours. After such events, the ground flourishes with a dense interconnected web of growth taking advantage of the temporary hydration. Once all the water dissipates, the soil is left to crack in the heat of the day. During these times Ponderosus are on the move, searching for the last remaining vernal pools. They used the times of plenty to fill up on nutrients, but now during a drought they switch primarily to photosynthesis to meet their energy needs. The smaller, dish-faced Lanx are not so lucky. Embedded in the ground unable to move, they must simply go dormant if the rains do not arrive soon enough. For now they point their open frills at the sun and gather energy while they still can. A Stealthspring prowls the scene looking for unfortunate small creatures who may not be faring well in the heat. Their predominant walking style requires a different gait for front and back sets of legs, but if needed their whole body becomes a giant spring, allowing them to burst forward for great distances. In an environment where major features like the ponderosus can move, it can be difficult to navigate from day to day, so the stealthspring must be ready to take flight at any time, should danger come calling.

[caleod]

9-6-24

[mindblowingscience]

If we discover alien life, what will it  look like?  We have no way of knowing, but the hunt for extraterrestrial life can now include purple bacteria, according to a group of astronomers who are recording the chemical makeup unique to the lavender-hued organisms. These microbes may have dominated Earth early on in our planet's history and are well-suited to emerge on faraway worlds that circle dim red stars smaller than our sun, a new study suggests. The latest cataloging effort is in part "to create a database for signs of life to make sure our telescopes don't miss life if it happens not to look exactly like what we encounter around us every day," study co-author Lisa Kaltenegger of Cornell University said in a statement. "Purple bacteria can survive and thrive under such a variety of conditions that it is easy to imagine that on many different worlds, purple may just be the new green."

Continue Reading.

[potchatok-art]

My little Birrin: Learn the value of community, as the people around you is all that you have after The Fall

[mcpieandhaggis]

Two-Flag Bombardier

I'll be sharing a few creations from my work on a Spec Evo project that takes heavy inspiration from Expedition: Being an Account in Words and Artwork of the 2358 A.D. Voyage to Darwin IV, by Wayne Barlowe.

It is set on the Planet Mendel VI and mirrors most features of Darwin IV, with a few select new biomes and all new Fauna.

This is an aberrant representative of the 'Lopes' (a group of mainly herbivorous Tripedaliens). It uses it's large frontal sonar organs to send out high frequency 'pings' that are able to disorient potential predators.

[dragonthunders01]

Spectember D29: Speculative Biome

Is not an oddity for geologists to look at some strange landscape formations, many caused by singular events or just by erosion, but the most particularly perplexing ones have been made by what is not considered to be a thing from this world...

North America seems to be dotted with dozens of these structures and the remains of already fallen ones, looking like gigantic towers of more than a kilometer in height, structured like a strange tree shaped form, it rises like a testament of the biggest terrestrial organism known, a monster tree made of stone and shaped by the millions of years of constant growth by part of a singular organism.

In Wyoming there is the most intact and oldest specimen of such beings, bein nicknamed Heaven’s Tower, unique megaorganisms formed by thousands of  individual slime like organisms that behave like a stromatolite as it accumulate over layers over layers of sediment and material it built its structure, the way it do it seems to comprehend a system of vessels that transport the material from the terrain, often hollowing the terrain below forming a large cave chamber system that accumulate water and organic matter, preserve itself from erosion protected by a microbial layer product of the same organism. The tower seems to often renovate itself by the use of a special slime covering every century based on studies of change of texture and viscosity in the tower surface, but from what accounts on different expeditions into the inner cave system denote that the whole Tower formed dozens of millions of years ago, from mining expeditions around the chamber as well drilling in the main structure it was found it preserved a decent amount of data in the form of layers created by the accumulation of minerals by the slime into the main structure like a terrestrial stromatolite, this giving a possible date of the formation of the original tree around the late Eocene or early Oligocene.

