#the best i'm guessing is that the molecules aren't moving so you have to actually bite through them instead of them vibrating out of

[ryanthedemiboy]

Hey Science Side Of Tumblr, why are frozen things harder to bite into?

[monpalace]

When Pietro tells his lover what he wants to do while half-asleep. He wasn’t supposed to actually do it.

"I wanna have a pac-man machine." Pietro had admitted when his mind was finally muddled with sleep, his fifth day of hibernation after a particularly hard mission had taken its toll. His fingers had begun vibrating as he slipped deeper into the confines of his mind, only managing to keep them still enough to hold yours and not phase past the molecules of your hand. "I know you wanna put a tv near where I wanna put it, but we could put it beside it."

Sleepily smiling at him, you press a kiss to the boney area of his wrist. "Alright," you whisper back, not bothering to clear your throat when the gravel fills it. "We'll think about it."

You aren't given the liberty of opening your eyes on your own time when afternoon of the next day comes.

Pietro was relentless in his efforts to wake you up, pushing and shoving you from one way before speeding over to the other and repeating the action. "Babe— babe— babe!" He exclaims, words cutting into themselves as one thought process interrupts the next and the one before it. "Guess what I got!"

Knowing his impatience, you wrap your arms around his neck with as much strength you can muster so early into your waking and shiver when his frigid hands secure themselves on your thigh and neck. He doesn't speed as he usually would, but he does move at his most-certainly-faster-than-everything-else pace.

Setting you down comfortably on the living room sofa and wrapping you in a blanket in a way that you could still use your arms, Pietro speeds to the kitchen and brings out a poorly made breakfast tray.

"I know you said we'd think about it, but I felt like you'd say no so I got you something else to sweeten the deal."

"Was it this food or did you steal something?"

"Both!"

"Continue."

Biting his lip, Pietro holds up a finger and tries to say "give me a few seconds," before cutting himself off by rushing away.

When you pick up your fork, there's a large, thin box on the floor. When you stab a piece of fruit onto one if its throngs, a flatscreen tv with a jumbled mess of wires sat upon the wall. When you bring the fork up to your mouth, the wires were taken care of and out of sight.

When your lips part for the fruit, there's a pac-man machine beside it.

It was a reasonable enough distance to not be distracting or an eyesore, and the retro style of it matched the rest of your shared living space— but it was still a fully blown arcade machine.

"I read two instructions manuals for these!" The silver speedster exclaims while gesturing vaguely at the machines, his accent slipping through his words as more emotion entered his voice. "Two, babe! It was so hard!"

Placing the tray and drink to the side, you stand with a look that expressed more than just your exhaustion. Your hands run along the old, eighties machine and find no spots of rust on it.

He must've cleaned it before or while he was setting it up.

"How far out did you go?"

"Sweden."

"Sweden?"

"Visby."

"Visby, Sweden?"

"Am I speaking to fast?"

With a pointed look from you, Pietro's lips thin as he picks you up, trudges over to the couch, places you it, and collapses on it. "Sorry," he mutters, laying his head on your lap. Fatigue creeping its way back into his bones.

"Have you eaten today?" You ask, already pressing the fork (with the fruit still on it) to his lips. You smile down at him when he shakes his head while opening his mouth to take the offering. "Then I guess you can have the entire plate then."

"I made it for you, though," he argues.

"I'm not the one who decided to run halfway across the globe while recovering."

"I've been bested."

[thesquidkid]

Operating in the realm of realism

A Roswell, New Mexico meta on alien powers, part 1.

Have you ever wondered, as you were watching this amazing little alien show, what the science behind the alien powers was? Whether it was pure fiction, of if it followed rel-life physics? Well, I have, and this essay might be for you! Don't worry, if you know nothing about science and physics, I will do my best to be as clear as possible.

This is basically a follow up to my three part meta on the science in the show, where I kept saying that one day, I was going to dive into the aliens powers. Well, that day has come.

Just like for the previous meta, this is mostly going to be my thoughts, while I'm rather sleep deprived. So apologies in advance if it's messy.

Disclaimer, I am not a native English speaker nor have I ever lived in America. What may seem obvious to me, may not be as straightforward for everyone, and vice versa. If anything is not clear, feel free to reach out! I am also not an alien, and thus can only theorise about the powers definitely not something an actual alien would say.

