Strange New Worlds: Una's trial

[stryke]

I wasn't a fan of this one though dang if the Lower Decks crossover didn't significantly improve it in retrospect by way of a pin up poster.

[TGLS]

2. Illyrians primarily just "biofrom" themselves to be able to do things like breathe carbon dioxide (like plants) versus oxygen or whatever.

Plants don't breathe carbon dioxide; they produce sugar from water and carbon dioxide during the day, and breath oxygen day and night. They just produce oxygen at a much faster rate, which makes sense given plants don't move much.

[clearspira]

2. Illyrians primarily just "biofrom" themselves to be able to do things like breathe carbon dioxide (like plants) versus oxygen or whatever.

Plants don't breathe carbon dioxide; they produce sugar from water and carbon dioxide during the day, and breath oxygen day and night. They just produce oxygen at a much faster rate, which makes sense given plants don't move much.

What I've always wondered is, ''how does a plant breathe?''

[TGLS]

2. Illyrians primarily just "biofrom" themselves to be able to do things like breathe carbon dioxide (like plants) versus oxygen or whatever.

Plants don't breathe carbon dioxide; they produce sugar from water and carbon dioxide during the day, and breath oxygen day and night. They just produce oxygen at a much faster rate, which makes sense given plants don't move much.

What I've always wondered is, ''how does a plant breathe?''

Ask and you shall receive.

The short version is: plants breath through pores on their leaves, stem, roots, etc.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

That's impossible.

[Deledrius]

I wasn't a fan of this one though dang if the Lower Decks crossover didn't significantly improve it in retrospect by way of a pin up poster.

It did. I appreciated how that moment worked in conversation with the trial.

[CharlesPhipps]

What I've always wondered is, ''how does a plant breathe?''

I could say process but then I presumed my audience was intelligent enough to understand my meaning.

[Deledrius]

This episode also highlights one of the show's oddities in its premise: having two augmented characters (Una and La'an) in the main cast. While it is at least made some use of here, it still doesn't seem like there's a good reason for it dramatically. I like both characters well enough, but it's odd to not have them directly converse on the topic here. How are they different? How are they the same? What insights do they both have from their respective experiences? It's barely touched upon in the episode ostensibly focusing on this issue.

They sort of touched on that with the light madness episode.

That's it though, they only touched on it. It's acknowledged, but what does it do for the show if this episode isn't the one where you dive deep into what it means to them both?

[Riedquat]

That's impossible.

Looking around at the number of plants about, I'd say it isn't.

Back to the point that started this the idea of breathing CO2 is rather daft. As has been pointed out plants do indeed make use of it but it's not breathing per se. What you can't do is substitute CO2 for O2, that's effectively saying you can use everything you've got left after burning fuel as fuel. You can reconstitute it and burn it again, if you've got another source of energy (which is I suppose what plants are doing, the other source of energy being sunlight), but without that? Nah. Food isn't a substitute because that relies on reacting the carbon in the food with oxygen in the air to produce energy, with CO2 as a waste product. So what do these bioforming aliens do? Grow leaves? Have a biological nuclear reactor?

[Madner Kami]

They went from a primitive people who couldn't stand up to a nearly destroyed NX-01 to these genetic supermen who put the world of Gattaca to shame.

1. I don't think primitive really describes anyone with warp travel.

Pakleds.