[IN THE NEWS] Plant-Animal Hybrid

Ever wish you didn't need to eat? Well, there is a Sea Slug that can do just that thanks to its ancestors stealing plant DNA allowing them to create genes necessary to make green chlorophyll pigment. They then steal chloroplasts from algae they eat to conduct photosynthesis.

LiveScience.com wrote: [link]

"The sea slugs live in salt marshes in New England and Canada. In addition to burglarizing the genes needed to make the green pigment chlorophyll, the slugs also steal tiny cell parts called chloroplasts, which they use to conduct photosynthesis. The chloroplasts use the chlorophyl to convert sunlight into energy, just as plants do, eliminating the need to eat food to gain energy.

"We collect them and we keep them in aquaria for months," Pierce said. "As long as we shine a light on them for 12 hours a day, they can survive [without food]."

Something like this has to have been toyed around with at some point in the AtB setting. A few years ago I did write up an adventure called "The Green Death" which involved a symbiotic plant that dominated it's human and animal hosts, but this concept opens up a whole new dimension of possibilities.

Here's a little mutation package you could add to your game:

Animal Photosynthesis Package

BIO-E Cost: 25
Appearance: This mutant's skin and hair/fur/feathers/scales now have a dark green pigment from the natural chlorophyll.
Power: With exposure to light, the character's natural chlorophyll and chloroplasts needed to convert sunlight into energy and reducing, or alleviating, the character's need to eat depending on the character's level of activity.
NOTE: A majority of the character's body must be exposed to sunlight for this power to be affective. Clothing reduces the effecivness of this power dramitically.

ANT Vehicles

I'd really love to find some of these vehicles in working order in AtB.



More info and graphics at: http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/12/21/united-nations-goes-ant/

Moving

I'm in the process of moving to my new house, so I'm not going to be around much to reply to emails or post anything new until I'm settled in. The nice thing is, I'm planning on designating one area as my AtB work-zone; absent all the other clutter that tends to distract me from brainstorming.

Hopefully I can start posting new stuff by the end of the month.

[IN THE NEWS] Fanged Frogs

Not too long ago, I wrote an article on a new AtB creature I called the Viper Frog. Well, as it would turn out, scientists have discover fanged frogs in Thailand:

Fanged Frog and Other Bizarre Species Discovered [livescience.com]

A bird-eating frog with fangs, an alien gecko equipped with orange eyes and technicolor skin, and a flightless bird are among the 163 newly identified species discovered in Southeast Asia last year...

Bird-eating fanged frog (Limnonectes megastomias): An opportunistic eater, this frog lies in wait for its prey in streams in Thailand. Males of the species use their fangs for male-to-male combat, as scientists have seen frogs with missing limbs and multiple scars.

And this wasn't the first fanged frog found recently. Another species was found in New Guinea:

Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea [guardian.co.uk]

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

So, it is possible that the Viper Frog could have evolved in nature. Funny how science fiction always seems to be one step ahead.

Chinchilli Day

I saw this promo for Las Vegas, and thought, "Hey, that sounds like a great idea for an Road Hogs game." Decide for yourself.