Scientifically, what ARE Tribbles?

[Nikolai]

10 hours ago, 55delta said:

Just a small correction, it was Cyrano Jones, not Henry Mudd, who was selling tribbles.

As long as we're picking nits: Harry Mudd.   (Harcourt Fenton.)

I seem to remember hearing that they wanted Harry Mudd for the job, but the writer of "The Trouble with Tribbles" didn't want to take any of the glory away from the other writer who invented the character of Mudd.

[wumpus]

Presumably, they absorb their energy from plot (to grow and reproduce).  Kind of like how kerbals seem to require snacks, but somehow the amount of snacks for a trip of arbitrary length take up no more mass then a simple test on the launch pad.

* I've read about creatures born pregnant (apparently aphids are).  It's hardly unprecedented (google also claims it happens in humans roughly 1/500,000 times with at least one documented case).

[Nuke]

7 hours ago, Drethon said:

One nitpick, I don't think replicators were in standard use in TOS time period.  So they had to have food storage somewhere.

i think the tos had food synthesizers. same idea but less special effects. i believe later on in the animated series, the were called replicators. they had a lot of stuff on the animated series you would later see in tng. the animated series was pretty good if you could ignore the cartoon cheesiness.

[WinkAllKerb'']

8 ideo-phono-pictogramms together, usually & scientifically that's a word
aside the theory aspect, tecnically & basically many things can be done with words ,'') prolly something like that

Edited November 5, 2016 by WinkAllKerb''

[Jonfliesgoats]

So I had to rewatch the Tribbles episode specifically.  The Tribbles at food stores, so independent of replicators, the vessel was required to carry some organic material, and that organic material was consumed by Tribbles.

Another thought about fur: electroreception?  In some fish this done with altered lateral lines.  What about hair follicles that are sensitive and small charges in the fur.  The fur would move slightly around electrical fields.  This also implies that Tribbles are predatory.

[KerikBalm]

On 11/3/2016 at 11:44 PM, Dman979 said:

I wonder if (when?) we discover alien life, how we'll classify it? Plants, Bacteria, Protists, Fungi, Animals, Aliens? Or would they go under of of the 5 categories becuase they share some characteristics? And what would that say about us?

Laymen may use those terms, but scientifically, they certainly won't be called plants/animals/fungi/bacteria (you forgot archea, which used to be considered a type of bacteria but are now known to be distinct from bacteria). At most you'll see terms like "plant-like" and "animal-like".

Unless... we found like within our solar system that shared a common origin with Earth life through some limited form of panspermia... in which case you might see some "alien life" that is classified as a Eubacteria or Archea... but then that life wouldn't be so "alien" after all.

[Scotius]

2 hours ago, Jonfliesgoats said:

So I had to rewatch the Tribbles episode specifically.  The Tribbles at food stores, so independent of replicators, the vessel was required to carry some organic material, and that organic material was consumed by Tribbles.

Another thought about fur: electroreception?  In some fish this done with altered lateral lines.  What about hair follicles that are sensitive and small charges in the fur.  The fur would move slightly around electrical fields.  This also implies that Tribbles are predatory.

Interesting question. But no, rather than predatory, they would be a prey species well equipped for survival. With specialised sensory organs triggering defensive behaviour when triggered - for example release of pheromones, that anti-Klingon shriek, or maybe burrowing behaviour?

[LordFerret]

Clearly they're related to ferrets... slower lazy cousins... without teeth.

[KamenRiderzero1]

The Tribble, or Polygeminus grex, is thought to come from a planet who's native fauna gobble them up like a 20 piece McNuggets and that the "Born pregnant" survival method seems to have evolved as P.grex's last dich method of survival in that environment. take them out of it and it's about as useful to its well being as claws on a housecat.