This meta will be structured similarly to the previous one, as I will go through every episode and describe / explain the alien powers as their are shown in the show. There will be more detailed explanations every "new power", and obviously I will try not to repeat myself every time Max makes lights explode when he's angry.

This post is then about season 1 (which I binged in hopes to finish this before season 4 aired), and there might be a few slight spoilers (I tried but sometimes I forget what we aren't supposed to know yet).

1x01 Pilot

Max saves Liz using his powers. We see him press his hand over the wound, and channel the energy towards the wound, thus healing it. The science behind it? Using electricity to shift the molecules together, and close up the wound. (theory) 

He feels sick afterwards: he is using his energy to heal Liz. (More on this in next ep)

Why is Max sick after using his powers but not Michael? Is it only because of Jones? or is there something else, to do with the amount of energy needed to heal ppl being a lot greater than what is needed to move things telepathically. To be compared with working out, and doing more than what is our physical limit. However, we must also note that we have only seen Max heal people, and not Michael and Isobel. So perhaps, the fact that Max is so sick afterwards is simply due to the fact that healing requires much more energy that telekinesis. (Manifesting a Michael healing Alex scene in season 4, purely for science). 

Michael moves the keys with his brain. My theory here is that he can move the molecules in space, which on a greater level allows him to move objects. I’m guessing it’s the same for shutting off the cameras, pressing a switch to control it with his mind. 

Michael explodes the car windows. From a physical standpoint, I would theorise that he compressed the molecules together, putting the glass under so much pressure that it collapses on itself, exploding. 

Side note, but Grant Green talks about his alien wave detector going off the charts since the blackout. My guess here, is that he in fact does not have a machine that allows him to track down the actual aliens, but more like a machine to pick up electromagnetic waves. 

Electromagnetic waves are waves that are created as a result of vibrations between a magnetic and an electric field. There is electricity all around us (in electrons), and the atoms (which contain electrons) are attracted / repulsed by each other via magnetic forces acting on the electrons. In other words, when the magnetic forces are being changed (i.e. with Michael exerting his powers to blow up car windows, or Max healing Liz), it creates vibrations between the electric field of the atom and the magnetic field of the air. Therefore, such waves would be picked up by Grant Green’s machine. 

Pods. We know that the pods kept them safe during the crash, meaning that the membrane is strong enough to resist extreme conditions (shock of the crash, atmospheric pressure, fire from the crash? Cold in space?) I guess the closest comparison to the pods we could find in our daily life would be an egg, or the membrane sac inside the uterus of a pregnant person.

Obviously, a pregnant person does not become bulletproof overnight, but there is still quite a lot of padding between the outside world and the foetus.

The amniotic fluid for instance is a slightly yellow fluid that surrounds the foetus, absorbing pressure in a similar way to a water bed. 

We also notice that the people in the pods float. This is similar to a foetus in a stomach. Hence, the liquid inside the pod (unspecified) is somewhat close to the amniotic fluid. 

Sharing memories. Max puts his hand over the handprint on Liz’s chest, allowing him to share his memories of meeting Liz, and hanging out with her. My theory here is that by putting a handprint on her, it’s like a part of his DNA made its way to Liz, and since it’s alien DNA it would create a connection between the two of them. We already know that aliens can communicate telepathically, so I’m guessing that when an alien puts a handprint on a human it allows the human to share some of that telepathic communication, and feel what the other feels (as Max says). 

Now, I don’t think telepathic communication is truly with words in English, especially since I find it rather suspicious that on another planet far far away, english is a spoken language. So, if telepathy is more with feelings, emotions, memories, then it would mean that during a handprint, a human would be able to get close to the alien experience. And since Michael, Isobel and Max have more practice, they can block each other, and distinguish their feelings from the other’s. But that can’t be said about Liz and her connection to Max. 

1x02 So much for the afterglow 

Michael uses his powers to lock the door of the Crashdown, and to stab a knife into chocolate (please ignore the line “I’m a chocoholic”, I hate it). 

