Alien Xenomorph Biology Explained! (Because Science w/ Kyle Hill)

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The Alien franchise has shown us many forms of aliens from facehuggers to xenomorphs, but how does it all work? Kyle bursts through with an explanation in this week's Because Science!
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Artist: Andrew Bowser
Learn more:
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• HOW THE CHESTBURSTER CAME TO BE: bit.ly/2rd3sNy

[@Erika-gn1tv]

So... will the Kyle-xenomorph have a crest of luscious golden hair?

[@filmfae]

Erika Söderlund those are majestic locks!!!

[@SNO3R]

manes like a lion or a horse! ;)

[@MrLaxinator]

More likely crest of luscious golden hammerpedes.

[@Haulinkin]

MrLaxinator Like a kickass Medusa!

[@Haulinkin]

MrLaxinator Like a kickass Medusa!

[@topheye6318]

Life, uh... finds a way.

[@Its_Dino]

hell yes

[@osprei5347]

Fuq ye um... brav

[@scottpeltier3977]

Nanomachines son

[@fairwarning007]

“Now surely you have ah-ah aliens in your alien movie right? Hello? Yes?!” - Ian Malcolm watching Prometheus

[@anevilscientist]

"the first alien you meet looks like a vagina snake and the first thing you do is remove your helmet? nah dude, you're just bad at your job."

[@frankensteinscreature5078]

I can confirm this, I am a Xenomorphology major.

[@wolfgang7812]

What???🤣

[@gunillagillette1249]

That needs to be a real job

[@xenomorphbiologist-xx1214]

Same here

[@ayushchatterjee5525]

I can as well, I'm a Xenomorph with human pfp.

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

"In space, no one can hear you science."

[@ikmnification5737]

We're having the same problem on earth right now.

[@slipknotboy555]

IKMNification Clever, and sadly true; +1

[@Krishnath.Dragon]

You hear that noise? That's the joke flying way over your head. Seriously, we are in a period of massive enlightenment on a scale unheard of since the renaissance. We are making advances by leaps and bounds in both technology and our understanding of the universe around us. Heck, we've found thousands of planets outside of our solar system, made strides in the development of clean energy sources, including an important step towards workable fusion power, and made communication so easy that scientists from around the world can communicate with each other from their home laboratories in real time. We've even got solid plans for a settlement on another planet. So, yeah, Science is thriving.

[@slipknotboy555]

Krishnath Dragon I'm well aware. I'm talking about research into different areas going fotward. In the US (at least), there's stupid restrictions on certain things, and that list appears to be growing. There's also the further cutting of funds. And yes, I got the joke, but it had nothing to do with what I'm talking about.

[@clenogallagher1469]

"in space no one can hear you scream" sounds like something a rapist would say.

[@Nerdist]

Thumbs up for a follow-up video trying to incorporate every single xenomorph ever (Covenant and AVP included). -- KH

[@DDMco123]

Why wouldn't Ridley Scott include the scene with the scientist evolving into the xenomorph? I feel like that's an important part of explaining the genetic alteration theory. Unless he has plans for Covenant, but otherwise it makes no sense

[@JasonONungesser]

DDMco123 Time constraints?

[@holdendaugherty1760]

Nerdist what about egg morphing

[@maxx21285]

Problem with Prometheus is that, afaik, the whole production has shifted during the shots... first it should have been a stand-alone project, than they decided to make an alien prequel, than they thought to make it "slightly" connected to alien and then they went full prequel. Too bad a lot of vague stuff was already shot... the xeno/zombie Fifield could be a proof of exactly that, with the "zombie" being more generic.

[@suspiciousninja7111]

Hey, Yall should do a video on what would happen if ALL the missals and nukes went in the air like on X men Apocalypse. isnt their debris outside out atmosphere or something? What about the fallout if they explode in space?

[@josephlipari01]

1:32 "You're tired of having good dreams right?" I mean, I WAS about to sleep, but hell, nightmares can be fun so HELL YEAH.

[@ejeoesepehe4751]

As far as I was aware, the resulting Xenomorph from a Facehugger was because the facehugger adapted the biology of the host with it's own, therefore creating the Xenomorph. As well as this the black goo was an early development of the adapting genome. Basically, David created the Xenomorphs and the goo wasn't really part of the modern Xeno life cycle, as a Queen lays eggs independently and doesn't require a mate, and once the Queen dies, a Praetorian will malt into a Queen. The cycle goes : Queen Egg Host Chestburster Xenomorph or any other form REPEAT. If you want the facts go to Viral Killer or Alien Theory

[@yoshijb9428]

Molt bro molt. not malt. Lol

[@ejeoesepehe4751]

@@yoshijb9428 bro i have no recollection of writing that

[@bigdojacoom8999]

Queen xeno= egg = facehugger + human = xenomorph

[@nebulaarc7478]

Drop kick Clan I thought it was Royal Facehugger.

[@WarhammerGeek]

Queen or drone (through eggmorphing)= egg (with facehugger) + any viable animal (doesn't have to be human) = xenomorph

[@robertogurrola7465]

WarhammerGeek14 human=xenomorph/neomorph, different host equals different alien

[@akuma-5335]

Drop kick Clan exactly

[@OBSV449]

The Bio-Weapon infected the plant life of the planet in Covenant, and spores released into the host. It then releases the neomorph.

[@justafidemyself]

I'm a simple man, I see Xenomorph & Kyle Hill & I click like.

[@Nerdist]

I'll allow it. -- KH

[@smoughornstein421]

Cedric Mathew Hudson very original

[@dareblackstar]

could you do a video on the yautja biology

[@KalijahAnderson]

TheBanditFox Yes please

[@ShortSight32]

Yautja are overrated

[@eradict]

@@ShortSight32 no u

[@aliengoboom]

Nice 👍 I like how deep you go into the Alien universe, you may should try out the world's strongest acid in one of your upcoming videos.

