The Insane Biology of: The Dune Sandworm

[@DomyTheMad420]

i genuinely love the idea that nerds across generations and science have written freaking papers on a fictional animal and planet. "just because it isn't real, does not mean it can't be fascinating!"

[@pulverizedpeanuts]

that's what i always say about complex numbers

[@ravenwraith1017]

oh this is just the tip of the nerd iceberg. Nothing can beat the dedication of Tolkien scholars, not even Frank Herbert ones.

[@TrinityCore60]

I agree with that quote wholeheartedly. Worldbuilding is my favorite thing in fiction!

[@RobertHenderson.poopiebear]

It's true theoretical stuff like this is fascinating... especially when combined with entertainment. I've always been an actor/nerd and when I can combine them I get excited. From star Trek and star wars to dune and Night of the living dead. When science meets imagination..... You get GREAT entertainment! 🖖

[@albummutation2278]

it's important to remember that while it may seem silly and frivilous, "discoveries" (or rather theories in this case) in these kinds of things can cause us to think of new ways to approach *real* things. it can give us ideas on how to figure IRL stuff out.

[@colinsmith1495]

Another fun fact about the sandworms. Inside the Dune universe, they are the ONLY confirmed non-terrestrial life. Everything else was seeded from Earth originally, but the Sand Trout were brought to Arrakis from... somewhere undefined, and show no trace of terrestrial origin.

[@rita6355]

I like to think they were artificially created

[@Klatu1234]

@@rita6355There are no aliens either, subtle hints say they may have existed but they seem to have left leaving very little evidence, a derelict wreck which could be an alien spaceship is the only physical evidence anything but humans exist in the Galaxy, also all Dunes worlds are surprisingly close to Earth considering they can fold space, even the outer empire worlds are not that far from Earth probably no more than afew hundred light years for the furthest outliers. Of course Earth is a burnt out wrek having been nuked sevral hundred times, which probably is why the Aliens, assuming they exist want nothing to do with us. No computers is obvious Thinking machines are responsible for enslaving humanity pre Butlerian Jihad , but no life but human life, and only scant traces of other life mostly non sentient seems awfully odd..?

[@boazburger3846]

@@rita6355 but then is the question: by who?

[@Zahnpuppy]

Humans that can see the future and can make synthetic life

[@thunderconcerto9807]

I heard Benechezarit are the one who brought sandtrout to Arrakis so maybe they are also the one who created them

[@battman505]

speculative biology. love it.

[@tacofodder5313]

Cant tell if this is sarcasm or

[@mikespearwood3914]

Ironic for a channel called "Real Science"!

[@Annihilator27]

Nah this real. We just haven’t found one yet.

[@gamingforfun8662]

@@mikespearwood3914 they performed real science on a fictional animal

[@PickledJar28]

@@mikespearwood3914 Why would speculative biology be not real science? It imports real science to fictional yet close to the real world animals for us to make sense of. This can guide us to good stories, better understanding of the ecology and maybe even breakthroughs in biology. In my own sense atleast. :))

[@kepler180]

my marine biology teacher told me a funny story about how he had students that were doing a report on marine sandworms but all their sources were mistakenly referenced to Dune wiki forums. My teacher had to stop the presentation once he realized what was going on

[@benginaldclocker2891]

333 likes? I ain't pressing the like button

[@TosGD]

XD

[@samuelelias5115]

shoulda let them cook.

[@kepler180]

@@benginaldclocker2891 why did you even comment?

[@tappajaav]

@@samuelelias5115 I hate cooking. It's messy and loud and happens everywhere.

[@alanhat5252]

7:52 sand is a good insulator, it's cooler below the surface.

[@GeoffryGifari]

Maybe they thermoregulate by migrating...

[@eSKAone-]

Exactly 💟🌌☮️

[@Yggdrasil9]

Exactly what I was thinking as they always have their mouths open they would get a lot of cooling power through the sand.

[@McCarlKnoxville]

Depends how far down you go 😅 but yes, blocking your body from the sun and wind will definitely keep you cooler!

[@biggestfan.]

​@@McCarlKnoxvilleNo shade but your lack of understanding is obvious..

