I would really like to make a made up organ. Something that isn’t seen in nature but realistic. Also maybe carbon compounds that you pick or create to use as toxins or other stuff.
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Pretty sure that’s just “plausible nonlawk” then.
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Not LAWK organs of metabolic pathways that are not found in microscopic organisms, but are found in unicellular organisms? (chemotrophy, chemolithotrophy, thermosynthesis, radiosynthesis, etc.)
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You mean the giant cells?
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No, I mean multicellular organisms with chemolithotrophy, chemotrophy, therotrophy, radiotrophy, etc.
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Well then
pretty sure this one is primarily known from fungi.
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If we are talking Non LAWK, what I would most like to see is . . . evolutions based around already Thrive possible Non LAWK. For example, what sort of teeth or digestive adaptations would an iron eating macroscopic organism evolve that earth creatures never had a need for? What adaptations might a thermalsynthesizers skin/shell evolve to better absorb and retain heat? Thinks to keep “metabolic pathways” from become entirely obsolete unusable at later stages. Just making sure anything that is currently possible to make in microscopic stages can plausibly reach Aware Stage, even if the creature is limited to certain areas it cannot spread out from on most planets, would be a great use for Non LAWK and allow for MANY non earth organisms.
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I can assume thermo-based organisms would have a rather large surface area in relation to their volume. Iron-Eaters meanwhile will probably need to find their food underground, prompting adaptations to live there.
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actually one really good option for plausible non-lawk thermotrophs would be to have one portion of the body always be extremely cold, while another is always extremely hot, and use cells in the blood stream to thermosynthesize, so they get pumped in a loop between hot and cold, and give them hexosomes, or whatever the name of the RuBisCo analogue will be
hexosome is a made up name for any enzyme that produces a form of hexose btw
and sessile thermotrophs would probably evolve a refrigeration cycle(probably using pure ammonia) so they can take heat out of the environment easier, and concentrate it in one spot, to gather more energy
that would require a secondary circulatory system that has hard vessels though
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I can imagine that would be hard to achieve in denser mediums. Would “thermotrophs” be mostly land organisms?
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actually, liquid dwelling sessile thermotrophs would be able to get Much more energy out of their surroundings, as long as they don’t freeze them
the trick to keeping one cold and the other hot is having the hot parts insulated from everything but the circulatory systems and eachother, and underground
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Would sail-like backs and skin extensions/flaps be a good strategy for cooling off as a Thermotroph on land?
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How large would the difference in temperature between the two extremes need to be at least for this to be sustainable on a human-sized critter for example?
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cooling off as a thermotroph on land should only ever mean storing the heat somewhere else, since the heat is food
waste heat can be reprocessed
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Most likely, such an organism will utilize heat into the environment through biological radiators into the environment (since this is how all heat engines work). In addition to this, I admit the existence of heat-synthesizing desert organisms that heat-synthesize due to the temperature gradient between day and night.
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I wonder what would radiothrophy-specific adaptations even be…
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Now that the external elements of the macroscopic editor have a good and solid foundation, will you be tackling the internal elements of the editor anytime soon? Things like:
Respiratory, Cardiovascular, and Water Vascular Systems: These kind of over lap. The ability to deliver oxygen does not mean much without the ability to intake oxygen and vice versa. And if Echinoderm water vascular systems are going to be tackled at all, they really fit in with breathing and circulatory.
Digestive Systems: I am really curious to see how placement and number of lysosomes, as well as siderophores, effect macroscopic digestion.
Neurological Systems: More specifically, how will development or lack thereof of neurons effect what a creature can or can’t evolve as a “macroscopic” unaware creature?
Sensory Perception: We already have a nice post about eyes, but what about other sensory organs? Will gravity sensing/balance keeping organs be necessary? As I previously mentioned in this post, there are quite a few organisms that have one. And what about pheromones, or other forms of olfactory perception and/or manipulation?
Also, do you have any ideas about adaptions specific to no-lawk, like macroscopic thermosynthesizers or iron-respirators?
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I recall some organs systems might simply be too obscure to get themself tackled and added even if they are common, like the lymphatic system as stated by deus once.
water vascular systems are actually rather common in extremely cold environments iirc
and an example of smth that has conpletely separate respiratory and circulatory systems is most ants!
they move oxygen through their body with their spiracles, and just use their hemolymph for moving nutrients and water around their bodies, and for storing oxygen
and a type of respiratory system they could evolve if their hemolymph lost its ability to carry oxygen effectively is a unidirectional flow-through respiratory system where air enters through the front of each segment, and exits through the back of that segment, and is pumped by a set of air sacs with check valves like those on a heart, that have a set of muscles for contracting, and another set for expanding
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Still we can only go so far in what the players will be allowed to make at scales this small…