Thomas Chouvenc / Termite Lab
Michael BuschScience fiction author: "I have created this extremely alien alien."
Biologists: "We have an insect that does that."
Emily_S@michael_w_busch movie writers need to visit an aquarium before creating aliens.
My post was occasioned by learning about exploding ants: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colobopsis_explodens
I already knew about the bombardier beetle.
Mx Verdahmmm... ok what about 3 sexes, and also how would that work? I'm thinking 2 donors that do the jiggery-poking, then a carrier, then they all raise it / them?
also what about odd number of limbs?
give birth from shoulder / back?
poop chute not near cooch tube?
If you should want complicated systems of reproduction; there are fungi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mating_type
Seiðr@MxVerda @michael_w_busch @emily_s This is the best comment I have ever read provoked by any biology fact, and me being a biologist, I love it. :_)
Katze von Schrott@michael_w_busch @MxVerda @emily_s what the hell did i just read (something very interesting that i am way not smart enough for, that's what)
Alex, the Hearth Fire
Luna Lactea@MxVerda @michael_w_busch @emily_s In Known Space, Pierson's Puppeteers are kind of like this, & in universe their reproductive cycle is compared to parasitoid wasps by humans. They have two males & one female, but the female is actually a different species that they parasitize. I don't know if any books mentioned how they shit, but their body is also kind of their head so I guess it would be like shitting from your shoulder. They have three legs & two prehensile "necks" that end in mouths that are also hands & each have one eye. Other than that they're pretty similar to horses, but have human level or above intelligence, are extremely paranoid of possible danger to the point of deconstructing their sun so it doesn't inflate when it begins fusing helium in a few trillion years, & are extremely manipulative of other civilizations.
@jackemled I just swapped over from a political discussion on bluesky and this was the first post in my notifs.
At first I was wondering whether the context was the explosion of calling everything narcissist from a few years ago (which may or may not be increased by societal expectation to hoard wealth),
name-calling,
wordplay on NSFW or WASPs, and then somehow
about the Mulefa of His Dark Materials.
Ooh! Someone tag the strange biology people from earlier, cuz I wanna know if we have any wheeled / transportation-using creatures!
I know riding is a thing (lol), but examples of those are cool too. Like I saw a cute vid of anteaters -- maybe a family? -- this morning, but also cats on tortoises, dogs on horses, etc.
There are also insects that have biological gears; although not full geared wheels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issus_(planthopper)
@jackemled .... ok I feel them on the forward-planning and excessive harm mitigation strategies, possibly indicative of societal anxiety.
But I hate the (non-consenting??) parasitism. @michael_w_busch @emily_s
Mer-fOKxTOwl@MxVerda @michael_w_busch @emily_s
@Tamari has some nice weired 3 sexes things going on in her creatures. (ok, that sounds wrong — trust me it isn't!)
@MxVerda @michael_w_busch @emily_s and gigantic sky whales who propulse with jet like breathing systems...
and those things that first grow in the landscape like plant/insect-cocoon dicks and then at some point just plop detach from the ground and start walking.
and those things that first grow in the landscape like plant/insect-cocoon dicks and then at some point just plop detach from the ground and start walking.
copacetic@michael_w_busch @emily_s In comes another animal ... "hold my beer".
It has a beak like a parrot and is poisonous. Its tongue works like a cheese grater.
It's blood is blue (iron, not copper-based) and it has three hearts to pump it.
Its arms have autonomous brains, can feel, taste, and smell. The central brain is donut-shaped.
Its skin can change color.
It has eight arms and mostly lives under water.
Some octopuses also have detachable limbs that move around on their own.
potpie@michael_w_busch One thing I liked about reading Arthur C. Clarke is how his alien ideas often align with the concept of convergent evolution. Allen oceans with shark-like creatures and lobster-like creatures make a lot of sense.
There are many jokes about carcinisation; but there are still limits to convergent evolution.
e.g. feathers are not fur.
