Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Forum Classic => Topic started by: Fwahm on October 26, 2009, 09:33:44 AM
-
Would it be possible? On one hand, acquiring a common type of bacteria would be easy, since dozens of harmless types live inside a human's body at all times, so all you'd need to do is research one type and picture it. On the other hand, bacteria generally use RNA instead of DNA, which might pose a problem to the morphing technology.
What do you think?
-
Remember you have to acquire the animal first, and I think that is the real problem with this idea. You cannot see a bacterium in order to acquire it.
-
It isn't necessary to see something to acquire it; one must only picture it in their minds.
-
It isn't necessary to see something to acquire it; one must only picture it in their minds.
And I don't even think that's necessary. I think you only have to picture it to morph it.
Remember when they acquired the anteater in #24? They had no idea what it was they were acquiring, but they acquired it anyway.
What I want to know is whether the morphing technology actually takes DNA from an organism, or simply copies it. Because if you take even one set of DNA from something as small as a bacterium, you'd kill it.
-
Why would you want to morph bacteria? What would be the purpose? What cause would you have to be a sentient bacteria?
-
They probably just copy it. It doesn't really make sense that they'd be taking it from the animal. They're creating, in essence, a clone of it, a genetic copy.
But I'm with Parker: Why would you even want to morph bacteria?
...Also, I'm rereading #9 at the moment, and this handy-dandy line just came up:
Acquiring an animal's DNA isn't very complicated. All you do is touch it, and focus your
mind on the animal. The animal gets kind of sleepy, kind of dopey. In a minute it's all over,
and a new DNA pattern is swimming around inside you.
I'm not sure what she means by "focus your mind on the animal." I always thought it was that you had to picture it. Which would make the anteater thing a KASU. Maybe someone else has a different understanding?
-
Which would make the anteater thing a KASU.
Or like when that animal (buffalo/cow) aquired Chapman and morphed it? If acquiring not only morphs, but the power, how did that animal do it?
-
Exactly Parker. There's no realistic reason why you would ever need or want to become bacteria. As far as I'm aware, the don't have conventional senses like animals do so they'd be practically useless as a morph, not to mention the fact that some bacteria die quickly in the wrong environment (eg. outside a host).
I can only assume it would be difficult to acquire the bacteria in the first place, since you can't see or feel it and probably don't know what it looks like. Due to the fact that bacteria is incredibly small, I wouldn't be surprised if morphing it was impossible. Remember how the Animorphs were sucked into Z-space and almost died when they morphed mosquitoes? The odds of that happening were incredibly low, but bacteria is much smaller (which presumably increases the chances) so it's possible that the morphing technology prohibits the acquiring of bacteria as a safety precaution (or bacteria might be too small to be considered a morphable creature).
The bacteria's process of asexual reproduction would also cause problems for the morpher, perhaps similar to what happened when Rachel morphed a starfish and was split in half.
As for the Anteater thing, I'm sure they'd all seen pictures of an Anteater before so they'd know what it looked like. Ax might not have, but I don't think he morphed it.
-
He didn't. He was just essentially the "bus" to take them the Anis to the Gardens.
+1, Phoenix.
-
Thank you Cloaky, I was pretty certain he didn't but it's been a while since I read them. I think I'm due a re-read before my awesome fountain of Ani knowledge starts to decay... ;)
-
yeah, but the problem in #18 wasn't with the size of the morph, it was the fact that a ship happened to be cruising through Zero Space exactly where the technology decided to dump their extruded mass. They've morphed fleas A LOT, which was fine, and I think they even morphed mosquito again later with no ill effects other than the mildly disgusting fact that they'd fed on their friends.
I really don't see why they couldn't morph bacteria. Just like I don't see why they couldn't morph mushrooms or daisies or sea sponges. All comprised of DNA. And yet, when you think about this, it doesn't feel like it should jibe, right? I mean they get the animal's mind and instincts when they morph...what would an Oak Tree have to offer? Would they even maintain the mental cognizance to be able to demorph?