[@ShotgunLlama]

_Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal..._

[@quiegle7055]

Space balls

[@katherinewhite210]

"Oh no, not again!"

[@thestonedsith7590]

smokeadakush

[@musclebird9761]

John hurt played the chestburster host in Alien and the guy that had the "special" in space balls

[@bartolomedeavila7372]

ShotgunLlama CHECK PLEASE!!!

[@AgeTemplar]

Ze gOo!

[@sebastianrivera6976]

So annoying!

[@sagegaiden]

Sebastian Rivera I almost cut it off. shit was so annoying after the 2nd time, stopped being funny the 1st time.

[@sebastianrivera6976]

So true!

[@sagegaiden]

Sebastian Rivera was about to unsub, lol.

[@AgeTemplar]

Tough crowd.

[@WaddIes]

I actually always liked the complicated cycle they added, it gave a whole new look on how the original aliens came to be

[@twistedyogert]

Given how diversified life on Earth is. Life out in the cosmos would probably be just as crazy.

[@hillaryclintonsracistkaras1720]

*Kyle is incorrect - Xenomorphs don't mate - nor do they need to. The films, comics, novels, etc reveal that Facehuggers can alter their embryos to become Queens - and a Drone can actually alter its DNA to become a Queen, when none is present. Human hosts can also be captured and can be turned into eggs. There is no sex within the Xenomorph species. Kyle needs to do his homework.*

[@ryanswafford3681]

The entire purpose of mating is to get genetic diversity. They get that from the host. Thus, they have no need for mating or even sexes. The "queen" is just laying barely conscious, intermediate delivery organisms.

[@aracelimorareyes5168]

Agree!

[@thequeeninblack4390]

You are wrong about the drone to queen dnd thing, The Drone needs to evolve into a warrioe and then a praetorian and praetorians can become queen if there is none and when i praetorian molds into a queen that dna strain i locked and makes unavalible to other preatorians until the queen dies

[@bagelbramble7335]

Cool but why did you put asterisks on the start and end?

[@ZoologyFan2023]

Dude, calm down. The movies has THAT many plot holes. Also facehuggers are cute. :3

[@DroopyPoopy]

It has been about two days, since this episode came out and I can't stop saying "ze goo". Help...

[@Nerdist]

*The "Kyle is Wrong!" FAQ* 1. The biology in the ALIEN franchise is stupid convoluted, so this was simply my best attempt to try to fit it together. If you have a theory, share it in the comments below! And be nice about it. 2. Adding "eggmorphing" to the equation is fine. According to quotes from Ridley Scott about the cut scene from ALIEN, the human were becoming yolks and nutrients for the growing egg, and not the eggs themselves. This would imply that there is a fertilized egg ready to go before the human gets there, again, based on the original parasitoid wasp inspiration. And as I mentioned, adding a queen is fine, it just adds an extra step. But even queens need to be fertilized, like queen bees. 3. ALIEN: Covenant *does* change my theory a tad, but it doesn't outright destroy it. We saw it, it's weird, but no spoilers here. 4. The dog xeno would also be the result of horizontal gene transfer, but it didn't really fit with the original parasitic wasp idea. That being said, horizontal gene transfer *would occur* during all xeno growth, after facehugger implantation. That's how the human xeno gets its form, which the goo gets started, because it already had human-like genes from the Engineers. Or something. 5. For everyone questioning xeno sex and mating, I am working from the original conception of the xenos, by writer Dan O'Bannon: “I saw the inhabitants of this planetoid as tough and primitive, and with an extremely complicated sexual cycle. See, these alien beings had two sexes of their own, but they needed a third host animal to reproduce. So they’d bring in an animal, put it up on the plinth with a spore and wham! Then they’d lead the inseminated animal off to an enclosure somewhere to await the birth. But the planetoid was now dead and this civilisation had been gone for a million years. All that remained of it was this pyramid and the spores - which can survive dormant for incredible lengths of time under even the most adverse conditions.” ~ Dan O’Bannon, Something Perfectly Disgusting. 6. COVENANT SPOILERS Seriously. Goo (altered by a certain character) + bugs = classic facehugger + human (and horizontal gene transfer) = classic xenomorph + xenomorph = embryo/facehugger +human = xeno etc. etc... David was messing with ze goo, which means that he changes the goo that already makes things xenomorph-like so that it simply produces something (upon interaction with a human) that makes the classic black xeno. 7. The neomorph problem fits with my explanation if the spores that produce the neomorphs are the strange forms ze goo gives to the plants it infects. Just like the trilobite from the sperm, or the hammerpede from the worm. I know what the movies say but I am trying as best I can to bring in both science (using animals we know of) and the original conception of the aliens and their lifecycle from writer Dan O'Bannon. I don't think the life cycle of the xenomorph is simply complicated, I think it's a little contradictory, and this was just my attempt at some unifying theory. Hope that helps. -- KH

[@RalphBromleyMadmanRB]

You forgot abvout how you are wrong about Alien 3, again watch the assembly cut some time

[@ThaSandwitch]

You could have just ignored that piece of shit Prometheus from the equation. Not like Ridley was the brains behind Alien.

[@8BitJesus]

Prometheus messes the whole thing up. Initially we knew of the Queen laying eggs, which obviously creates facehuggers and then onto the xenomorph form we all know and love The xenomorph takes genetic traits from the host it inhabits, so the dog alien, humanoid alien etc (especially if you go into the Expanded Universe) That's seemingly a more logical life span - I'm still not sure where the fertilisation of the Queen happens, but that's far more logical and "natural" (I know it's about aliens, but still) - Prometheus ruined that by introducing the 'black goo', jesus

[@RalphBromleyMadmanRB]

The Sandwitch Prometheus actually just plays around with its own mythology heading into the alien universe and it is entirely possible to believe that the Engineers created them

[@Xiora4]

but what about the fact that in the alien movie you can see a human being converted into an egg?

