Ragitsu Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Asides from the obvious (the fauna/flora provides no sustenance at all, is poisonous, is disease-ridden, etc), what could some "interesting" side effects of humans eating alien lifeforms be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? Over the long term, vitamin or protein deficiencies seem most likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? I can think of a few that would get me chased off the forum.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? How about cosmetic differences, like turning one's gums/inside of the mouth/tongue a different color? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kraven Kor Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? First off, nearly any 'alien' flora or fauna will (I'm 99.999% certain on this) contain bacteria or other microbes that will be hazardous or fatal to the imbiber. You kind of mentioned this, but it is the most important piece of information to know. As for "interesting" side effects, it depends on how realistic you want to be. Realistic interesting side effects would be (aside from sickness and/or death) things like 1. Hallucinations or other psychoactive effects (are these mushrooms edible? *munch*munch*munch*... Hey... why is my head plaid?) - I think this is likely one you can really have a blast with. 2. Allergic reactions of the minor / comical nature 3. Inadvertently Starting an Intergalactic War ("These weird little mushrooms are DELICIOUS" "THOSE AREN'T MUSHROOMS THOSE ARE MY BABIES YOU MONSTER!") 4. Viral DNA alteration - no, not at all realistic I suppose, but still a fun thought. Party eats the space cow, turns into blue avatar people. If it just gives you cancer, it is kind of covered by the obvious "sickness and/or death" result. 5. Symbiotic Organisms - realistic or no, comical or SERIOUS, your choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nevenall Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? here's a non-dangerous strange effect maybe from non-alien stuff http://www.hyam.net/blog/archives/60 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? the stuff starts growing in your digestive tract Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? First off, nearly any 'alien' flora or fauna will (I'm 99.999% certain on this) contain bacteria or other microbes that will be hazardous or fatal to the imbiber. You kind of mentioned this, but it is the most important piece of information to know. I'm sorry I have to disagree about this one. Just like we will be unlikely to eat Alien lifeforms and get sustenance from it, Alien Bacteria and or Virii probably won't be able to live on us. It really depends on how different our chemistry is to one another. I highly doubt that we will have to initially worry about any alien infections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? I'm sorry I have to disagree about this one. Just like we will be unlikely to eat Alien lifeforms and get sustenance from it' date=' Alien Bacteria and or Virii probably won't be able to live on us. It really depends on how different our chemistry is to one another. I highly doubt that we will have to initially worry about any alien infections.[/quote']some life forms are "primary consumers" which can feed on basic chemicals that will exist in a large nuymber of exosystems. These are likely to be very small, and probably require something like an external power source like photosynthesis to help out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amanojaku Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? Has anyone ever eaten any of those unique lifeforms that grow at the bottom of the ocean near the "black smokers" and have radically different biochemistry and such that most lifeforms because they operate mostly off of a hydrogen sulfide powered, thermo and chemosynthesis based ecosystem? Those things are as close to "alien" as you get now, I wonder if they're consumable by "normal" based lifeforms? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_smoker#Black_smokers_and_white_smokers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? I kinda figure the assumption is "if it's close enough for us to think it's edible, it might be close enough for the micro-organisims to hurt us", but I digress before I start. You can postulate a lot of interesting syndromes caused by unknown environmental influences effecting abnormal glandular activity. Might look at various types of heavy metal toxic buildups for some ideas. Arsenic, Lead, & Mercury, to pick three off the top of my head all cause some weird alteration of appearance and physiology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? Something to possibly consider are "knock-on effects". Indirect things, basically. Could be stuff that does not affect "you" as such but might, for example, have a radical (and unusual) effect on your gut flora. 'Montezuma's Revenge' is the classic result when Bad Stuff happens there. But, hypothetically, what if there was some other dramatic effect - eg. a super-fertilizer for your gut's ecosystem. If you want to be funny, could mean epic-level flatulance, but could also get really really nasty. Another indirect possibility is that of how the body might react - not to the organism itself but what it eats and excretes. A microrganism or parasite that gobbles up basics like Iron or Salt in vast amounts could be worrying (if unlikely), but what it excretes (however briefly) could also be a problem. Possibly triggering allergic reactions or other such joys (think the weirder stuff seen in 'House'). Plus, there is the likelihood of the alien whatsit having a strange reaction to "us" as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Weapon Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? I kinda figure the assumption is "if it's close enough for us to think it's edible, it might be close enough for the micro-organisims to hurt us", but I digress before I start. You can postulate a lot of interesting syndromes caused by unknown environmental influences effecting abnormal glandular activity. Might look at various types of heavy metal toxic buildups for some ideas. Arsenic, Lead, & Mercury, to pick three off the top of my head all cause some weird alteration of appearance and physiology. We're close enough to snakes to think they're edible, almost none of their diseases affect us. Ditto wheat, jellyfish, even most chimpanzee diseases don't cross over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egyptoid Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? mind trips, hallucinations, altered states of consciousness. (tripping) and since the human body might not break down the alien molecules the same as earth food, the trip might take DAYS to get over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? I figure you can just listen to the side-effects disclaimer in any TV commercial for a prescription drug and pick from that list. "Side effects may include memory loss, itchy rashes, confusion, memory loss, dizziness, memory loss, episodes of walking or driving while sleeping and not remembering the event afterward, confusion, increased blood pressure, memory loss... uh... did I mention memory loss? Oh, and consult your physician if you have an erection lasting more than-- wait a minute! Oh, dear God...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? Find out the animal you hunted and ate was psychicly active, and spend the rest of your life haunted by its psi ghost. (sufficiently weird to not be covered by 'sickness') Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alverant Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? First off' date=' nearly any 'alien' flora or fauna will (I'm 99.999% certain on this) contain bacteria or other microbes that will be hazardous or fatal to the imbiber.[/quote'] Why? Experiments and research appear to indicate the basic amino acids used for life on Earth can occur on other worlds. And with proteins being made from amino acids, there's no reason to assume that any alien food would automatically be of 0 nutritional value to humans. As for the bacteria, I'm inclined to think that with amino acids and DNA evolving in other parts of the universe, any illness would be like the ones we have on Earth and would be fought in the same way. That's not to say it's impossible that a microbe would evolve in such a way that it would cut through our defenses like a hot knife through butter, but to assume that it automatically will is a bit much IMHO. That being said, it may not be the food itself but stuff on the food like spores on the underside of a leaf. Or the plant matter might be too fiberous like eating a tree branch or have sharp bits (think the kernels of corn after being popped). We eat a lot of plant seeds, what if the seed survived being through the digestive system and starts growing in the sewers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? We eat a lot of plant seeds' date=' what if the seed survived being through the digestive system and starts growing in the sewers?[/quote'] Or worse, it starts growing BEFORE getting to said sewers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 Re: Side effects of eating alien fauna and flora? (think the weirder stuff seen in 'House')I was going to say exactly this. If you want story-elements from the consumption of alien bacteria' date=' the TV show [i']House [/i]is a great place to go for some of the weirder potential side effects -- like the radical personality changes from brain lesions or chemistry alterations, or that woman who couldn't sleep who turned out to be infected by the Plague. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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