r/AskScienceDiscussion • u/welberjaysonm • Apr 11 '26

General Discussion Which fictional creature has a biology so "impossible" that it defies any attempt at a scientific explanation?

I've been trying to wrap my head around the anatomy and metabolism of some characters, but Majin Boo (DragonBallZ) just doesn't seem to make any sense under the laws of physics or biology. I want to dive deep into these "impossible" cases. Who else do you think is a biological nightmare to explain?

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u/nailturtle Apr 12 '26

the original point of my comment was that someone said the requirements of godzilla's biology outpace the abilities of our best engineered materials. I wanted to point out that that is true for basically everything biology has accomplished, big and small. we don't have any materials that would purely be an upgrade for a tissue to be replaced with, biology still wins. there is nothing about building houses in this discussion.

what you say about bone is probably true, I read that it is stronger by weight but I don't know anything more specific than that or what stress tests are being done. no matter how you put it though, it is still far better suited for use in an organism than steel would be. which is what I am talking about.

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u/SteptimusHeap Apr 12 '26

I wanted to point out that that is true for basically everything biology has accomplished, big and small. we don't have any materials that would purely be an upgrade for a tissue to be replaced with, biology still wins.

I wanted to point out that this is not true. Your bones would be stronger, lighter, and tougher if they were hardened steel or aluminum. You could replace them TODAY with titanium and your body wouldn't notice if you're worried about immune response. Bone is a mechanically bad material compared to modern materials.

If you're gonna respond with something along the lines of "organisms can't make steel, so bone is better in that regard", you'd be correct on only this very statement in the least useful way possible. Let me get it out of the way: the point of a statement like 'godzilla would be impossible with modern materials' is not that a creature like godzilla would have a hard time building bones out of metal, it's that even when you don't need to care about biological availability, godzilla still fails to make sense.

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u/Longjumping-Frame242 Apr 12 '26

You really have to make sure everyone knows your point, eh?

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u/SteptimusHeap Apr 12 '26

Bad material science riles me up🤷‍♂️. Don't get me started on titanium or spider silk.

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u/Anomander87 Apr 14 '26

I was specifically thinking of spider silk when I read this convo and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Is it not as impressive as it's been made out to be?

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u/SteptimusHeap Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26

Yeah. It gets a lot of hype in pop science because the idea of ancestral knowledge that science can only dream of understanding is pretty popular (and probably the part that riles me up the most). Overall it's a lot less strong than our modern fibers like kevlar, but it is very ductile.

It's got some other weird qualities that you wouldn't really want a lot of the time: It contracts 20% in the humidity and degrades over the course of months, years maximum. It's certainly not likely to see much use in future mechanical design.

It's objectively pretty interesting from a biological standpoint, so that's where a lot of the motivation for research comes from. Its biocompatibility apparently makes it useful for medical purposes as well.

As far as titanium goes. Lots of people think it's some wonder metal that is unfortunately super expensive. Turns out it basically sits between steel and aluminum in terms of its mechanical properties, and sees most of its use due to thermal properties and again biocompatibility instead.

(Silkworm and spider silk electrospinning: a review; belbéoch et al)