For fic writing purposes, I decided kind of arbitrarily that morphing is limited to CNS-based organisms. There has to be some kind of nervous system to support the limited, yet present, "mind" so that the morpher can actually *use* the morph.
-
just as anijen said:
i'd think that even if they WANTED to morph bacteria, once the morph was complete, how would they morph back?
it'd be a one-way process.
(speaking of which, is the animal's mind and new instincts always the last thing to change? i'd like to see a half-morphed animorph struggling for control with a new morph.)
you can't control something (like a bacteria) with such a different/lacking mind.
bacteria aren't even animals, anyways.
maybe they could try morphing coral. ::)
-
Exactly Parker. There's no realistic reason why you would ever need or want to become bacteria. As far as I'm aware, the don't have conventional senses like animals do so they'd be practically useless as a morph, not to mention the fact that some bacteria die quickly in the wrong environment (eg. outside a host).
I can only assume it would be difficult to acquire the bacteria in the first place, since you can't see or feel it and probably don't know what it looks like. Due to the fact that bacteria is incredibly small, I wouldn't be surprised if morphing it was impossible. Remember how the Animorphs were sucked into Z-space and almost died when they morphed mosquitoes? The odds of that happening were incredibly low, but bacteria is much smaller (which presumably increases the chances) so it's possible that the morphing technology prohibits the acquiring of bacteria as a safety precaution (or bacteria might be too small to be considered a morphable creature).
The bacteria's process of asexual reproduction would also cause problems for the morpher, perhaps similar to what happened when Rachel morphed a starfish and was split in half.
As for the Anteater thing, I'm sure they'd all seen pictures of an Anteater before so they'd know what it looked like. Ax might not have, but I don't think he morphed it.
Yup... Totally...
Not practical, or necessary, and probably not even possible...
-
bacteria aren't even animals, anyways.
maybe they could try morphing coral. ::)
:P Sadly, the only way that a coral morph would be anywhere approaching effective is if it were... erm... "baby" coral. Since that's the one stage of life when coral actually moves (hence why it's an animal and not some kind of sea plant.)
'Course, the problem with that is... tiny creature, big ocean, lots of other animals who'd have no problem eating you. I imagine that'd be more of a problem underwater, simply because the terrain (...okay, bad choice of word...) is so foreign to a human. If you're a ****roach or something, yeah, it's different, but you're still in an enviornment that's familiar to you. And you can demorph without drowning.
...That was a very roundabout way for me to realize another problem with morphing a non-animal species: it's so completely foreign that there are far more possibilities for disaster. Bacteria don't have instincts to tell them how to get out of a sticky situation. If you're, say, a rat, you can just give in to the "DANGER! DANGER! RUN YOU IDIOT, RUN!" instinct.
-
the animorphs were given the ability to morph any ANIMAL. bacteria are not animals. they are not even in the same kingdom. they are unicellular organisms, while even the most basic animal (the sea sponge) is multi cellular. if the morphing technology was designed to allow the person to aquire the DNA from any animal, it probably ment it could only read the DNA of multicellular orgamisms. im sure there was something in the technology that could only read DNA coming from animals
-
the problem with that, though, is that even our taxonomic system is not perfect. There are all sorts of gray areas with how we've classified all the organisms on our planet, and the likelihood that some alien technology would rigorously apply to those somewhat fluctuating standards is really low. So sure, I'm more than willing to bet there's some plant or fungus or near-lifeless invertebrate that the Animorphs could morph.
It's an interesting discussion, for sure. I wish we'd heard more about how the technology was developed.
