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Post by rebeldroideka on Sept 2, 2017 5:55:26 GMT
So evidently this is a thing: www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-has-the-only-mechanical-gears-ever-found-in-nature-6480908/Tl;dr: a species of insect has interlocking gears, like you would find in an auto mobile transmission or gearbox, in its legs, so it can aim it's jump more accurately. So, how hard would this be to pull off in Thrive, when we get to the appropriate stage? Presumably we'd need some way to manipulate the bone structure on a small enough scale to get the teeth in place, and then we'd require a means of powering the gear without interfering in its range of motion. Another question, this one less game-based and more speculative evolution: what kinds of conditions and evolutionary pressures would lead to something like this being an advantage, other than jumping? Anything? Last question, I swear: how far can we, mastereminds of evolution, take this and still have a functioning creature?
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Post by Omicron on Sept 2, 2017 6:57:10 GMT
Well, I think that if biological wheels are going to be a thing, biological gears could be too. The biggest will always be "why?" though.
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Post by Atrox on Sept 6, 2017 13:51:24 GMT
Nope nope. Those gears aren't freely rotating.
The planthopper has these gears to help coordinate its legs for jumping but they don't freely rotate. It's more like a wind up toy. The gears crank back to build up elastic energy and then release simultaneously to have both legs extend at the same time for a perfect jump.
This is completely unrelated to wheels :c
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Post by Omicron on Sept 6, 2017 14:44:18 GMT
Nope nope. Those gears aren't freely rotating. The planthopper has these gears to help coordinate its legs for jumping but they don't freely rotate. It's more like a wind up toy. The gears crank back to build up elastic energy and then release simultaneously to have both legs extend at the same time for a perfect jump. This is completely unrelated to wheels :c But freely rotating gears are related to wheels though...
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Post by Atrox on Sept 6, 2017 15:20:05 GMT
Omicron But this isn't about freely rotating gears (;
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Post by Omicron on Sept 6, 2017 19:28:12 GMT
Omicron But this isn't about freely rotating gears (; I'm not sure, but I think rebeldroideka did mean freely rotating gears (or maybe he didn't, but let's not start a discussion about what he meant), but that the ones from the example just didn't weren't freely rotating.
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Post by rebeldroideka on Sept 7, 2017 19:28:02 GMT
Freely-rotating gears were my intention. I used the insect as an example because it developed the first step towards those gears.
So, what selection processes would lead to freely-rotating gears being an evolutionary advantage?
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Post by BiologicalSomething on Sept 7, 2017 20:51:02 GMT
Freely-rotating gears were my intention. I used the insect as an example because it developed the first step towards those gears. So, what selection processes would lead to freely-rotating gears being an evolutionary advantage? I'd guess that it would be a good way for jumping, or really just moving in general. A downside that I see is the amount of energy used to make the gear rotate, though. Perhaps it's too energy consuming to be viable?
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