Questions about acquiring...

[wotw2112]

Maybe this idea has been brought up before but:

The premise of morphing is the absorbing of DNA.  So...

1. Could someone acquire DNA from a dead body?  The DNA is still there.

2. Could someone possibly acquire the dna of something extinct (i.e. they've found Dinosaur DNA in bones, etc)  It would seem if they could somehow make it in a large enough quantity to touch then it should be absorbable.

Unless I'm missing some fundamental rule about the creature having to be alive (which I don't recall).

[Phoenix004]

We don't know why, but it is said to be impossible to acquire anything that's dead, which would obviously include fossils of extinct creatures.

[AniDragon]

It says at one point in the book that the creature being acquired needs to be alive. However, seeing as how Ax said you could acquire from blood alone in book 18, I'm going to guess that it might be more along the lines of the blood needing to still be warm. So recently dead bodies might be acquirable.

[Phoenix004]

Presumably there is something about the morphing technology that requires living tissue in order to allow the acquiring process. Since the thing about acquiring from blood alone was only mentioned in #18 then it's possible that KA simply made that part up just as a plot device for that book.

[wotw2112]

Ok, i guess that makes sense but DNA is DNA...stupid frustrating limitations of made-up technology 

[Phoenix004]

Well for fossils it probably makes sense, since after millions of years I doubt there is a lot of DNA left. That's why they had to use blood taken from mosquitoes in Jurassic Park, there wasn't enough DNA left in the actual fossils to clone the Dinosaurs.

[wolfev]

I think the idea is that they need a living cell. Blood could possibly contain cells that are still alive. Here is a better question. Can you aquire and morph a creature that lacks a central nervous system?

[wotw2112]

Well for fossils it probably makes sense, since after millions of years I doubt there is a lot of DNA left. That's why they had to use blood taken from mosquitoes in Jurassic Park, there wasn't enough DNA left in the actual fossils to clone the Dinosaurs.

I thought the same and any blood taken from fossilized amber probably would be too little to allow for acquiring anyway...but if they could find a way to synthetically reproduce it?

Can you aquire and morph a creature that lacks a central nervous system?

I would have to say yes.  DNA is DNA.  Is there some other factor I'm not considering?

[Estelore]

*nods*

If it has no C.Nervous system...it has no BRAIN.
How do you control it?
In view: jellyfish?

[wotw2112]

*nods*

If it has no C.Nervous system...it has no BRAIN.
How do you control it?
In view: jellyfish?

Yeah but so what?  A cat doesn't have a human brain but the morpher maintains their human personality and thoughts in morph anyway so I can't imagine the lack of a brain would matter.  They just wouldn't have to fight for control as there would really be nothing opposing them.

[Estelore]

Hmmmn...how to explain. Aha!

Okay, you know that humans NEVER use 100% of their brain at once? Seriously. Using more than 60% of your brain (JUST the 'thinking' part, not counting the sensory areas and the centres of balance and symbol/word recognition) at a time is what doctors call "epileptic seizure".

I think that when they morph an animal, they use the parts of the brain that aren't occupied at the time. NOTHING uses all its brain at once. EVER.

So...what do you do when there is no brain to use?

[wolfev]

No I mean since this is alien technology it should not be specific to animals since animals are just a kingdom classified by humans. Since DNA is DNA that means the animorphs should be able to morph bacteria or plants. However, they could not exert control over something without a central nervous system. Oh jellyfish would be possible because though they lack a brain they do have a nervous simple.

[Estelore]

Obviously, the only purpose for morphing a plant in the first place would be to hide or to obtain some medicinal/toxic/caustic chemical from the plant, but both cases are redundant:

Hide? The Yeerks burn EVERYTHING.

Chemical? Just get it from the original plant, instead of acquiring it.

[Phoenix004]

Unless I'm much mistaken, Starfish have no brains. However, Rachel still morphed one. Perhaps the mind of the morpher is stored in Z-space and connected to the body via the morphing technology?

[wolfev]

yes but they have a nervous system. There is a network that is able to cause dynamic coordinated movement.