As well seems to be every 5 to 10 million years there is a process that allow the introduction of surface fauna that always ends up into the lower chamber, to be eventually isolated which seems to last for few million years until there is a occurring a total extinction of the inner fauna, caused by the replacement and collapse of a old layer as its being replaced by a new one of almost 20 m of thickness, so far from fossil record the last breach occurred around the late Pliocene, isolating the fauna that lived upon that time.

The way one of the Heaven’s Tower specimen grow or originate is pretty much unknown for the very long span of time it takes to even start forming, is believe one of these might find a specific and rich place to feed its structure, more or less an old volcanic region and slowly accumulate to form the megastructure that feed symbiotically by chemosynthesis from the igneous rocks and photosynthesis, as well there has been identified fossil remains of older already fallen Towers that also expose similar patterns of growing. The Heaven’s Tower of Wyoming is the last intact structure as many seems to have been destroyed by the last ice age, and will take millions of years to recover, this itself is a testament of a paradoxical being that is still investigated, as this being for many accounts seems to not share any significant relationship of any living organisms.

[dragonatthedinnertable]

A few years ago, I found a link (from here?) to a website where some professor had published online, for free, his in-depth textbook on xenobiology.

I'm trying to find it again, because it was fascinating, but because it was just called something bland like "Xenobiology" or "Astrobiology", I simply can't find it by searching.

It discussed such concepts as defining life as negentropic systems, and coil-based musculature for flight.

[alexriesart]

A pair of pseudoraptors approach a freshwater pool among the valley dunes, their tiny flyers taking the chance to grab a drink.

The HD version and my working process are all available if you join my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/alexries

[rmhashauthor]

Beloved Husband and I just finished Scavenger's Reign.

Where is the little man shredding a mango because my brain is doing that.

God I fucking love animation

[troythecatfish]

[mechrepto]

HEY! I remembered that I have Tumblr!

Some ideas and concepts of aquatic and semiaquatic creatures from Hanrenthe, which is an Exoplanet home to earth-like life, with a certain degree of convergent evolution and weirdness.

In addition to the nations and their political and historical aspects present in Celestial Decadence (my project) working on this subproject of speculative biology and evolution is one of my favourite parts of this project, it's cool to imagine these fictional creatures that behave like animals, living and surviving in this chaotic world that I've created, and yes, these Creatures are based on creatures from earth, this is on purpose, the idea of Hanrenthe is to look like earth but at the same time still be exotic and bizarre, a bit more dangerous too, with a megafauna.

[exobiotica]

Desert creature

[luxudus]

oh hey i forgot abt this again but heres the finale of the cladogram series (for now teehee). The rest can be found HERE

The Radapillupods represent the final major group of Radiathopods. And hold some of the most derived orders of species seen on Irou. Everything from pattern-changing browsers, to titanic filter feeders, to multi-locomotive hunters, Before concluding on Irou's second emergence of sapience.

[mindblowingscience]

Planetary scientists want to search for biosignatures in what they believe was once a Martian mud lake. After scientists carefully studied what they believe are desiccated remnants of an equatorial mud lake on Mars, their study of Hydraotes Chaos suggests a buried trove of water surged onto the surface. If researchers are right, then this flat could become prime ground for future missions seeking traces of life on Mars. "While Martian lakes and mud volcanoes have been subjects of prior studies, our work represents the first comprehensive analysis specifically focused on a putative mud lake," Alexis Rodriguez, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona, told Space.com. More generally, scientists  suggest surface water on Mars  froze over about 3.7 billion years ago as the atmosphere thinned and the surface cooled. But underground, groundwater might still have remained liquid in vast chambers. Moreover, life forms might have abided in those catacombs — leaving behind traces of their existence. 

Continue Reading.

[potchatok-art]

It was such an honor to meet Щem

what is this picture about? what’s going on? why a warlus? does Mitski like them?

[snailspell]

Orachnids