Max is clearly not fine, he’s angry. Consequences of his actions, namely healing Liz. Since the handprint is a connection between two beings, shouldn’t Liz also be impacted by the anger that is coming off of Max? Especially as we see in season 3, when Max gets hurt, the people who have a handprint feel it too. Unless it only works for physical pain and not emotional pain. 

We then see more memory sharing between Max and Liz, namely memories of Rosa. Like Liz says, she doesn’t just see the memories, she feels them. Thus telling us once more that the handprint serves as a portal into someone else’s mind. 

When confronting Wyatt Long, Max gets angry (again), and we hear the radio crackle. This just follows from the fact that Max controls electricity in the air, and loses control of his powers when angry (or horny). We see this again when Max tries to kill Wyatt and all the lights explode. As he tries to kill him, his hand glows red, meaning that he is doing the same thing we see him do in 1x06. My supposition here is that he is doing the opposite as healing: instead of forcing the molecules to move closer to each other, to repair damage fabric, he is moving them away from one other, causing a rip in someone’s body (small enough that we don’t see blood, but big enough to cause death). 

Another theory (albeit similar) would be that he is making someone’s heart stop, shutting down all internal organs. This would still be done by moving the molecules away from each other, breaking neurotic connections, stopping all communications between the brain and the organs, eventually leading to death. 

However, that second theory seems to me to be more on Michael’s powers (or at least, the powers that he has mastered the most, as aliens all seem to have the same powers, as seen later on in the show). We indeed see Michael making Max’s heart beat again in 2x05, so it wouldn’t be too far-fetched that he’s able to do the opposite. 

In the end, Max doesn’t kill Wyatt Long, as he is interrupted by Michael, who uses his telekinesis to push Max away (similar to what happened at the police station). 

– Not alien power, but Isobell knocking Wyatt out with a taser is really cool. 

And finally, Max admits that there is something going wrong with him, since he healed Liz, that he has all this dark energy in him. See the very famous apocryphal quote by Lavoisier: “Nothing is lost, Nothing is created, every is transformed”. (Note that apocryphal means that this quote is attributed to Lavoisier, even though he never said those words in that way). 

We then have that the energy from the wound (okay, this is all fictional, last I checked there wasn’t such a “dark energy in wounds” kind of thing in humans, but please bear with me in this totally realistic scenario) has to go somewhere. It cannot simply vanish into thin air, and so, Max absorbs it when the handprint heals Liz. 

Alien glass. This isn’t quite related to alien powers, but it does enter the category of “real of realism (with a sarcastic voice)”, so I will talk about it now. The glass has symbols on it. I’m pretty sure that it’s alien alphabet (otherwise why would it be random symbols?). We can also see that the glass is somewhat organic here, as it changes as Michael touches it. (It is indeed confirmed that the alien tech is organic, and has the same compound as alien dna, see my meta on the science in the show for more details). 

1x03 Tearin’ up my heart

Liz basically confirms what I said just earlier. She says that “Max’s ability to manipulate electromagnetic energy gives him the power to heal and also to harm”. So indeed, the healing is done by manipulating electromagnetic waves, which leads to moving molecules. 

Max then adds that he’s not sick, but angry, in rage. To sum up: bad vibes. 

The more Liz interrogates Max, the faster his heart beats (relatable), until the Holter monitor (machine to monitor heart rate) explodes. I can understand how annoying it must be to make electric devices every time you feel anything. 

 (I won’t describe every time Max makes lights explode because honestly it’s really all the same. The dude is angry. We get it.) 

Isobel uses her powers to infiltrate Liz’s mind. This is the first time we properly see a landscape, except, instead of talking to Liz, Isobel sees Rosa too. Perhaps an old memory. This also emphasises the fact that Isobel cannot decide on people's action against their wishes: Liz doesn’t want to leave, and so she won’t. 

Isobel is sick after using her powers, so the updated theory is once again that Michael is the only one not to get sick, because of Jones. Note also that the way Isobel feels after drinking acetone reminds me of (an extreme version of) a diabetic person drinking sugar during a hypo (this is a personal observation). So really, acetone doesn't heal aliens, only helps to make them feel better. 

The blackout. The release of all of Max’s bad into the universe. Again, this is due to the electromagnetic pulse that he releases as he lets it all out. 