But hey, shameless plug, I DID A LITTLE THINKING ABOUT IT IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN ONE RANDOM INTERPRETATION:
The Birth of Morphing (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4997190/1/The_Birth_of_Morphing)
-
but unicellular and multicellular should still be drasticaly different on the andalite homeworld as on earth. and the way DNA functions is different. Also, i forgot to mention earlier, most bacterial DNA is a cirlcle while that of animals is the doble helix. I am sure that would affect how the DNA was absorbed, and thus ensuring that only DNA of unicellulars could be absorbed
-
you're right. I'm just saying the line is fuzzy, you know? And besides, acknowledging how differentiated life on Earth can be is one thing, but ASSUMING that Andalite DNA and Hork-Bajir DNA is all built the exact same way as Human DNA--or at least, more similar to human DNA that Earth bacterial DNA is to Human DNA--is a bit of a stretch. So they have Adenine, Cytosine, Thymine, and Guanine in outer space, too? The evolutionary patterns of different planets are that similar? I mean, idk.
I figure, if it works with aliens, it's got to work with pretty much everything.
-
I figure, if it works with aliens, it's got to work with pretty much everything.
*tries to picture jake morphing into the ellimist*
-
lol true jen. they may be different on other planets. but either the andalites designed the cube so it could recognize a variety of different base pairs besides just the A C T G of earth life, or every animal they encountered has those 4 pairs, but they arrange differently to form the different organisms. man it woulda been itneresting to see Ax (or better yet estrid since she was the science person) explain this
-
I'm willing to bet that Jake could indeed morph the Ellimist.
However, he'd just become a Ketran, with none of the powers that the Ellimist has, since they aren't linked to his DNA.
-
idk, whenever the Ellimist revealed himself to the Animorphs, it was just as his *form* or whatever. Just a deception so they could relate to his higher-level omnipotence. I don't think, when he talked to them, he actually made a physical body like he did with the Andalite cavemen in the Ellimist Chronicles. Sort of like how Q was a person--he walked, talked, took up space--but I really don't think he was comprised of flesh and blood when he confronted the *Intrepid crew of the Enterprise D*
-
Yeah, he'd have to find the Ellimist before Ascension.
-
the animorphs were given the ability to morph any ANIMAL. bacteria are not animals. they are not even in the same kingdom. they are unicellular organisms, while even the most basic animal (the sea sponge) is multi cellular. if the morphing technology was designed to allow the person to aquire the DNA from any animal, it probably ment it could only read the DNA of multicellular orgamisms. im sure there was something in the technology that could only read DNA coming from animals
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I mean we pretty much know for a fact that they can't morph plants (which I believe have DNA) so the morphing technology must have a method of knowing if the thing they're trying to acquire is an animal. Or perhaps there's something unique about animals that means the acquiring process only works on them and not other living things like plants.
just as anijen said:
(speaking of which, is the animal's mind and new instincts always the last thing to change? i'd like to see a half-morphed animorph struggling for control with a new morph.)
you can't control something (like a bacteria) with such a different/lacking mind.
I won't even try to guess how it works, but it seems clear that the creature's instincts are always the last thing to appear when morphing. As for not being able to morph anything with a mind, it was heavily implied that Ants had no real minds of their own and they morphed them fine (besides the horrific psychological trauma).
Brains might not be a necessary requirement either, as Rachel morphed a starfish and they don't have brains, at least not in the conventional sense. They do have a nervous system though, which acts almost like a distributed brain. It's possible that having a nervous system is required for the acquiring process, since plants don't have a nervous system. I believe that bacteria also lack a nervous system, which means it might be impossible to acquire one.
-
The nervous system is a good point. all animals have SOME kind of nervous system, even if its so ridiculously basic all it does is control breathing and what not. so that would be a good way of factoring out non-animals from animal DNA. if there is no inkling of a nervous system, then it isn't an animal, and there4 u cant acquire its DNA
-
There, I believe we got it sorted. High fives, all around.
