Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 2074

I just thought of this. Not that it's bound to, but what if? Could it be possible to survive?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3735

we eat the vegetarians...

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Denver
Posts: 20219

No.

-m

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: wookin pa nub
Posts: 10883

Are algae plants?

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Registered: Mar 2007
Location: Devil's Lake
Posts: 394

quote:

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Originally posted by Pianomahnn
I just thought of this. Not that it's bound to, but what if? Could it be possible to survive?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13962

Without the plants, we would die. Plants are what creates the oxygen on Earth. And there ain't enough animals to feed us besides.

Next topic, please.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 2074

Manufactured oxygen?

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Shaolin, China
Posts: 11840

Plants don't create oxygen; they break down CO2.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13962

quote:

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Originally posted by Aydin
Plants don't create oxygen; they break down CO2.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: Shaolin, China
Posts: 11840

My point was that there is a finite amount of oxygen, with or without plants.
Some other method of using solar energy is not implausible.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: In a Blue, Blue State
Posts: 13962

Yes, there would still be some oxygen without the plants, but probably not enough for us to breathe even if we did find an alternative food source (Soylent Green!).

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Sedona, Arizona
Posts: 19476

I could not make a sammich.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 8253

Almost happened.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location:
Posts: 8253

And I believe this would be the result.

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Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Oceanside, CA
Posts: 5223

They're not only the source of most atmospheric oxygen, they're also the basic source of dietary energy, if I remember. They create glucose from CO2, H2O, and sunlight.

Thus, the waste products of cellular metabolism are rebuilt into its fuel by the harnessing of sunlight. I don't know much ecology, but to the best of my knowledge they are the only organisms that can act as that source of basic metabolic fuel. I guess the stuff that lives in the deep sea, around hydrothermal vents, can do it with thermal/chemical energy rather than sunlight.

So even if we could synthesize gaseous oxygen from other chemicals, we still have the problem of running out of food. We'd have to come up with in vitro photosynthesis, or find some way of obtaining or engineering bacteria to do it for us.

__________________

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Registered: Dec 2002
Location:
Posts: 17011

As discussed in the previous thread which you linked, TWOOP, there exist mechanisms in natural systems for genetic exchange across species lines. For that matter there are found, in most genomes, stretches of intron DNA which appear to code for no known expression products in the cellular mechanisms of the organism. Yet in recent years with the genomic characterization of an ever-increasing pool of diverse organisms, computer based scans of intronic material have found entire gene sequences and gene complexes that need only a triggering event for expression to occur. Plant genes in animal genomes, bacterial genes in plants and animals, animal genes in plants.

Again, I believe that GMO's ought properly be tested and examined very, very, VERY thoroughly before any contemplated release into the open biosphere. I do know whereof I speak, having spent 4 years in the early 90's working daily with the running of the world's first commercially successful gene sequencing laboratory, and having been an active participant in the development of the original FDA protocol for the verification and quality assurance of genetic therapy trials.

As with any technology, genetic manipulation techniques are known science, they are at the cutting edge of biology, and they offer enormous potentials for both good and ill. The genie is well and truly out of that bottle, and the only thing I can envisage which might re-bottle it is a catastrophic destruction of all of technological civilization.

Last edited by SimpleSimon on 05-16-2007 at 09:30 AM

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Registered: Dec 2006
Location: In an apartment
Posts: 1930

Wow, I feel alot smarter all of a sudden. THE ASYLUM IS A GOOD INFLUENCE!

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: europa
Posts: 11203

i bet your tits grew a bit after reading that.

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Registered: Dec 2006
Location: In an apartment
Posts: 1930

Quit reffering to me as a 'bimbo with big tits' already I R SMRT OK!

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: europa
Posts: 11203

why i'd never say such a thing.

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Registered: Jul 2005
Location: different
Posts: 5475

yet if all humans die, plants can continue to live. or the animals. strange, i wonder if that knowledge may lead us to anywhere.

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: wookin pa nub
Posts: 10883

quote:

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Originally posted by jazebelle
Quit reffering to me as a 'bimbo with big tits' already I R SMRT OK!

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Registered: Apr 2005
Location: wookin pa nub
Posts: 10883

quote:

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Originally posted by PNG
yet if all humans die, plants can continue to live. or the animals. strange, i wonder if that knowledge may lead us to anywhere.

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: USA
Posts: 25754

quote:

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Originally posted by billgerat
Without the plants, we would die. Plants are what creates the oxygen on Earth. And there ain't enough animals to feed us besides.

Next topic, please.

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