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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | The chemicals must, in some way, be beneficial to the recipients. |
And to the originator as well, in the sense that transmission should benefit all. Correct?
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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When the boys in the lab first isolated these chemicals from the secretions, were they familiar with them?
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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The creature only secretes these substances in response to the type of stimuli which would trigger a rush of adrenalin in their earthly counterparts. Indeed it may actually be adrenalin that stimulates production of the secretion.
We all know the purpose and effect of this adrenalin release in our own species.... Have the xeno-apes taken things a stage further?
If you have just undergone a traumatic experience (and are possibly injured) the last thing you would want to do is render your comforters more vulnerable even than yourself... no, you want them better able to protect you (and themselves) if the danger was to reappear.
What better way to do this than to slip a few psycho-active chemicals into the sickly-sweet mix, to enhance their senses and heighten perception, together with the odd physical and mental stimulant... in short, a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs.
Everybody benefits.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | When the boys in the lab first isolated these chemicals from the secretions, were they familiar with them? |
Not really. They are known to be toxic in far larger dosages but other effects are completely unknown.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | What better way to do this than to slip a few psycho-active chemicals into the sickly-sweet mix, to enhance their senses and heighten perception, together with the odd physical and mental stimulant... in short, a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs. |
Another very good idea!
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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At this point, one of our team remembers some research being conducted on the home world. Wondering if it might prove useful, she places a folder on the table and opens it to reveal a set of documents, much like these.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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Brilliant... a mechanism to account for periods of rapid evolution at times of environmental stress, following long periods of evolutionary stasis!
Switch genes on and off... try new combinations... turn fins into limbs... I love it.
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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This is how I see it happening:
During the long periods of evolutionary stasis, random genetic mutations occur, but the vast majority of them remain inactive. At the same time, the toxic stress chemicals secreted by our xeno-apes are ingested by the population at relatively low levels.
When the population as a whole comes under extreme stress, more and more xeno-apes begin to secrete and the toxic chemicals ingested by the population reach quorum levels.
When this happens, the chemicals trigger the previously inactive mutant genes to express themselves... in the hope that various random combinations of these mutant genes will produce enough variation in the population, for the species to survive whatever crisis is causing such high levels of stress.
Am I on the right track?
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | Am I on the right track? |
Possibly. But over-ambitious I think.
For now, let us please keep it simple.
For what essential task do the bacteria use the chemicals they transmit to one another?
For what essential task might the apes use the chemicals they transmit to one another?
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Brian Ambrose
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| Ishmael wrote: | | Chad wrote: | | Am I on the right track? |
Possibly. But over-ambitious I think.
For now, let us please keep it simple.
For what essential task do the bacteria use the chemicals they transmit to one another?
For what essential task might the apes use the chemicals they transmit to one another? |
For the bacteria, it's about measuring and managing population.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Brian Ambrose wrote: | | For the bacteria, it's about measuring and managing population. |
No. It is not. You are two steps ahead.
What is the essential purpose of the chemicals the bacteria send to one another?
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Chad
In: Ramsbottom
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To transmit information to other members of the comunity.
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Ishmael
In: Toronto
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| Chad wrote: | | To transmit information to other members of the comunity. |
Right.
We call that "communication".
Brian's answer was one step ahead as he was describing the response bacteria make to that information. Granted, what we see in bacteria represents a very limited vocabulary but there are indications a more complex language remains to be discovered. In fact, indications are that other organisms -- multicellular organisms -- also use a chemical language to transmit information.
And in fact , we know that complex life forms on our own planet use chemicals for communication.
When a forest is infected with a disease, the infected trees will release a chemical signal into the air warning their comrades of what is coming. Though the infected trees die, the others turn on certain dormant defence mechanisms that inhibit the growth of the disease.
So these apes I have described are certainly not plant life. Neither are they bacteria. But we know that many mammals also use chemicals to communicate. We call them "pheremones" (oddly, the question of human pheremones remains controversal).
But with these apes, we observe that a number of 'toxic' chemicals are being passed from organism to organism in response to a specific sort of environmental stimuli. It is somewhat reminiscent of the behaviour of trees encountering the trauma of disease.
In fact, there are starker parallels still!
During our observations, we see a young ape fall out of a tree and hurt itself. In fact, sadly, it dies. But as it lay there dying, it began to secrete the sweetness from its facial pores and its mother was observed licking the cotton-candy-like substance from its face before it finally expired.
Is it plausible that the chemicals in the secretion are some means of communication, from life-form to life-form? Indeed, from life form to community? Is it perhaps even likely so?
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DPCrisp
In: Bedfordshire
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| (oddly, the question of human pheremones remains controversial). |
Women who live together synchronise and menstruate together. Have they worked out the mechanism for that? Chemical, surely.
Also odd is that pheromone comes from Greek pherein, to convey, but this doesn't get a mention for ferry and fare.
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Grant
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| When a forest is infected with a disease, the infected trees will release a chemical signal into the air warning their comrades of what is coming. |
Where did you get this?
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