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a brief burst of electromagnetic energy. It can occur as three forms: electromagnetic field, electric field, or magnetic field. The electromagnetic interference can disrupt communications and damage electronic equipment. An EMP can be weaponized, and used in a war, to collapse an electrical network of a country for example. 

Within an EMP, there are different characteristics, which will influence what is affected. There characteristics can be defined by: 

The mode of energy transfer (via radiations, or electric / magnetic waves) 

The range of wavelength / frequency present in the pusle

The form of the wave: shape, duration, amplitude. 

We are not given so much detail about the pulse emitted by Max, so I don’t really have much to go off on. But. We know that a pulse of electric energy will always be accompanied by a pulse of magnetic energy, and vice versa. What matters the most in defining the field of the EMP is which one is dominant. Here, I would assume that both forces are fighting for dominance (sounds like some fanfiction here), and hence we obtain an electromagnetic field. This supposition is purely based on the fact that it is already established that aliens can manipulate electromagnetic energy. 

Now, to dive deeper into this EMP, we need to explore its type. There are three main categories of EMP, namely natural, man-made for a civil use, and man-main for a military use. I won’t explain all the differences between each type, and will only go into the natural cases, as this seems to be closer to what we see here. 

So, when we look at natural EMPs, we notice that most of them happen close to the sun (a result of the radiations emitted by the sun). I don’t think this could relate to the blackout in Roswell. The other possibility is what is called an electrostatic discharge.

An electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two electrically charged objects (here I would assume it to be Max and the air?). The two objects don’t need to be in physical contact. 

Note that even though ESD usually produce electric sparks, those sparks are not required to be visible or heard by humans, hence, the fact that we don’t really see or hear any sparks doesn’t quite discredit my theory. 

One of the main causes of ESDs is static electricity (which is present when you rub a sweater against a plastic material for instance). Here, I would assume that the static electricity is coming out of Max, who has been under pressure from the “bad vibes”, who somehow produced an electric field around him. 

(I am aware that this is very vague and based on my hypotheticals, but considering this is about alien powers, I am doing my best to make it make sense). 

All in all, the blackout caused by Max relieving the dark energy is similar to a real-life natural scenario. 

1x04 Where have all the cowboys gone

When Maw tells Michael and Isobel that Liz found out that an alien killed Rosa, Michael gets angry and lets his powers loose. However, we notice that the only thing that moves is Max’s car. He doesn’t touch Isobel and Max, he purposely avoids hurting the people he cares about. Even when he ‘loses’ control, he makes sure that no one gets affected by his powers. We see more of that (and the reason why Michael is the one to seemingly hold more control over his powers) later on. 

We see that following the blackout, every transformer in town has a Lichtenberg figure. A Lichtenberg figure is a natural phenomena which exhibits fractal properties, and is known to occur on or within solids, liquids, and gases during electrical breakdown. 

Fractal is a term used in mathematics (I promise I will try not to go on a maths rant) to describe geometric shapes containing a very detailed pattern at an arbitrary small scale. This means that regardless of how much we “zoom in” on the figure, we can see a pattern. 

The burns on the transformers in town are fractal patterns, as we can distinguish a pattern at every scale we look at. This is usually the case for lightning strikes and other electrical breakdowns, which is basically what happened with Max letting go of the bad vibes. 

Then, at the Wild Pony, Isobel practices her powers. We see her influence Hank to order some fancy drink, and donate money to an immigration organisation. Since we know that Isobel can’t make anyone do anything they don’t wish to do (as seen with Liz), that must mean that Hank deep down wanted to do so (or at least, didn’t not want to do it). Note  that this is still quite a large invasion of privacy. So I would not recommend doing that. 

Similarly, we see Isobel getting inside Maria’s mind, to find out why she doesn’t like her. She accesses a memory, where we see Maria and Rosa are talking and Rosa mentions that Isobel acts differently when she’s with her and when she’s with others. 

We can then conclude that the mindscape allows somewhat full access to someone’s memories and emotions. As well as being a place where no one can lie, or at least no one except for the person in charge. 

We also have that Isobel passes out after being in Maria’s mind, which could either be a result of the necklace, or of Isobel having tired all her energy on Hank. Especially since we see her stagger, like if she was drunk. (I would assume a combo of both). 

