23:09 20-01-2013

SN

William: if you are talking about Earth's moon, remember it has no atmosphere. A balloon works by weighing less than the material around it. As nothing is lighter than a vacuum, a balloon cannot work in a vacuum. Sorry about that one...

19:16 20-01-2013

William Stephens

I have questions! Recently I have become intrigued by mechanical evolution. In this case initiated by man, for example nanoobots with AI's, which change and allow them to think for themselves and physically change their forms to suit new challenges, therefore evolving themselves. I don't know if you have done a post on this or if this is the right place to ask, as mechanical evolution is extremely far-fetched naturally. But if started artificially it could be an extremely interesting topic to look at. However I digress, and my question is this: if life such as I have described ocurred on the Moon, what would be the effects on a mechanical ballont? Perhaps obtaining hydrogen for lift through hydrogen reduction. Would it just explode?

13:28 20-01-2013

SN

Gabriel: is Evan right? If so, there is indeed more than is shown on the blog or the site. In fact, I have at times taken some species description off the site when I added a new one. Until I find a publisher I will keep the material hidden from public view...

Pete: that is interesting. Mind you, I was not aware of a convention that the use of Greek and Latin for 'leggedness'' means that one is used to describe anatomy and the other gaits. I have not come across that in books as far as I know (but might well have missed it). Can you point me to a source?

15:08 16-01-2013

Pete

I've written a DA journal about limbs and locomotion of animals is anyone is interested: http://palaeorigamipete.deviantart.com/journal/#/d5rb3dv I hope I haven't mixed any letters up in the terms I've used XD

21:52 12-01-2013

Evan Black

Sigmund, I think Gabriel would like to see the ENTIRETY of Furaha, more than what you have on this website and in your blog. I must admit it's a sentiment I share, but I understand that you're holding much of the project in reserve for the book.

15:14 12-01-2013

Gabriel

The website is fine. I just want to know if you have published your project as reading material or just a small part of it on this website. (The 11 menu choices on the left side)

20:05 02-01-2013

Gabriel

Hello again,

I've been following your posts and comments, and would like to see the whole project but cannot find it. The side-bar frame shows only a small portion of the plants and animals you designed.

Replied on: 22:47 09-01-2013

Gabriel,

I am not certain I understand what is going wrong. I assume you have tried typing in http://planetfuraha.org directly in your browser's address field? That should give you 11 squares acting as menu choices on the left, and a main screen on the right. What is going wrong?

19:41 04-12-2012

Phiengley

I recently stumbled upon this particular page: http://blog.naver.com/PostView.nhn?blogId=whatsub&logNo=120155943766&redirect=Dlog&widgetTypeCall=true

I know you've made blog posts regarding the designs in John Carter (of Mars), and there's some images of anatomy as well as one creature I do not think appeared at all in the movie.

 

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08:05 04-12-2012

Blaise

Ever thought of doing a colonial organism, akin to the Portuguese man-of-war? It would be quite interesting to have extremely complex, specialized multicellular organisms that make up one huge composite creature. They could be benign filter feeders, like their Earth counterparts, or even more aggressive, smarter hunters. There'd lots of possibilities to explore in terms of different terrestrial, aquatic, and airborne versions, too.

Fondest regards,

Blaise Laramee
Chief Speculative Biologist
Ursinus Sector

17:36 03-12-2012

William Stephens

Thanks SN, purchased the book from amazon and it looks perfect!
Thanks again

22:16 26-11-2012

SN

William: the query may be quick, but the answer cannot be. ;-) Anyway, I am not an expert in astronomy . There is a very interesting book called 'What if the moon did not exist?' I think that that would give you the answers you need.

Gabriel: it would be better to add your remake on the blog, where it will be seen by people reading the post. The design of the xenohox can indeed be looked at from various angles, and the gyroscope effect is just one. As you wrote, it would be possible to to arrive at a fair estimate of how large the effect would be. In writing such posts I usually pick out one or two aspects only, and in this case I chose to spend time on visualising the movement by writing programmes. Others may take it from there; it would be nice if someone did the inertia calculations.

20:26 26-11-2012

Gabriel

Xenohox gazelle mode of locomotion presents other problems not mentioned, caused by "angular momentum" present in all rotating objects:

The first problem that the cork-screw motion induced by the legs will also make the animal go sideways.
A classic example (which you can experiment with) of the second problem is the bicycle wheel. Hold the front wheel in the air and let someone spin it fast and then try to steer it left and right. You will feel the wheel "resists" intervention. The wheel has become a GYROSCOPE. If you take out the wheel and turn it, you can lay one side of the axis on the edge of the table, and the other side will "hang in the air". This phenomena is called precession.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H98BgRzpOM
At high speeds, the wheel is very stable. (That's why riders cannot keep balance when bicycle stands still, but can do it even at low speeds). This phenomena is used in ballistics: The bullet is made to spin to keep direction straight ahead (especially if having a rocket)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCubBTGP3Qg&feature=related

This is good for ballistics and other engineering challenges, but can be problematic for fast animals: Making them more stable at moving "straight ahead" means they become less maneuverable and should work harder avoiding tipping over while cornering. Pick-up a speed at which the animal should move. Given its various dimensions see how many steps it has to do per second and divide by the number of limbs participating in locomotion. You will get how many "turns" per second it should have to turn, and you can come-out with the magnitude of the forces involved in precession.

00:26 22-11-2012

William Stephens

Just a quick query - what would be the effects on Earth and its beings if the Moon were to gradually shrink/decrease in size and mass, until it dissapeared all together? This would take place over a period of maybe ten years. I'm writing a novel

17:52 02-11-2012

Jan

Hello
I found something interesting for some former discussion. It is about alternatives to mammalian big long small intestine.

There is interesting idea of Zainter, to have a "clutch of hundreds if not thousands of multi-compartment tubes" instead of simple tube
http://th07.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/180/b/f/morningstar_and_rigidia_anatomy_by_zerraspace-d54o2ho.jpg
According to my understanding, this would greatly increase the absorbtion area of the digestive tract. On the other hand, on Purple Plasmid´s Fentil animals have "ring intestine", cycling the food again and again
http://planetfuraha.blogspot.cz/search?q=deviant+art
But it would not increase the absorption area at given time, so the functionality of this solution is less clear to me.

I have found that some solutions on Earth is no less interesting than in fictional worlds. There is a very interesting description of "spiral valve" of sharks, which serves similar purpose mentioned above http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/white_shark/digestion.htm
But it seems to have some drawbacks, too.
"By keeping digestible material in the ileum for an extended period maximum nutrient absorption is ensured. For this reason, many sharks and related fish feed very infrequently" ... "sharks cannot pass large hard objects (such as bones) through their lower intestine."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_valve
I guess this is the reason few animals have spiral valve. Could these disadvantages be overcomed and is it worth of it, according to your opinions?

06:08 24-10-2012

Mexanik

Hello! I just found a way to make holes in Sculptris and I hope it will help.

http://s4.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/images/2012/10/e0cea646e3d5b12e22a067d8b8cad262.jpg

1) You need to remove symmetry and make left side of the object flat.

2) Then make grooves from one side to another - they must be deep enough to reach the right side.

3) Then turn symmetry on - and the hole is finished! Just take it the form you need.

4) If you want to make tunnels not on the center line, just remove symmetry again and rotate the sculpture, then turn it on once more.

5) Don't forget to use Ctrl+Z and look where is the "mirror". You can also grab asymmetric object, that "mirror" never moves.

P.S.: Sorry for my English again %)

P.P.S.: And all those animals from the blog are awesome!

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