-
GREAT JOB EVERYONE
-
Wow, did we just (possibly) solve the mystery of how animals can be acquired but plants can't? Awesome! 8)
-
yes, everything resolve ;D all u needed was some input from a bio major :)
-
And a guy who got a C in Science! :P
-
A GENIOUS C in Science!!!!
And a GENIOUS Bio major!!!!
GENIOUS!!!!
-
lol it is genius isnt it? between our awesome bio intellect, the mystery is solved :P
-
Aww man i come back and i'm all happy and i miss a day and look you solved a mystery and i was not part of it V_V how disapointing
-
u can be part of the celebration shark! join as us as we dance! do the happy dance! :wiggle:
-
Doin' the happy dance, doin' the happy dance.
Doin' the happy dance, doin' the happy dance.
:hyper:
-
lol it is genius isnt it? between our awesome bio intellect, the mystery is solved :P
I'm sure it is... *sigh* Another happy comment foiled by atrocious spelling! >:(
Also,
:wiggle: :hyper: :woot:
Happy dancing!!! :)
-
Another happy comment foiled by atrocious spelling! >:(
I'm confused by this, who are you saying has the atrocious spelling? 'Cause short of an apostrophe omission, Estrid spelled everything correctly.
You, however, misspelled "Genius" in your post.
-
Yup... I was talking about me... The one with the atrocious spelling...
-
Ah okay. I think most of us are with the understanding that this topic has been resolved, who else thinks it's okay to lock it?
-
Fine by me... ;D
-
:clap: :taxxon:dancing Taxxon weeeee
-
Seems like a good idea Parker. If anyone wants this unlocked for a valid reason, please ask a member of staff.
*locked*
-
Could it be possible?
Also how about morphing anemone or bacteria or other single-celled organisms?
-
There is already a topic to this effect.
http://animorphsforum.com/forum/index.php?topic=3999.0
-
They might be able to, but my question is, why?
-
Vegimorphs!!
But yeah there isn't really a point, except maybe to blend in somewhere like in a forest or garden but then you can't hear or see anything anyway and might as well morph a roach or something.
-
Why?
Because I would *love* to know what a plant's "mind" is like. How they perceive the world.
I secretly believe Cassie morphed trees on a regular basis. :P
-
wait.... waitwait.
i could swear that there was some sort of spoof like that, back when animorphs were still coming out. something.... about a carrot. they were DEFINITELY morphing vegetables.
in any case.... i'm ditto-ing 'why'. maybe rachel could have morphed catnip in #2- rather than a rodent- in order to catch Fluffer (or whatever that creature's name was). and plant morphing might have made a nice science experiment for school. but... no, i would not have fought off the yeerk invasion with single-celled organisms.
i take that back. germ warfare? but what would you do when you multiplied? UGH. no. double-take-back. none of that.
(also, triple take-back. i suppose that was all covered under the morphing bacteria thread, now that i bother reading it.)
-
wait.... waitwait.
i could swear that there was some sort of spoof like that, back when animorphs were still coming out. something.... about a carrot. they were DEFINITELY morphing vegetables.
yes, vegimorphs, its available on the site. rather good read.
-
!
amazing. i might check it out. xD man, what a flashback!
-
I don't see it being all that possible. Sure, plants do contain DNA, but I don't know if it'd be enough... And the whole brain/mind thing. The only way it's been possible so far was when Crayak made his proposal to Rachel and even then, that morph seemed bio-organic. Probably the closest you could get is by morphing a Warhammer 40k Ork :P
Exellent question, though.
I wonder if spring would reset the morph clock for a nothlit?
-
i thought about that, too.... but if you think of it, ants' brains don't have much in way of capacity for human thought, either.
maybe the brain matter still operates out in Z-space and brainwaves are transmitted to and from the morphed animal. *shrug*
-
If you morphed, say, a tree, would your roots be above ground?
Post Merged: April 07, 2010, 02:27:51 PM
...if you morphed a marijuana plant, could your friends pick the leaves and smoke you?
-
merging and renaming topic.