Then, Max reboots the power in the hospital. My guess is that he is acting more or less like an eel (see my meta on science for a detailed description of eels and electricity). Basically, Max is concentrating the electricity from his body into his hands, which are in contact with the transformer, thus transferring electricity to power the hospital. 

Again, using his powers is exhausting, so he passes out. 

We see Isobel lying on her couch, and clearly feeling sick (following getting into Maria’s head). She is sweating, and her nose bleeds. This is a common trope in science fiction: a character who overuses their powers gets a nosebleed. Nothing new. 

1x05 Don’t speak

Mind control. Wyatt Long shoots at Grant Green and Liz. We clearly see that this is Wyatt acting on his own accord, since really, why would Wyatt care about Grant talking to Liz. (We later found out he’s being mind controlled by the fourth alien, but I’ll get to that later on). 

We know that victims of mind control need to have passed out in order to be mind controlled (as seen later on in the series). I’m guessing either Wyatt was simply asleep (since Isobel tells Max that Liz is near Long farm), or passed out drunk.  

1x06 Smells like teen spirit

The scene with the drifter. (Aka the scene that started it all if you think about it). Also the scene where Max kills someone for the first time. He pressed his hand on the drifter’s chest and he “suddenly knew he could”. It’s pretty much the opposite as healing someone, taking the energy from their body. 

Michael then buries the guy with his mind. 

We see the pod squad at Sanders auto, where Michael throws cans in the air, while Max shoots. This is also the first time we see Isobel “act” differently. (Since she is feeling like she’s losing the people she cares about the most). 

(I won’t really dive into the differences between who Isobel is, and who she is when she is mind controlled, cause that’s not really the point of the meta per say. More on mind control later). 

Rosa’s death. We first see Michael and Max feel that something is wrong with Isobel, a telepathic calling for help (as you do), and rush towards her. When Michael arrives, Isobel has her hand over Rosa’s mouth (where we have previously seen the alien handprint). Considering Isobel’s hand isn’t glowing, this means that Michael arrived too late; Rosa was already dead. 

This is the first indication we have that all aliens share the same powers, since until now, we only see them use a single power (but not, Isobel seemingly has a glowing hand too, and can kill in a similar way to Max).

Then Max tries to bring her back. His hand on her chest, and it is glowing red, but he can’t heal her (as he says, he’s not strong enough to bring her back). 

Michael then moves the bodies in the air, and the car towards the tree (which we already knew had happened). This also shows the precision at which Michael controls his powers, turning on the car, shifting the gear stick, pressing the accelerator. 

Then, Max puts his hand on the hood of the car, and sets fire to it. Again, similar to an eel. Concentrating electricity to his palm, which leads to the car being on fire. Physics. 

1x07 I saw the sign

We are introduced to Mimi DeLuca. (Okay, spoiler alert for seasons 2 and 3) She is seeing the past, the present, and the future all at once. And she also technically knows about aliens. (More on Mimi in 3x08 and maybe a bit before). 

1x08 Barely breathing

More mind control: Isobel getting Kyle to inject her with the serum. It’s not the same kind of mind control as with Isobel and Rosa’s death, since we see before that Kyle already thought about punishing Isobel for what happened. 

Max feels something is wrong with Isobel, that the connection is lost. He feels “cold”. We know that aliens have telepathic connections, and my theory about why Isobel and Max have a deeper connection than with Michael is mostly due to the fact that they were separated as kids, that Michael went through so much abandonment that he closes himself off from Max and Isobel, and thus doesn’t feel the cold of Isobel injected herself with the serum. 

We see that the serum indeed works as a blocker for the alien powers, when Isobel tries to get Kyle to take his shirt off, but fails. 

Side note, but I have a lot to say about Michael’s speech to Liz about stripping Isobel of her powers. Because where Isobel wants to be normal, human. Max and Isobel have lived a life where they belonged, where they had a family, where they were accepted by humans. Michael didn’t. (However that is not the purpose of this meta)

The serum is degrading Isobel’s cells, and Max tries to heal her, but it’s not working. Because Isobel is not sick, the serum attacks her cells from the inside, they’re degrading by themselves. This isn’t like a virus attacking. This is like an autodestruction. That cannot be stopped. 

