Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-4478703-20140329232552/@comment-34326521-20141010071551

Zenoseiya wrote: If an organism has DNA then that organism is made of macromolecules composed of Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorous and Sulfur. All of that is matter. That organism cannot be considered a sound wave because sound waves are not matter.

Sonorosians are made of sound waves, not matter like we are. Thus, they cannot have any organic macromolecules that we have because those are matter. If sonorosians did have those then they could not also be made of sound waves because sound waves and matter are two different things.

Thus, whatever genetic information sonorosians use is not DNA.

You're conflating living sound waves with the regular kind once again. Who's to say the "living" part doesn't mean they have some material form? As far as we know, matter (by which I mean all kinds of matter - antimatter, regular matter, dark matter, and so on) and energy (electromagnetic waves, dark energy, and so on) are the only two possible configurations of "things" in the Universe. Since energy is not physical, and therefore cannot contain genetic information, the only other possibility is that Echo Echo has some kind of material form.

Zenoseiya wrote: Yes, but only in Earth-like conditions and not those that would be hostile to carbon macromolecules, such as high temperatures or radiation.

Uh... Given that Pyros is a sun, and suns are giant balls of plasma, Pyronites shouldn't even exist.

Zenoseiya wrote: While carbon-based life would probably predominate on worlds with Earth-like conditions, it is highly unlikely that aliens would use deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) in particular to store their genetic information. Scientists have created completely new nucleic acids in laboratories that can fulfill the same functions, so it stands to reason aliens would use different nucleic acids than we do since they originated independently of us.

My point was that those nucleic acids wouldn't have the same potential for information storage. Like I said, DNA has limitless potential for that. Given that, within the same alien species, individuals aren't as closely related as humans are to one another. Remember the Tachyon Cannon incident?

Zenoseiya wrote: It was an example I thought up when I wrote it.

OK.

Zenoseiya wrote: Thus, aliens with body temperatures above that cannot possibly use DNA.

Sure. However, unless they're something akin to naked mole rats, their body temperature won't depend entirely on their environment.

Zenoseiya wrote: Strange as it may seem, candle flames do actually burn at temperatures in excess of 600 °C. You can read about here: http://www.pysanky.info/Chemistry/Candle_Flame.html

...That seems illogical. Such a temperature would sublimate ice instantly, not to mention being close to the temperature of "cold" stars (as well as actually being hotter than some incredibly cold stars).

Zenoseiya wrote: To put it simply, pyronites cannot have DNA because their body temperatures are too hot to support it. Their bodily fluids are molten rock and they are constantly on fire.

Was their internal physical makeup confirmed somewhere?