Tom 🇨🇦Have you read China Mieville's Perdido Street Station? The species he describes rival some of the most bizarre critters in the natural world
Patrick Morris Miller@michael_w_busch In language construction circles, there's a saying: "a natural language already does that, but even worse".
Okrand did make Klingon by taking his favorite parts of real human languages and mixing them together.
Mikko Karvonen@michael_w_busch And don’t even get me started on the fungi.
Tommy Poulsen@michael_w_busch I recommend reading Adrian Tchaikovsky, sci-fi author and zoologist🕷️
Mark Whybird@tommyhp @michael_w_busch I will look him up!
I love the alien-ness of David Brin’s aliens in the uplift novels. Some do have partial earthly analogues, but overall they are some of the best original alien physiology thinking I’ve come across.
@tommyhp @michael_w_busch His (Adrian Tchaikovsky’s) book Shroud is in the Goodreads Readers Favourites shortlist:
https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/readers-favorite-science-fiction-books-2025
@tommyhp @michael_w_busch My actual favourite is Startide Rising (book 2, though they are readable out of order) - but yes Sundiver is an excellent place to start :)
@tommyhp @michael_w_busch Well, this is hilarious: I stated reading Tchaikovsky’s *Children of Time*, and what are the very first words that greet me?
“There were no windows in the Brin 2 facility…”
@whybird @michael_w_busch
That’s great! It’s probably not a coincidence - the Children of Time books rely on an “uplift virus” as a plot device 😃
The Children of Time books are among my favorite sci-fi series.
Happy reading!
@Arapalla has movedWait till you see what's at the bottom of the ocean 😳
Bread80@michael_w_busch I work in commercial horticulture. The modes of action if both pesticides and beneficials (predatory or parasitic organisms) is often way too gross for any horror story.
From the lingering deaths of chemicals which stop the target feeding or moulting to parasites which lay eggs in the host which grow until the host explodes. And these days we even have parasitic fungi.
bovaz@michael_w_busch
Biologists: "we used to have more, but he happened" <stares at techbro>
Techbro: <eats crayons while asking an LLM to draw up plans for this beautiful Torment Nexus he's been hearing so much about>
Biologists: "we used to have more, but he happened" <stares at techbro>
Techbro: <eats crayons while asking an LLM to draw up plans for this beautiful Torment Nexus he's been hearing so much about>
kraken17@michael_w_busch Bonus Biologist: "Actually, the insect is more fucked up."
Michael Thériault@michael_w_busch Reported this post to my entomologist wife and she approved.
Oxyte 🥴🥴🥴🥴🥴@michael_w_busch What if we are the aliens 🤔
@oxyte Unless SETI succeeds, I have no way to tell if we are the weird lifeforms or not.
Chuck@michael_w_busch I learned a long time ago not to get into a 'What's the weirdest thing you have ever seen?' contest with an Entomologist.
D. G. MarshallBiologist: And the insect did it first. And does it better.
PrinceParadox 
ein kleines z@michael_w_busch
Just yesterday, I posted about how many insects, including mosquitoes, can taste with their feet. It's well possible that deterrent spray doesn't only work by smell, but it also makes you taste shitty when mosquitoes land on your skin...
I totally see some science fiction movie in front of me featuring aliens that taste stuff by touching it with their limbs...
@kleines_z @michael_w_busch Even mere humans can taste *some* things with our skin (PTC = extreme bitterness).
https://www.sciencealert.com/human-skin-can-taste-things-and-scientists-just-figured-out-why
Human Skin Can Taste Things, And Scientists Just Figured Out Why
Ever set off too many of the bitter taste receptors on your tongue? You probably spat out whatever it was in your mouth, and that's our best guess for why we even have them: to stop us from ingesting things that might be harmful.
JulieR@michael_w_busch this is why I love Adrian Tchaikovsky's sci-fi. He gets it.
Keeper of the orb@michael_w_busch hahaha i had critics of my scifi telling me i was super unrealistic for aliens w 3 toes per foot but 5 fingers
kangaroos and wallaby over here like "im what m8"
Alex Haist@michael_w_busch seriously exactly!