[@sheev2372]

I love the Alien franchise! The scientific concepts are the best part for me, much like in Godzilla, Classical Horror, Predator, and whatnot.

[@vervixx9272]

I love how I'm like.. okay.. just 1 more video before i go to sleep.. and i had to pick this one.. love that show >.>

[@comiumapedra5397]

Maybe a episode on Necromorphs ?

[@randomheadshot4291]

Comiumapedra xxx we need this

[@Retetop]

fucking THIS

[@JANFU_Nova]

An episode on the Dead Space monoliths and necros would be awesome.

[@chrisjimenez2192]

*ZE GOO* 😂

[@chrisjimenez2192]

LeafyIsQueerIsHere Thanks sweetie 😊

[@KokoLoko-km9ep]

😂😂😂

[@Chris-jo1zr]

It's almost as bat as Supermin and Batmin.

[@bigfckingbug10k45]

ZA

[@thepug3945]

A xenomorph doesn't mate the queen lays eggs

[@codydevine552]

The only males I know of are hiveguard/pretorian and the kings from board games

[@bryanbowen2935]

Someone had to smash it, thus impregnated. Unless asexual

[@steven7936]

something would have to impregnate it at least one time. Poor steve urkel. "did I do that"

[@xBrabus76]

Ohhhh thanks I didnt know that after seeing all movies Imma 5tupid....geez Redundancy from millenials!!

[@thepug3945]

Brabus 76 this comment is 2 years old ya spaz

[@anoncrow379]

Hello Thor

[@schyzm]

This explains the alien/predator hybrid...

[@williammiller7799]

It would also the same in Alien 3 because it incubated in the dog. I believe they even mention in the movie that its different.

[@schyzm]

and since the dog was infested with a human offspring face huger it would still keep its mostly humanoid shape but grow with the characteristics of an animal.

[@williammiller7799]

Interesting. I wonder what the new movies Xenomorph will be mixed with. I watched a comparison video between the original one and this new one and there were some differences in looks and tactics. Not sure if it was done on purpose or not.

[@schyzm]

See, i saw the trailer and it looks like it will be mixed with humans. the only reason it looks different is because it is a more natural breed. It comes from plant spores. The new aliens haven't been modified my the engineers so they are more wild. Picture this. The new aliens are wolves and the old ones are dogs.

[@BuBubbi]

+Nikita Khrushchev If it remember it correctly, in the Directors Cut of Alien 3 the Alien comes out of a cow.. :)

[@ElJoreto]

Mark Weldon??? Nice try, Weyland-Yutani Corporation!

[@angstmuffinofdoom5094]

Thank you. That was explained so clearly and was entertaining to watch!

[@jamzilla1220]

Dude, your explanation helped me passed my Genetics lecture years ago, while some of my classmates failed even the smart ones! Thank you so much!

[@Alien1375]

Hey a new video from the Nerdist. Let's watch this while eating dinner.

[@hybridraptor8791]

He got it incorrect. Queen, egg, human makes a drone.

[@apiz3504]

the xenomorph egg or OVAmorph wasnt create from a male and female xenomorph but from a queen xenomorph like a bee

[@Goblinerd]

Actually, before James Cameron created the Queen alien, the reproduction cycle required that a Zenomorph capture living creatures, cocoon them and morph them into eggs!

[@ragnar97]

As far as I know, according to both comics and Aliens, the remains of the life form a xenomorph comes out of turn into an egg. Queen's can lay eggs too but they're not the only way an egg can be created.

[@jaaayg2791]

this is a great video but if you've seen alien covenant then the Xenomorph we know came into existence with out a mate. spoilers below it seems David has experimented with Dr saws body or reproductive organs to get the egg's that we know. (Ovomorph) sooo.. black goo (in Covenant) + human or Engineer DNA = Neomorph. Davids experiment with the black goo and Dr Shaw's body = Ovomorph, then facehugger + human = Protomorph (an earlier evolution of the Big Chap or Xenomorph. David reply's to Oram with "mother" when Oram asks "What are they waiting for" (the eggs). imo David knows he needs a queen to control the hierarchy.

[@miphaestrella1606]

Yeah so every xenomorph or at least the ones that have a social structure (queens and such) are all female and either reproduce through the process of parthenogenesis meaning having offspring without any male genetic material (sperm) or have males every new rising of a queen to have sex with the queen then die so she can use that sperm continuously

[@jaaayg2791]

or if you look into the comics, you find out the xenomorphs can produce some kind of goo that transforms themselves into a queen.

[@tjoin8526]

i can see why these specific vids take lots if time keep it up

[@juozaszutautas6757]

I have a question can the thing from movie "The Thing" turn into xenomorph

[@Fightzpike]

It can't because the thing will probably die trying to mimick the Xeno's blood. (Acid)

[@igodreamer7096]

Yes, it can.

[@Wolfsbane909]

no it can't, the other xenomorph can detect the difference, especially the skunk type xenomorph.

[@byllekylle3831]

"how scary was the movie?" "1.733" "1.733 what?" "... horror" xD

[@SquareSquidStudios]

The Space Jockeys use a silicon based biological technology. The Xenomorphs are a weaponized version and most of the Space Jockeys' technology looks similar in design. As far as I know, there is no breeding between Xenomorphs because they use the genetics of their host to fill in gaps. Which allows for them to adapt to the environment. The queen alien only occurs from a Royal Facehugger. Which apparently develops when there aren't any other Xenomorph eggs around. And maybe if the queen just decides there should be another royal type alien... *shrug* Yes there are holes in the logic of this, but that is how it is supposed to work, from what I know anyways. The comics are the key. They fill in a lot of details.

