#Alien Bispheres

[thygoddessouijathicc]

Learning About Biology Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Disclaimer, I’m not saying that this makes you an expert, or is any substitute for school and furthering your education on biology but it is a simple and fun way to learn difficult concepts that feel out of reach.

While school is always helpful for learning science and you learn many great things, for instance just this year I found out finally how organs work (I am unsure if I’m better or worse for knowing how digestion works, I know it’s a natural process but knowing my food is turning to bolus in my mouth feels like cursed knowledge), sometimes the way it’s taught just doesn’t register. There are many different ways of learning topics and it all depends on your learning style, interests, education, and what you like to do.

What works for me may not work for you, and even if it does you still need school if you want a full understanding, this is just a fun way to learn about evolution.

Now with that aside, let me explain what the hell I’m actually talking about.

As a young child I’d always had an extreme interest in zoology, evolution and fantasy, which of course led me to the very interesting niche type of fiction known as speculative zoology/biology.

What that is, for those who don’t know, is when a writer creates biologically feasible creatures using evolution as a framework, some famous examples of this are C.M. Kosemen’s “All Tomorrows”, the game “Subnautica” and Dougal Dixon’s “Man After Man”. Those stories are pretty specifically dedicated to only speculative biology and not so much plot although there usually is one especially in All Tommorows and Subnautica. I’m sure a lot of you reading this will know at least one of those works.

However, while those projects will teach you biology, and lots of it, they’re more about the results than the process, and they’re also not what I’m talking about.

There is a series on YouTube known as “Alien Biospheres” by the creator Biblaridion. While I would say I learned a lot of things from a lot of places, some things from random videos about animals, some from school, some from really liking spore as a little kid because my parents introduced me to it, some from speculative biology projects like the previously mentioned ones, I’d actually attribute most of my biological knowledge to the series.

Alien Biospheres takes you on a journey as the creator creates an ecosystem from the ground up, starting in a collaborative video with another great science creator, Artifexian (who you should also very much watch) with creating the alien planet itself. From that point on, starting with single celled organisms, he creates a world populated with hundreds of creatures that all seem very possible and interesting. As he goes, he explains the concepts and principles guiding evolution, and how each trait could evolve from what is already there.

You’ll learn about atmospheres, body plans, how flying works, the square cube law, and many other important factors to biology, all presented with the framework of building a creative and unique feeling world. For me, this was always the perfect way for it to be displayed in a way that was easily understandable, but not too oversimplified to the point you really aren’t learning anything.

His videos are the reason I can overanalyze and create theories on unexplained details of many creatures, and create my own biologically feasible (although objectively far more fantastical and unrealistic) monsters.

His videos may not work for you how they worked for me, but if you like biology, zoology, evolution, speculative biology/zoology, or fantasy creatures I would recommend at least giving his videos a try.

Again, I must say that they are a starting point and you still need an education on the topic if you want to be an expert.

However you should go out there and give it a try, Alien Biospheres helped shape my understanding of the world and it might help you too.