Michael uses his telekinesis to move his trailer and open the door to his secret lair. And we finally get a first look at the alien science that Michael has been working on. We see pieces of alien tech scattered around, plans to rebuild a ship. 

We also get confirmation that Isobel cannot control people, just influence them. Meaning that it’s not entirely mind control. Just a mind nudge. 

If you want more about the alien science that Michael and Liz come up with, feel free to read my previous meta. I am not going to dive into it once again, I already lost too much of my sanity with sci-fi science. 

1x09 Songs about Texas

Another display of Michael’s precision when it comes to his powers: he unwrapped the cord from the tent to open it. And more of Max getting emotional and making sparks fly (and frying Arizona’s glowing hand.

1x10 I don’t want to miss a thing

Isobel gets a memory of her and Rosa being friends. This is technically not alien powers, but a result of the cure that Liz and Michael invented. But still, more alien related than science. Liz even says that it’s a result of her cure, of the cells that went dark because of the blackout in her brain regenerating, and reforming the memories. 

Then, Isobel uses her powers to move the anti stem cell research crowd. Showing that she indeed is back to her full alien self. 

Maria (who isn’t wearing her necklace), finds out about Alex and Michael. (Spoiler if you haven’t watched season 2:) I’m guessing one of the reasons she asked about Michael Guerin was not only because they just hooked up and she somehow puts him at the same level as Wyatt Long, but maybe because she felt it from Alex. Because she wasn’t wearing her necklace. 

The active shooter at the hospital, more mind control. A way for the fourth alien to stop Isobel from getting her memories back. (I’m assuming if you’re reading this you’ve finished at least the first season? Otherwise don’t read what’s next) Noah is really powerful, as we can see in this scene. He controls someone, makes them move around, shoot at people, destroy Liz’s lab, all while being conscient, walking around with Isobel, getting shot. (I wish I could multitask as well as him). 

1x11 Champagne supernova 

Isobel confirms that the fourth alien is a lot stronger than her when it comes to mind control. That she wasn’t even there when she was possessed. That he had full control over her body. 

Max and Michael are trapped in Michael’s bunker, with the yellow powder which inhibits their powers. My guess is that the powder acts as a reaction inhibitor. 

A reaction inhibitor, just like the name suggests, is a substance that decreases the rate of, or prevents, a chemical reaction. 

We then have more mind control by Noah on both Isobel and Maria (which I won’t go into detail on as that would be repeating). We do see that when Liz injects Noah with the serum, he still is in control of his powers: Isobel is frozen in place, he uses his telekinesis to keep Liz where she is, and he even gets a glowing hand as he tries to kill Liz. 

My theory is that the powder would then “fix” itself on the surrounding molecules in the air, which would counteract the effect of alien powers on electromagnetic connections between atoms. Hence, making Michael unable to use his powers, and Max unable to make things sparkle in the bunker. 

But that doesn’t last long (because Liz is a genius). 

1x12 Creep

Noah wakes in the pod. Which is technically not possible. My first theory is that it’s connected to the handprint he left on Liz. That there is still a tether connecting him to the real world, to the normal passage of time (since time freezes in the pods). 

My second theory is that,as Noah mentions that his deficient pod made it impossible for him to get out, we can conclude that he came out the pod they put him in because he knew how to. Because he was already an adult when they left their planet, and therefore would know the ins and outs of pods. 

In front of Caulfield, Michael explains the psychic connection between aliens, that he gets flashes of emotions from Max and Isobel, and that, namely at Caulfield, he hears the other aliens scream. 

He also struggles to open a door with his powers. It isn’t explained here why he cannot, so my personal theory is that the door is made of yellow powder. 

Isobel then brings Noah into her mindscape. The only place where she has total control (as Liz says). I absolutely hate the fact that he violated Isobel (and so many other people) in that way, so I won’t really go into detail into Noah’s mind control and abuse. 

We then see that Isobel can bring people into her mindscape, like here, with Max. And Noah tells them that killing makes them stronger, that this is how he healed. Which Max felt after he killed the drifter. The research is backed up by experiments made in Caulfield, as said by Flint. 