[@masterkillerfluffy]

Square Squid Studios yeah but scott ridely really hates the comica

[@tai-bere3500]

Square Squid Studios Yeah, I hate to be a purist, but I'd say the comics are more or less irrelevant (or will be soon) with Ridley Scott retaking the Alien mantle... He says he could make another 6 Alien films, and already he has disregarded so much of the sequels.

[@SquareSquidStudios]

Really the only types of Xenomorphs I really dislike were part of the toy line and the crossover comics. But if Ridley redoes the info so they have to mate to reproduce... idk... that is kind of stupid. Adding that step just seems pointless outside of alternate formations of Xenomorphs.

[@jasonburke1671]

Square Squid Studios basically a queen can form from anywhere. whether by random chance from another queen breeding a royal facehugger up to the last drone being alive molting into a queen. the idea of the species is they are incredibly adaptable and can change rank based on the needs of the hive

[@donbrunodelamancha1927]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat to see you back Master Kyle!!

[@JeffBarberDigideus]

7:41 - The Dog alien fits in perfectly. My own view on the Bio-weapon theory is that the creature tailors itself to the host species so that it is effective at killing that species. Dog alien was a lot faster than man alien, and eagle alien would be able to hunt from the skies because it was created specifically to kill that host creature. Of course, the Neo-morph is a new take on the same thing and leads me to believe that the black goo is incredibly unstable, eventually becoming inert, but after it has delivered a gene altering payload to anything organic giving rise to the neo-morph who in turn hunts and eats the host species. the xeno is a strange side effect of half formed hybrids passing on genetic information through a gestation and "burst" type of infection that we saw in prometheus with the trilobite. Eventually its progeny attack a host and create the xeno in the same way the sand wasp does. The creatures incredible growth rate and short life span is a great way of killing or suppressing the native species on a planet and after a short period, the xeno's die of natural causes, decomposing into the local fauna and infecting that (hence evil black pods) thus allowing for a small survival rate amongst indiginous people of an infected world that will eventually be reinfected. Eventually however, the pods themselves become inert and the goo is gone, leaving entire worlds to pillage in the knowledge that everything is dead or so suppressed that there will be no retaliation to the invaders. and yeah, alien cubed is terrible!

[@daedricdweller9199]

The alien dog from 3 is because you missed a key part....the DNA forming the xeno takes on traits of its host....like the predalien...and the engineer alien

[@Nerdist]

I know, this is also the horizontal gene transfer I mentioned, but I guess I didn't make it explicitly clear. Sorry for that. -- KH

[@gagefarris]

GIJeRmZ theatrical is the one with the Rottweiler, the other has it coming from dead cattle

[@LUCKO2022]

That is the theatrical cut. The Assembly Cut the facehugger impregnates a Ox. Doesn't matter. Alien 3 just doesn't work. There is ZERO way for the egg or eggs to be on the Sulaco. It's impossible. The Queen ripped off her Ovipositor on the planet so that throws that out and she has no time to stick the egg near the cryochambers as there are on a different floor than the cargo bay which is where the fight took place between Queen and Ripley as she never leaves the Cargo Bay. There is no way for Bishop to get a egg either as the movie made clear that the derelict is far away about a days drive or so from the colony and then make it back to rescue Ripley so that is out, and Ripley was in the atmosphere processor with the other set of eggs so that throws that out as well. It's literally IMPOSSIBLE for Alien 3 to work and NO I AM NOT accepting Aliens Colonial Marines as canon, Gearbox and Fox can take their space hobos rescuing Hicks and shove it as far up their ass as possible.

[@TonyOneBlairoby]

I don't beleive its a key part from Scott point of view. Its a thing other realisator added for their own fun and vision of alien. How do you explain the deacon look nothing like the Engineer, while the first alien we saw in 1979, that come out of a human, look exactly like the space engineers. In my opinion, the genetic code the futur alien will be based on is in the egg. The eggs from covenant are likely to be from Shaw (its an assumption, may be wrong) explaining the raw body. The eggs in the ship from 79, might be engineer eggs. Thats the only explanation in my mind. I wouldn't even be surprised that Scott even get rid of the queen part. Unless David can create her from scratch. Even if the engineer was an ant like civilisation with a queen, its not like he can straight mutate her into a xeno. The xeno queen have to pop out of a chest, being the result of an egg.

[@specail1]

Well David has yet to create the Xeno's we know and love and it still experimenting. I believe his goal is to create a perfect or worthy species. Think ultimate darwin life form. Well currently there needs to be goo and some bioforms in order to create eggs/xenos. His next step is to make the life forms self sustaining i.e. make queens so they don't need the goo anymore.

[@MikefromTexas1]

*It's official! 1.733 is the value of Horror.*

[@rmsgrey]

Except that 1.7*1.7*1.7=4.913; 1.733 cubed is even more... Kyle probably meant 1.442

[@Purgles]

Very nice explaining :D

[@keydawsable]

Great job at explaining something so convoluted! SALUTE!

[@dirax13]

You can fit the dog-alien and the pred-alien in if a larval xenomorph retains some kind of horizontal gene transfer as part of their development process. That would also explain how the gestation period for the xenomorphs is so short and doesn't result in a "pregnant" look in the host. The larva would, rather than eat the hosts body, reprogram it into part of itself. This way, the larva could potentially gain some genetic influence from the host and develop very quickly without making it physically apparent the larva is in there. This may be an indicator that Humans and Predators are more resistant to the "face hugger" xenomorphs than things like dogs, resulting in smaller, less developed infant Xenomorph spawn.

[@dirax13]

I dont know if there is any real world equivalent to this though, they would need very complex biology for this to be the case which could make sense as they come from a bio-weapon (the goo)

[@patback2067]

I could think of a couple things that might support that. Tapeworms and Parasitic male anglerfish. So from the tapeworm perspective, they can live in a person's intestines, growing the full length or more of those intestines without much notice feeding off the host. From the perspective of the Anglerfish, the males of some species bite onto the females, then disolve their mouth and the female's body into one unit, even fusing blood vessels. Considering a chestburster, there are major organs which the parasite could attach itself to for sustenance. when it would grow to a noticeable size, its ready to burst.

