Creating Humanoid Alien Sci-Fi: Oxygen Trade-Offs

[Bab5space]

Scifi Humanoids by their very nature are'nt very alien. Where they compensate is how well they can interact with human characters.

However, there are internal ways to modify them.

Main question: I researched oxygen and learned that less oxygem breathed makes humans fatigued faster, while too much damages organs and causes all sorts of problems.

So I was thinking of a humanoid race, which besides looking somewhat distinct from us (their color is not natural for us) also was from a homeworld with a higher oxygen content than Earth.

That presents trade offs, since greater oxygen means...

Nonetheless I devised offsetting the fires by increasing the amount of rain.

Another trade off is giant animals and dinos, and big insects. That's the kind of life that thrives with more oxygen, since oxygen seems to increase endurance and energy levels. It also means giant trees and plants in general.

Conclusion: The alien humanoids here would be able to walk farther distances and work longer before tiring on the honeworld.

On Earth? Assuming they could still breath enough to live, they would tire quickly. More than us. They would need a breather mask to function at human levels.What do you have to add? Anything I missed? Discuss.

 

[jedishrfu]

Consider the Nepalese mountain climbers. They do some incredible feats of mountaineering and yet they are living in an oxygen poor environment. Their bodies have adapted to the environment. Lowlanders have trouble until they get acclimated but can still never quite match the Nepalese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_people

So now why can't your humanoids adapt to our environment where initially they may feel faint from the air or they have to always wear masks.

 

[Klystron]

It also means giant trees and plants in general.

Or oceans that cover more of the planet's surface with enormous mats of oxygen producing algae and floating kelp forests where the largely aquatic aliens do gyre and gymbal* among the glistening strands.

*borrowing from Charles Dodgson.

 

[Bab5space]

Consider the Nepalese mountain climbers. They do some incredible feats of mountaineering and yet they are living in an oxygen poor environment. Their bodies have adapted to the environment. Lowlanders have trouble until they get acclimated but can still never quite match the Nepalese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherpa_people

So now why can't your humanoids adapt to our environment where initially they may feel faint from the air or they have to always wear masks.

Or oceans that cover more of the planet's surface with enormous mats of oxygen producing algae and floating kelp forests where the largely aquatic aliens do gyre and gymbal* among the glistening strands.

*borrowing from Charles Dodgson.

Thanks. The reason the sherpas are like that is because their blood is thinner (has less oxygen) and can work with less.

Now I suppose maybe after breeding a few new generations on an Earth world the descendents of the humanoids might adapt naturally.

Or it may even be an engineered given possibility, since if they have the technology for jump drives and constant acceleration, it is reasonable that they also have ways to manipulate genetics to adapt if need be.The catch is that such adapted ones would be more susceptible to health problems on the the homeworld.

I am not saying the symptoms will be this bad... but maybe?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_toxicity

The eyes become more shortsighted, vertigo feelings, lung inflammation at the bodies inability to filter out the oxygen where it needs to go, even seizures.

As for their homeworld, a waterworld will not fit the story needs, nor how I want the world to look.

How it looks: Dirt is light red, and grows darker when muddy (yes mud look like our blood). The sky is blue, beaches have pink sand, and trees commonly have reddish bark and are huge.

With the frequent rains, I could have homes be elevated off the ground to cope with flooding.Or if I want things to be far more controlled, no rain at all. Just let a mist come up from the ground periodically to water the plants, and where massive fires break out eventually they would trigger water springs of water that would gush out from below the the surface to extinguish them.

Ironically mass fires and earthquakes would be the main source of flooding due to disturbing the spring network below the planet's crust.

 

[jedishrfu]

The real point of science fiction writing is to create new races and then explore their strengths and weaknesses in your stories.

In the case, of the Sherpa, they have a genetic difference from other humans where the super athlete gene has been turned on creating more hemoglobin not the thinning of blood.

Released in 2010 by UCLA at Berkeley, a study identified more than 30 genetic factors that make Tibetans' bodies well-suited for high-altitudes, including EPAS1, referred to as the "super-athlete gene" which regulates the body's production of hemoglobin,[8] allowing for greater efficiency in the use of oxygen.[9][10]

 

[Bab5space]

Strenghths and weaknesses eh?

I guess that comes with the territory.

For me scifi aliens must be distinct in their behavior from common humanity.

As far as strengths and weaknesses, my SF aliens take a concept and answer the what if question of how far they take the concept.

In several ways the aliens are more consistent in certain forms of behavior than humans, while being more intolerant in others.