We then have that the most that Michael can do about the prison cell holding his mother is crack the glass. Once again, my main theory here is that the cells are made (or dosed) with yellow powder, to hold the aliens in. 

Finally, the scene between Michael and his mother (yes I cried rewatching it). When their hands are both on the glass, Nora’s glowing, this is what I suppose to be something like a handprint connection (but not lasting, if that makes sense?) What I mean by that is that during that short moment of connecting with her, he knows that she is his mother, and feels her love, and her telling him to get out of here. 

This once again shows that the aliens on the show are a telepathic species (at least when communicating with their own), that words are shared via feelings and emotions. That aliens of the same family (not necessarily by blood, as seen with Max, Isobel and Michael) can communicate without words needed. 

Noah mentions the aliens having a purpose, which is never mentioned again, and will now be my villain origin story (I’m holding hope for season 4, but that may be useless). 

1x13 Recovering the satellites 

Max heals Michael from the stab wound he got from Noah. Somehow that didn’t leave a handprint. The logical conclusion to make here would be that aliens can’t give handprints to other aliens. 

The pollen that Liz left with Noah in the freezer was not enough to stop him, further proving that Noah is more powerful than the Pod Squad. That, or the dosage was really much lower than what Noah gave Max and Michael in the bunker. 

But the fact that Noah is stronger is clearly seen when he dodges the bullet that Max shoots, or when he ties his intestines together. 

Even as Isobel is unconscious, she sends out a telepathic sos call to Michael, meaning that deep down, her subconscious is still there, calling out to her brother for help. 

Noah then talks about the Alightnight. Which, by the way, if we don’t know more about that in season 4, I will riot. 

He also mentions Max being the saviour. Makes sense, as he is the one that has mastered the healing power. But Noah also says that Max has only unlocked one power, further confirming that all aliens more or less share the same power. 

And then, Max is playing God, part 1. Taking the electricity of the lightning in his hands, and directing towards Noah. Basically like an upgraded eel, since he isn’t directly touching him. 

Before Noah dies, Isobel brings him into her mindscape, to finally tell him what she thinks of him. And then, Noah collapses on the ground, dead, struck by lightning. We see in the moments following Noah’s death, that Max is indeed stronger, or at least feels that way. 

Max playing God part 2. Note: I hate this so much, the clear lack of consent as Michael literally begs Max not to do it. The fact that this was none of Max’s business to even begin with. The fact that it’s basically never mentioned again. Ugh. They better address it in season 4 (which airs in just a few hours as I’m writing this). 

Once again, we get confirmation that aliens do not mark other aliens, as Michael doesn't have a handprint. 

We then have a consensual handprint scene (the first and possibly the only one of the show as of pre-season 4) between Max and Liz. I’ve already talked quite extensively about handprint connections and what they entail, so I won't elaborate more. 

And to end the season on a bang, Michael and Isobel discover Noah’s pod, with inside it, none other than Rosa. 

We then see Isobel train her powers, and start to develop telekinesis. A little insight on the fact that indeed, all aliens somewhat share the same powers. Pod Squad hasn’t unlocked it all yet.

To end the episode, and the season, we have Max playing God part 3. Resuscitating Rosa. And killing himself in the process. My logical explanation here (other than the fact that it’s illogical) is that it’s a swap of energy in a way. Since nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transformed. 

Conclusion (spoiler free for future seasons)

To sum up on all the alien powers in season 1, we see that each alien has a “predominant” power: 

Max with healing and controlling electricity (all technically related as both boil down to controlling the electricity part of electromagnetic connections between atoms);

Michael with telekinesis;

Isobel with her mindscape and influencing people’s actions; 

Noah, who seems to be able to use full extend of his powers;

Subject N-38, who can give stage 4 tumours to anyone and anything he touches. 

As we see with Noah, and as he confirms, the aliens who we have so far only seen master a single ability (excluding N-38 from that list, as we do not have enough information on him to conclude anything about the full extent of his powers), simply haven’t unlocked everything. 

We also see that Max and Isobel have both gotten sick after using too much of their powers, but we haven’t seen the same for Michael.

Alien powers can be inhibited by a yellow pollen that comes from a rare plant that seems to only grow in a part of the desert in Libya (I will go back to that plant in season 2, since then the show actually gives more details about it).