[@patback2067]

The human resistance angle also works considering what would likely be the body's attempted rejection of the being. The DNA transfer would serve to reduce rejection. Of course we also know that facehuggers choke out the host, rendering them comatose for a time, which would also disrupt the body's ability to fight off the parasite.

[@dirax13]

Wouldn't the acid blood help fight against rejection as well? Any part of your immune system that came into contact with the larva would be converted into part of its makeup or dissolved when contacting its blood. As for the tapeworm and angler fish, that would probably work for the human and predator variants, them being much smaller than the body they are invading, but the dog-alien was around the same size as its host. Maybe the dog was much less resistant to the gene transfer than humans or predators, resulting in a larger portion of its mass converted into the resulting xenomorph? Humans at least have pretty amazing immune systems when compared to other animals. If the xenomorph gestation period is fixed between all species (at least these varieties) then it could stand to reason that the resulting form out of humans would be much less developed and smaller compared to other host creatures from earth.

[@tntcerveris]

I was always thinking, that xenos take genetic information from its host. This even makes more sense if they are planet destroying bio weapons. You put few face-hugers in planet and they take full advantage of billions of years of evolution which made their hosts perfectly adapted for that planet conditions.

[@stevenlewis7017]

That ending tho. Lmao 😂

[@disrespecc9678]

Queen lays eggs (doesn’t need to be fertilised) | Animal comes in contact | Facehugger or Bodyhugger launches at “Animal” | Gestation | Chestburster | He do be bursting out of chests doe.

[@nomaschalupas2453]

Hey i like these videos, they save me alot of battery life on my oled screen.

[@jhol2752]

every time he says "ZE GOO" i take a shot too forget

[@AgeTemplar]

This made me laugh.

[@memerminecraft3226]

How are you still alive

[@noahgendron7240]

He is a pro a drawing in reverse Like I would go nuts if I had to write backwards

[@wittie2m]

couldnt you just write normally and then flip the image/video along the vertical axis?

[@baikennep4489]

Noah Gendron he drew normally in his perspective but the camera is inverted, which then the editor flips it back

[@noahgendron7240]

Makes more sense Thanks

[@jessicar4536]

When he writes he is a lefty, but when drawing he is right handed.

[@ELIT3MW3]

Could you do a video on how Might Guy with the death gate was able to bend Space when he was facing Madara

[@Jazz-zg7ip]

By Moving Sidewalks

[@GarrettZa]

Thank you, Kyle. I've been calling it Alien Cubed for years and everyone always thinks I'm joking

[@Beowulf0510]

I don't think the goo created xenomorphs, the xenomorphs existed before and the engineers tried to recreate and weaponize their biology (more than it already is) which they did perfectly. because if you use this theory the dog alien still works. the aliens use geneti code from their hosts (hence the predalien and dog alien). and the engineers took this quality and "distilled" it to create the goo. which in turn will eventually result in a xenomorph. the engineers recognized the military capabilities of xenos but (unlike humans in alien resurrection) they realized the danger of holding the live animals themselves. so the goo was made from xeno dna to be used as a weapon. I do have one question though. what happens if the trilobite impregnated a human? would they make a deacon or a xenomorph or something else?

[@AlphaDingo990]

Actually, having just seen Covenant, this has been well and truly Jossed, The Xenomorph did not exist in the way we know it until some time *after* Covenant, as the Protomorph seen in that still is not a complete Xenomorph. I won't go and spoil the twist though.

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Kendall and Boah-Noah I like both your theories more than Kyle's explanations for this one. I am disappointed that he didn't even try to include the fact that xenomorphs adapt their DNA to the host, like we saw in Alien 3 and AvP, but also in numerous comics and games. This is a pretty much canon fact, as even Ridley Scott kind of used it in both Prometheus (with the deacon looking more like an engineer than a classic xenomorph) and in Covenant (but spoilers, so I won't explain this one). So yeah, good job. Keep theorizing, and have a good day.

[@darthliamguy4640]

Kendall nooooo, take avp into consideration. the movie was set in 2004 which is probs 100-200 years before Prometheus and covenant.

[@AlphaDingo990]

Also non-canonical

[@NuclearChedder]

AVP and all the comics, aswell as sequels, aren't cannon

[@ikmnification5737]

Sponsored by totally not Weyland-Yutani

[@paulcoy9060]

oh my god, that symbol! Did Kyle choose Mack Weldon specifically, just for a crossover promotion?

[@gamerguy765]

This is just my speculation , but I think it’s a cool part to mention . The Egg + human step is by design from the engineers . Their goal was start again on earth , so with the egg step , the xenomorphs would die out once there were no more humans left . Great video , thank you very much for making it !

[@LordPrometheous]

I'm giving the video a thumbs up before I watch it because I won't remember to do it after my mind is blown.

[@jerryjorts4050]

I was eating spaghetti while watching this! Big mistake!

[@almariner6302]

Gresi Lamaj now you have ze Spaghettimorph

[@g0ldng0nads7]

Pizzahugger Pastaburster.

[@BLADESTER128]

What if the Black Goo is simply a Xenomorph DNA introduction agent? Whatever organism it interacts with will make it more Xenomorph like. It could be that the classic Xenomorph we all know existed before Prometheus (we saw the xeno mural in the movie) and the Engineers simply extracted and developed a chemical to turn any organism more xeno like to use as bio weapons, simply by modifying Xeno DNA into a weapon

[@OWmyDragonballz]

That wasn't a mural of a xeno it was a mural of a deacon. David perfected it with creating the eggs. And those eggs somehow got out on the ship on LV426. We will probably find out in the future films.

[@Zipo214]

Zeuh Goo!

[@bryandelahoz6063]

Ze Goo*

[@eccremocarpusscaber5159]

I just don’t care about the goo’s pronouns!

[@Javster]

Dude , love your channel!

[@pingpongboi8144]

"Xeno" mainly means Alien (which seems more appropriate).

[@AgeTemplar]

It means "strange"

[@bricescott5028]

xeno- actually means "different" which, in latin, is synonymous to "strange"

[@wittie2m]

actually in english "xeno" comes from the Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos, “alien”). whilst "strange" originates from old french "Estrange" which in turn comes from the Latin "Extraneus" so Xeno in english does actually mean Alien, but can also indicate "strangeness" as it originates in different societies to mean broadly the same thing (translingual) Alien also means strange, as in not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something. which is essentially the same as Strange so yes, Xeno means Alien if in the context of the english language, but also means Strangeness, ergo you are both correct Xeno-(Alien,Strange)Morph(Shape) so Xenomorph = Alien-shape or (strange-shape) www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=alien

[@baikennep4489]

Random Name -___-

[@BertGrink]

+wittie2m i am surprised that this even needs to be explained

[@Nerdist]

Is the facehugger actually an animal? New mini-episode over on my Insta (instagram.com/sci_Phile/)! Thanks for watching. -- KH

[@sohamtalekar7820]

Nerdist hi

[@KrentoTNT]

Thank you for explaining the stupidity that was Alien 3!

[@killer13324]

Nerdist, can you do one on the Halo Pelican dropship? from 1-3.

[@iv0rysh0es39]

Nerdist you seem to forget that Kane (John Hurt) was attacked by the Facehugger even with his helmet on.

[@aZanHalohalo]

You never mentioned that "the goo" plus an Engineer, just melted him and eventually became humans. So why does the goo melt Engineers, but change the form of humans??

[@robertemerson9109]

Can you explain how much force would be needed for Goku and Beerus to destroy the universe?

[@pouyanrezvani3314]

Damn... thank you so much for the explanation

[@Aozolai]

I still want to know how a rat-sized chest-bursting xenomorph baby develops into a full-grown kangaroo-sized xenomorph. How does it happen? What do they eat? It's impossible for such a small creature to develop into a full-grown animal without having a source of food to obtain energy and mass from. This is a violation of the laws of conservation of energy and mass: something can't just acquire energy and mass spontaneously, there has to be a source for it. Therefore, if those baby xenomorphs develop into full-grown xenomorphs without eating, these laws are violated. That being said, if they do develop into full-grown alien bastards without eating then those fully developed drooling xenomorphs should in theory only weigh around 5 lbs (or whatever the weight of a baby xenomorph is).

[@sparklytaints3868]

Aozolai also, while I have no idea if this is cannon or not, the old alien v predator 2 game has you eat bodies in a morgue as a chest burster to gain nutrients

[@operatorlink]

and in the original movie the change all happened within 1 day or less. How much nutrients can it take when you can see the host body after it burst out and ran away, it couldn't have taken more nutrients from the host body than it's original size. Growing 2 times it's original rat size is already a stretch much less kangaroo size. Also after it kill the other crew in the original movie it doesn't eat them, it kept them alive in a cocoon to be new host. my answer to all those questions is it is just a movie, not real.

[@wittie2m]

untrue, we know very little about its internalised body structure, it could have a very very basic digestive tract etc, and as for how much it consumes inside the host all we ever really see is the wound and some blood, for all you know it could have devoured organs, could also gain energy via other means or potentially have an incredibly efficient digestive tract that produces little to no waste. heck for all we know it could have crawled down to where the food is kept and gorged itself, it could be that they are ferrolithotophic and thus gain energy from eating ferrous minerals and obtain carbon for biomass from the atmosphere (in the form of carbon-dioxide) or it could be space-wizards

[@ebomb1133]

There is also a deleted scene from the original movie (so I have read) of the alien raiding the food supply so that is also a possibility of how it grew so fast.

[@MrQuelquDeux]

Aozolai Photosynthesis. Think about it.

[@davevti9]

when you are eating dinner...

[@SirRegio]

Fantastic video!

[@KittyPieVibes]

I feel like this dude would be that teacher that's really cool and lets you eat in class while he explains eugenics and takes selfies with students

[@dan65536]

Excellent analysis! Of course you couldn't include information from A:C due to spoilers, but I think it still works. (Once we see that movie, it will probably answer the question of what came first, facehugger or egg!)

[@nathanhancock8851]

The flow chart is cool i think but it might be wrong, since the eggs/facehuggers found in the first movie must have been linked in some way to the engineers since their demise came about after a goo outbreak, but when interacting with humans creates the classic Xenomorph. Alien 3 isn't invalid either, since it implies that these weaponized animals retain the ability to further weaponize newly acquired biology, while maintaining a general Xenomorph flavor. That begs the question though, does a Hammerpede, a Deacon, and a classic Xenomorph/Queen recognise eachother as friendlies?

[@DragonMaster32200]

I'm gonna share this with my Math and biology teacher... ZaGoo, love it XD

[@ninjamice3464]

After seeing Alien:Covenant, many of my questions regarding the Xenomorph and its origins have been answered. I suggest seeing the movie, and re-editing the video. The data gathered from the new film will make this explanation much clearer and understandable.

[@hoppie45]

Tarantula Hawks, where Cazadores from Fallout came from!

[@Reptilebrotha]

so you just HAD to upload this before covenant comes out?😭 it woulda been more interesting if you did research on that movie too (it was pretty good btw)

[@CONCISEtheGHOST]

I love science and i love your channel!!!!!

[@jacobclark2409]

I died at the "that movies baaad" part

[@weldonwin]

Just one problem... Alien Covenant just invalidated all of this

[@Nerdist]

Not really. -- KH

[@Severi1996]

At least the way facehuggers were originally born

[@Ares.R6]

Yes because "Zee Goo!" makes a Neomorph when in contact with a human, not the classic xenomorph we all know and love. it takes some extra special spice to make the xenomorph.

[@xenomorph1238]

How do we even know that the original xenomorph was based on humans, it could have been any alien species.

[@Nlghtmal2e_PSO2NGS]

the facehugger eggs = human eggs in female ovalry (Shawn) + black goo . maybe +Xenomorph123 well David just create one which is kinda like Prototype in Covenant and now he has about 2000 more specimen to experiment on , on the Covenant ship.

[@Sheol02]

What's the problem with the doglien tho? It's canon that different life forms infected by facehugger will alter xenomorph's appearance and it's abilities (see also Predalien). Black goo also works fine. Essentially, creators made this goo that *randomly* made perfect weapon (classic xenomorph), that can survive wipe any life form, as it gains abilities of its host.

[@krispiasek6731]

Sheol_IK Preadators are not canon

[@Sheol02]

Kris Piasek I'm pretty sure they are.

[@RevRaptor898]

AvP is not canon, it's it's own separate thing.

[@deantemitchell7051]

he has a point on the dog alien though

[@franohmsford7548]

You really need to ask what the problem with the dog was? You need a bloody good reason to kill a dog in a movie, Alien3 did not have a good reason, it just did it for shock value! And no changing it to an ox did not make it any better!

[@SPIR-MiffyJupiter]

very good lesson for me , i am editing some story about xenomorph , this is helpfil for me ! thank !!!!

[@epiccthulu]

this makes my second fav franchise cooler

[@thomasboys7216]

Also, this video was sponsored by Weldon-Yutani.

[@danitron4096]

Thomas Boys weyland

[@nathanielgrey4091]

I was alarmed at the weyland-yutani parallel as well

[@maxamgof2499]

How does the ships from any sci fi universe have artificial gravity in their ships? Also how does the slip space from halo works?

[@damonjackson5857]

MaxaM GOF they simply rotate. that's a real scientific concept, not just fiction

[@zeekeno823]

In 2006, a research group funded by ESA claimed to have created a device that demonstrated positive results for the production of gravitomagnetism, although it produced only 0.0001g. This result has not been replicated. String theory predicts that gravity and electromagnetism unify in hidden dimensions. There could be a theoretical device that could produce gravity, though I'm sure we have no bearing on how to make such a thing in the current time.

[@dovahkiin7118]

Cool story bro

[@damonjackson5857]

Dustin Wallace that's usually not what they use in movies tho. It's the ship that rotates

[@venomslayer9899]

In sci-fi the way ships have artificial gravity varies. Most explain it like inertial dampeners or some form of magnetization if i remember correctly. Slip Space in Halo is suppose to be a space dimension that allows anything that passes through to go faster that any conventional means. Its like super hyper drive. The Covenant, by reverse engineering Forerunner tech, have perfected Slip Space travel whereas humans had to develop it from scratch. A Covenant ship could go from one point of the galaxy to another almost instantaneously while a UNSC ship would have to take several months or even years to travel through Slip Space to cover a distance less than half that.

[@raccooncafe5689]

Hey Kyle, question. What would happened if you tried to block a normal bullet with a lightsaber. First I thought it was simple, but as I started thinking about it more and more, I became more and more perplexed.

[@ronniedorsey5095]

Watching this on TV lol, didn't know you would be on cable

[@mickeyduke9544]

5:28 5:35 lmfao the whole part then the sperm glass break lol

[@SnapDaddy96]

but what about xenomorph prime the xenomorph homeworld

[@elijahwatson3474]

Vladimier Bronen A lot people don't know about the comics

[@SnapDaddy96]

I went and saw covenant and now just like star wars the comics have been removed from the lore it is truly a sad day. So now I will do now for this as I do star wars this movie never happened comics still are the truth

[@ckl9390]

I think the Xenodog from A3 can be explained with some additional observations from Alien vs Predator (I don't know off the top of my head if that film had been published at the time of this video). In AvP the Xenomorph larva that emerged from the Predator hero at the end, in the space ship on the way home, had the iconic flared jaws of the Predator species. I think the Xenomorph embryo takes on traits of it's host, possibly in an attempt to improve on it's design, find more genetics to weaponize, or adapt to new environments. Some vestigial horizontal genetic transfer mechanism from the goo, from the host inward to the embryo, may still be active allowing for single generation evolution. This may also be another reason to use hosts for incubating the larva, other than the usual reasons of delegating nurturing and not needing to feed them. The Xenomorph is a weapon that automatically upgrades itself. Another question, can a face-huger implant multiple victims?

[@Raptorifik]

great video. very fun.

[@adamrogers6227]

weyland corp logo on davids finger at 1:05

[@jamesholloway1190]

If the goo just changes biology then how come in Covent it just destroys the engines in seconds it makes no sense 😂😂😂

[@Nerdist]

I DON'T KNOW -- KH

[@krnt13]

I think the main reason is the amount of genetic accelerant, if you get too much too many of your cells will try to mutate into different variations since they can end up being are different organisms in the same host they will try to eliminate each other effectively killing the host, so the less amount of accelerant you receive the more stable the mutation can be.

[@anthonygonzalez4108]

James Holloway well maybe it's because we've only taken to account minimum dosage, maybe in large quantities it's too much and just kills them

[@kawaki1207]

James Holloway it was meant to be a bioweapon meaning too much of it would kill you just like what david did to those engineers

[@DrittAdrAtta]

I think the goo is such a complex thing, that it can be programmed to do various things - IT is biomechanical, not only (if really at all ) the xenomorph itself. At the begining of Prometheus the goo is used by an engineer to break up his body into fragmented strands of DNA, which are used to seed life on a barren planet. It only makes sense that it can be taken a step further and programmed to go all the way and destroy the body alltogether. The dead engineers look like charcoal - they were probably reduced down to the building materials of the body like carbon etc.

[@steven7936]

he does make a good point, in Aliens Gormon labels it as " a xenomorph" that was never the name of the species. YEt somehow via lore the classification ended up as the name of the creature.

[@majkelsan7082]

good luck with Alien Covenant in the mix :D great vids btw! :)

[@MasterDayTrader]

Why in the hell did you say Goo, like "ZaGoo".. during the whole time, thought you were talking about a separate entity that I wasn't aware of yet. Until you actually written it down.

[@Nerdist]

Haha -- KH

[@Marco-bn6ic]

35823582 .

[@peoplez129]

Here's one fact about alien xenomorph biology: Given their make up, compared to what they consume, it would be impossible to nourish their biology. There's simply not enough biological material in their diet to do things like be turned into all of that acid blood, or all of that bone/exoskeleton, saliva, etc. Just the amount of saliva they excrete alone would take a lot to replenish. And let's not forget, these are large, high energy creatures. With how active they are and their strength, I could see them easily needing more than 10,000 calories in a single day to drive themselves. Certainly, at least more than a human, since humans are basically Sloth metabolism in comparison. Considering the acid blood, the aliens entire circulatory system would be like our stomach lining, being constantly broken down and needing to be constantly replaced, which would again, require a lot of biological material of the right makeup. Even whole people wouldn't simply be enough in the short term, let alone the long term.

[@sparklytaints3868]

C North while this doesn't fix what you're saying, (at least in the comics j I believe thee aliens can eat each other/many food sources and essentially hibernate until a food source arrives.

[@sacta]

Xenomorphs only move fast in bursts, however. When there's nothing to do they seem to just kinda go into... stand-by mode. Many times, although it's used for the scary factor, surely, protagonists just stumble upon them when they are completely quiet, or almost appearing to sleep. When they aren't attacking, they move very slowly and deliberately too. Could it be that most of the time their metabolism is in 'energy-saving' mode, and they only fully kick their metabolism up when it's necessary? Almost like cheetahs, who can run incredibly fast, but only for short bursts.

[@sacta]

Of course, you are still right. In the first movie, the xenomorph grows more than thrice its original size without any nourishment, but still, maybe they aren't burning hundreds of calories per hour at all times is all I'm saying. Your original argument barely has a dent in it.

[@Ihatemylife7105]

C North Even if we were talking about a real creature, it's an extra-terrestrial life-form, well, at least an artificial creation. There's no telling what kind of life is out there and how it is able to sustain itself. But we are talking about science-fiction, so it doesn't have to fully make sense. Knowing Ridley Scott though, he will make some shit up about how they gain nutrition.

[@Erika-gn1tv]

Maybe the xenos are adaptable enough to use any type of fuel, biological or not to feed itself. Would be incredibly weird but that's par for the course. That or they're powered by fear.

[@SCnative64]

Dude you're gettin a Dell! That was brilliant.

[@DrSoda-dl3kp]

This is why I'm more interested in learning this than actual math,science,ect

[@ironclaw3000user]

i liked when the Xenomorph was first an ancient space creature that's been around for such a long before mankind reached the stars showing that we aren't the only thing out there and now mankind finds out that there's things put there that won't follow our logical thinking. But with the *spoilers of Alien Covenant* David makes them😕 so.. Prometheans make humans, humans make David, David makes Xenomorphs.. not a fan of it being humanity being the source of their own doom rather then it being something that isn't correlated to us (but it does sound like poetic justice). it's outer space, we can't be the center of creating those things that stowaway in the landing gear. 😊 (so blame people that didn't like where Prometheus was heading, if anything the prequels could've lead to why the lone Xenomorph in the first Alien movie acted so different)

[@wittie2m]

spoiler: Engineers make humans, humans make androids, androids kill engineers, androids make xenomorphs, xenomorphs kill humans? xeno's make , kills androids, makes , kills xenos, makes . repeat :D

[@thetallmansinn5326]

IronClaw3000: But David didn't create the the xenomorphs. Covenant takes place in 2104. In Alien the engineer have been dead for so long that it is fossilized and that movie takes place in 2122. How can something become fossilazed in less than 20 years?

[@ironclaw3000user]

Scrolly. huh ok. 😁

[@ironclaw3000user]

wittie2m LOL

[@ironclaw3000user]

The tall man's inn : Clearly Ridley Scott changed that continuity because he thought no one would've wanted to see a Prometheus 2, But i'd like to believe that David actually learns to make Xenomorphs by trial and error which meant there's a science on making the Xenomorphs from a time long ago, and David discovers that ancient science while the audience isn't shown during that time it took him to get to the homeworld and before the Covenant Ship got their.

[@kellychristians3108]

this is actually so cool hahaha I'm going to the movies tonight high and seeing alien

[@kellychristians3108]

update: i watched it high on Quanta and it was the best experience ever hahah

[@Qwerty-tz3jw]

kelly christians wtf r u 5?

[@sjschauer4235]

Be interesting to see how Covenant alters your theory. It actually simplifies things, except for the gestation and growth time issues.

[@fnvfan0145]

Other parasitic insects I know of: Ichneumon Wasp family(I'll have the caterpillar with a side of eggs please) Bot Fly(Do you like bad dreams?)

[@dragon-tamer7956]

There really is something attractive and beautiful about the symbiotic reproductive system. I think this is one of the reasons why it's so terrifying, because it reminds us of something attractive yet revolting within ourselves.

[@utkarshgupta2943]

the creepiest episode of nerdist till date🙄

[@thetaai8262]

*to date

[@aaroncall5274]

If this guy had been my biology teacher in college and the course material was stuff I was interested in, like Aliens, I would have gotten straight A's lol

[@Stinky805sm]

You had me laughing my azz off at 7:55 during your formula explanation