This is the Fifth episode in the storyline of "Humans-B-Gone!" You can watch it here.
Episode Summary[]
Sophodra and Rose are looking around while Gregorsa informs us of colors beyond what we can see and senses that we often neglect, such as smell. Sophodra and Rose fall through the ground from a trap that a hiver used on them and find themselves in a dangerous situation. They encounter a group of hivers who have been hiding their scent and are now exposed. Sophodra catches them off with a venus flytrap gun and encounters Vera, who she chases through a neighboring chamber in a chase scene. Vera takes a gun, climbs up Sophodra and shoot her, throwing her to the ground in pain. Vera takes this time to open up Sophodra's pack and help the Hivers escape. Sophodra closes the pack, gets up and tries to catch Vera, but small pillars cut off her route and trap her. Rose summons a fungal extrusion to free Sophodra. Sophodra reels over on her side in exhaustion and Rose helps her up. Sophodra realizes Rose is skilled with machines and offers her a job at Formicosa Apex. Gregorsa describes the planet Angion and its immense plant system, Tricularia, consisting of 86 bladders orbiting Angion and held in place by a holdfast. Each bladder is the size of a small country and contains a unique ecosystem. The story has taken place in the underground portion of a bladder called Formicosa B-1, part of the Formicosa Bladder complex, where Formicosa Palace, the home of the ant queens, is located. The text then moves up to Formicosa Apex and Formicosa City, where the next class will take place.
-Gregorsa's Notes-[]
Click the number to get the info for that citation marker. There are 32 points possible.
Found at 0:03
The visible light spectrum (note you cannot see as far as infrared)[1]
It's not as simple as being able to see these colors--after all, humans who are red-green colorblind can still perceive red light, even if it doesn't look red to them.
These colors lie at opposite ends of the spectrum. Your eyes actually shut out the ultraviolet (UV) end of the spectrum--and likewise, ours shut out the red end.
3 pts if you knew about the visible spectrum.
3 pts if you knew what was visible to us.
Found at 0:04
The range of human red-green-blue color receptors[2]
By contrast, most insects have receptors for green, blue, and ultraviolet. (Our brains process these colors differently, but I have done my best to "translate" the colors that we see for our perspective here.)
This is not universally the case, however. My species cannot see color at all; and some butterflies have as many as fifteencolor receptors!
I have elected to translate "ultraviolet" as "ved," to emphasize that it is a common color to us. Likewise, I translate "red" as "ultragreen" to emphasize how uncommon it is among (insect) macrovolutes to be able to see it."
3 pts for knowing about color receptors.
3 pts for knowing about insect color receptors.
Found at 1:03
Jumping spiders like Phidippus regius have exceptional vision[3]
On the other hand, it is not uncommon for spiders to be able to see green, blue, ultraviolet, and red. In fact, as proto- cules, there is evidence that even tarantulas may be able to see these colors (blurry as their sight may be).
As macrovolutes, however, tarantulas have much in common with the other arachnids, and cannot see any colors at all.
Found at 3:58
Common bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris); close-up of bladder traps[4]
A carnivorous water plant, which captures small aquatic invertebrates in its "bladders," within which they are digested. These bladders are also home to rich microbial biomes, however.
Tricularia, fortunately, has expanded on its life-sustaining abilities, and forgotten its ability to destroy what lives inside it. Well, mostly.
Note that bladderworts normally lack "holdfasts," and this is an adaptation unique to Tricularia.
3 pts for a familiarity with bladderworts.
Found at 3:52
Arranged diatoms on microscope slide[5]
Algae with colorful silicate shells that come in a variety of shapes. In our world, giant diatoms live in an ocean at the bottom of the bladder that shares their name. When they die their corpses are pushed up, grinding together to sand after they die.
The resulting "diatomaceous earth" is actually lethal to our protocules, slicing open their exoskeletons and leaving them to bleed out. As macrovolutes, fortunately, we are able to traverse it without harm.
2 pts for knowing about diatoms.
1 pt for knowing about diatomaceous earth.
Found at 3:55
Saline Lake at Ras Mohamed National Park[6]
-Our World-[]
Found at 2:58
Rose being brushed by her sundews after issuing a command
Our machines respond to "verbal" (pheromone) commands. There are the loud ones, such as when Rose called on her console to brush her for her morning routine. There are also the whispered ones, seen when Rose holds her pedipalps close to the fungal interface. In this proximity, commands can be given much more quickly, and in greater detail. (An insect would use their antennae for this.)
Arachnid engineers are rare--both due to a general lack of interest in plants, and a general presence of discouragement from insects. I'll admit I could have done better here, myself.
3 pts if you remembered Rose's console command.
Found at 4:04
Some of Tricularia's 86 bladders
Because of the small size of the bladders, there is no gravity (or at least, so little gravity as to be virtually nil) apart from the gravity-like effects of the Unknown Nature. If not for the bladder walls, all oxygen would escape into space! The bladders also circulate air, creating wind currents by "breathing."
Found at 4:04
Rose in the Arachnid Nest of B-1
B-2 is similarly populated. The farther down you go down the bladder complex, however, the more populated by ants, to the point that Palace is strictly ants only.
Like the lowest levels of ant nests in your world, Formicosa Palace is where the ants keep their nurseries and their queens, Queen Beloka and Queen Orrha...or, just "Beloka" and "Orrha," as the ants call them.
After all, what title could be befitting of a god?"Secret" Quote[]
The end quote shows up very quickly for a brief moment, to reveal it Click "Reveal"
Sources for the Episode[]
Each episode has sources that are listed at the end of the episode, click "Sources" to show all the sources at the end of the episode.
- revereche (https://physics.stackexchange.com/users/264732/revereche), What determines whether colors you can't see are visible or not?, URL (version: 2022-08-17): https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/552840
- Brehm, G., Niermann, J., Jaimes Nino, L.M., Enseling, D., Jüstel, T., Axmacher, J.C., Warrant, E. and Fiedler, K. (2021), Moths are strongly attracted to ultraviolet and blue radiation. Insect Conserv Divers, 14: 188-198.
- Thompson, H. (2015, May 22). How jumping spiders see in color. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-jumping-spiders-see-color-180955368/
- Foley Saoirse, Saranathan Vinodkumar and Piel William H. 2020 The evolution of coloration and opsins in tarantulas Proc. R. Soc. B. 287: 20201688. 20201688.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "bladderwort". Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date, https://www.britannica.com/plant/bladderwort. Accessed 1 February 2023.
- Spaulding et al. 2021. Diatoms.org: supporting taxonomists, connecting communities. Diatom Research 36(4): 291-304.
- Bunch, T. R.; Bond, C.; Buhl, K.; Stone, D. 2013. Diatomaceous Earth General Fact Sheet; National Pesticide Information Center, Oregon State University Extension Services. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html.
- Hammer, U. T. (1986). Saline Lake Ecosystems of the World. Springer. pp. 14–15. ISBN 90-6193-535-0. Retrieved 5 June 2020.