Episode 1: Xenogenesis - Dawn: I. Womb

Show Notes

Richard and Michael discuss the chapters 1 and 2, the introduction to the series, the main character Lilith and her story of meeting with the alien race.

Timestamps

00:00:38 - Introduction to the XenoThesis and the book
00:05:11 - Introduction of the author
00:08:43 - Introduction to the Chapter 1
00:13:00 - Lilith’s name
00:17:00 - Lilith’s past - what caused her to end up where she was
00:18:05 - Relationship with the young boy Sharad, discussion on the isolation effect on humans
00:19:40 - Suspended sleep
00:23:20 - Non-velcro, Velcro clothes [1]
00:25:33 - Discussion on the material science (and sport)
00:29:33 - PREDICTIONS OF CHAPTER 2

00:31:49 - Introduction to the Chapter 2
00:36:11 - War in nature [2]
00:40:10 - 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm [3, 4]
00:43:00 - Michael forgets Jdahya’s name yet again…
00:45:00 - Introduction to the Chapter 2 finished
00:45:20 - Discussion on the biology of Jdahya’s hair (sensory organs)
00:47:00 - Bristol Zoo lions
00:48:20 - Disfigurement and negative reaction [5. 6], pareidolia
00:50:13 - Jdahya’s sensory organs [8, 9, 10]
00:55:53 - Mantis shrimp eyesight
00:56:30 - Central nervous system [12. 13]
01:01:10 - Michael’s wish to meet aliens, if it is possible
01:01:35 - Start of speculation on alien biology
01:01:48 - Primal soup experiment [14]
01:03:50 - Common ancestry and biochemistry
01:04:28 - Chirality of molecules [15, 16] and compatibility with aliens
01:16:49 - PREDICTIONS OF CHAPTER 3
01:19:42 - Outro

References

Graphene and carbon nanotubes:

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13450 - review on carbon nanotubes used to attach heavy objects. I could not find the specific video that I was referencing and I said graphene instead of carbon nanotubes, but this paper corrects and explains it quite well //Michael

Ant colonies:

[2] https://youtu.be/7_e0CA_nhaE - This video by fantastic Youtube channel, Kurzgesagt is probably the best and most detailed source of information on the discussed topic.

Nuclear weapons:

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident - Wikipedia article on the Soviet nuclear false alarm
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents - List of military nuclear accidents since 1942.

Pareidolia and disfigurement:

[5] https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/07/why-facial-disfigurements-creep-us-out# - Science short article discussing why we stare at disfigurement
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley - A theory describing why we experience the feeling of “eeriness” and “revulsion” when encountering disfigurement
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia - process of recognizing faces where there are none

Gastropods:

[8] http://molluscs.at/gastropoda/index.html?/gastropoda/morphology/tentacles.html - basic information on the gastropod morphology
[9] http://libgen.bban.top/book/15288520/c9ba91 - A review from 1983 providing a more detailed information about the gastropod chemoreceptors (Croll R. P, “Gastropod Chemoreception”, Biological Reviews, 1983, 58, pp 293-319)
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3172592/ - Star Nosed Moles - a review detailing the structure and morphology of the star nose mole and the Eimer’s organs on the surface.

Mantis shrimp: