Planetfurry BBS

[[Crash]]

[Alexi]

Honestly, night vision. Something similar to an owl if I could get away with it. I mean, yeah, I'd pretty much have to wear dark sunglasses during the day but holy crap, I could see in almost absolute darkness. That'd be the best. For me anyways.

[ScottyDM]

I suspect that to get the lifespan of a redwood tree, you'd need the metabolism of a redwood tree.

Also, why would the vision of an eagle exclude good night vision? At least some of the requirements for both are satisfied by the same "equipment" tweaks: tightly packed sensor cells in the retina. But not all sensor cells are created equal. We know the most about human vision, but other organisms may have a third (or fourth) choice beyond rods and cones.

However there seem to be two physical hallmarks of low-light vision: A reflective layer behind the retina to give incoming photons that missed hitting a receptor molecule a second chance. And for animals capable of daylight operation, a pupil with a huge range of sizes. For example a cat's pupil.

But seeing the daylight world through a slit might mess with the quality of the image, so maybe you can't have eagle-cat eyes. Anyway, how good can nighttime vision be? Many animals can see better than we can in the dark, but I doubt they can see as well as some of us wish we could see.

Since if the photons don't exist, then we cannot see--for those of us who want to "see" in the dark, how about sonar like a bat or a dolphin?


Transformation is usually the realm of fantasy--magic or demon powers. Since there is no creature who can transform, genetic engineering will not give one transformative powers. In a sci-fi world I suppose nanomachines under the control of an organic brain could replace the skeletal system--but that's hardly the realm of gen-eng.

But wait! There is one possibility. There is a class of living creatures with some astounding transformative powers. Unfortunately they cannot make the sort of change found in werewolf stories. And it helps that they lack any sort of skeletal system--being just a bag of muscles. This pretty much confines them to an aquatic environment.

Of course I'm talking about the octopus. Not all species, but some have amazing control of skin color and texture. A human soldier with gen-eng octopus skin, and an amped-up nervous system to control it, would not need camo, or even a ghillie suit--he'd only need go about nude. Stand next to a tree and within seconds gain skin color and texture to match the bark. Lay on the forest floor and within seconds gain skin color and texture to match the leafy litter. Stand against a wall in an alley and within seconds gain brick color and texture, including graffiti.

A skeletal system means such a person would be stuck in human form, but with complete control over skin color and texture far more than an instant ghillie-suit effect would be possible. You could become the ultimate spy. The Big Bad's minions are chasing you, so you round a corner and instantly change race and stop running. You lean up against the wall and wait... "Yeah," you say, "I saw that guy. He went that a way."

Hair might not work with octopus skin though. But it'd save the embarrassment of getting a Brazilian. One could wear a wig, or from a distance fake the appearance of hair.

Now would that be hot, or what? Someday I'm gonna write a novel about gen-eng subjects who've been given octopus skin.

The cuttlefish (related to the squid, which are related to octopi) cannot change skin texture, but their control over color, and the speed at which they can change their color, is mind boggling. They can go through several complete and radical color changes per second. And they get colors like metallic blue in their palette. And they can do patterns like stripes.


Let's get back to vision. Forget eagle eyes or cat vision, how about the mantis shrimp vision? Quote from that article:

[tijn]

How about a slightly different direction then...
The 'waterflea' (Daphnia magna) reacts in a peculiar way to its environment. Certain pollutants will change all the females into males. This happens literally overnight.

So: how about the ability to decide your gender for the next day? (or, what the heck, any stage in between)

Furthermore, I'd like to be able to regenerate parts of my body if they get damaged / lost. Why not be able to choose if one has a tail or hair, depending on the mood?

Our feet are lumps, we can't do much with them anymore. Back to primate feet then? More function, fingers instead of toes (try climbing with that).
Do we have enough joints? More flexible joints, being able to turn most joints every way.

[Alexi]

I actually put a lot of thought into my response. The owl like night vision is all I really feel I'd enjoy. It's just me though.

Now, if you want to get into the cooler aspects of animal abilities that most furs might not think about. How about the ability to stick to things like a Geko? The pads of their feet have all of those tiny ridges and yet they cling to far more than those ridges should allow them to according to current knowledge of phisical law.

How cool/ usefull would it be to be able to cling and climb at will and whim?

[[Crash]]

[The Silver Coyote]

I've always aspired to the level of flexibility, adaptability, and cunning of the coyote ... those guys are almost indestructible.

SC

[ScottyDM]