[@envviro]

Im honestly way more interested in the worldbuilding of Dune than the actual story. The giant sand worms, the way spice is formed and harvested, the way the Fremen have adapted to the harsh desert climate of Arrakis. I find all of that so fascinating.

[@malikCoCo55]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpebcoGglKeNoJIsi=F0olB1SqW7EVXhT-

[@melt6894]

That’s what turns simple stories into gateways of separate realities. Small details and interactions that make things feel alive. The world doesn’t just revolve around the protagonist, the protagonist is just our window.

[@bigcubistman]

i love the story, but i prefered "dune part 1" because it was more the world building. i loved the way paul and chani had their own home planets, which they loved.

[@gamiezion]

i always thought the tleilaxu developed the sandworms. they certainly had the capabilities to do so with all their genetic engineering shenanigans. as a whole they also work against project amal, which to me comes as close to the council admitting they developed the worms, the spice and to a degree the results. though i will cede the results are mostly a proverbial bull they're trying to tame.

[@LaineyBug2020]

My head canon was that they were silicon based life forms and that's why they worked so well breaking down and metabolizing the sand, minerals and metals at every stage of their lives. As sand plankton, they filter feed with a symbiotic colony of bacteria that they host. The bacteria feed on yeast that grows wild on the grains of sand and other substrates that the sand plankton consume. Since labs have been able to synthesize psilocybin from bacteria that feed on yeast, I theorize that a similar process is what gives the melange it's psychoactive properties. This digestive process also provides the O2 and other gasses that make up the planet's atmosphere. The sand plankton would reproduce asexually with budding polyps so there's always a growing and thriving population for the base of the food chain. Their imperative at this stage would just be to eat and reproduce. They would be able survive in dry and wet conditions. In God Emperor of Dune, when a sand worm falls into a river, it breaks down completely into sand plankton and is able to survive so a new cycle of worms can be started. When conditions are right, perhaps when the sand plankton have built up enough nutrients, they instinctively come together into sand trout. The sand trout can still break down and metabolize particulates from the sand or other substrates, and they feed on the plankton to maintain their stores of the bacteria and yeast and to absorb supplemental nutrients from them. While there is a certain level of moisture in the environment, sand trout is the highest form they will take. Their imperative is to eat and sequester water so they can band together and morph into their final forms. When enough water has been sequestered, the sand trout instinctively band together into the sand worms and form Little Makers that grow into Shai-Hulud. The sand worms are always churning away like any good detritivore, only instead of plant materials, they break down silicates, other minerals and metals. If they have any bone like structures besides their teeth, these are the what they are made of. This is why their teeth make such great Crysknives. They are described as being ivory like, as hard as steel and gleaming like a crystal almost lit from within. They also feed on the sand plankton and sand trout to supplement their nutrition and help produce their spice essences which would work similarly to plasma. The friction from their locomotion ignites the particulates which aids in their break down and fuels their internal furnace that in turn expells gasses like O2 and H20 back into the atmosphere. The sand retains most of the H20 which is further sequestered by the sand trout. Sand worms may reproduce with a combination of broadcast spawning and budding, which may be another way for them to spread the desert. They would leave a budding segment as close to the moisture as they can get. These buds can normally survive on their own and become another Little Makers then Shai-Hulud, but if the environment it too moist, they'd 'die' and break back down into sand plankton. Then the cycle would start all over and thus spread the desert. Alternatively, two or more sand worms could leave their buds in the same space so there would be a chance for sharing DNA when the sand plankton eventually reform into sand trout. Thank you for coming to my Dune Talk!

[@Filterdissman]

Wow that was very detailed. Thank you for sharing! 😎

[@billwood1101]

And thanks for sharing your Dune Talk! And, as always, any good answer leads to more questions. So I'm sure you are correct in assuming sand worms are a silicon-based life form. And since we are so unfamiliar with such creatures, where do we start with questions? What is their food? Sand, seems logical. SiO(2), which would be a logical breakdown to Si and O(2) with a chemical energy release, but with what other substance involved? We are so in tune to O(2) being involved in combustion, that some other "oxidizer" is hard to imagine. But we know the Fremen cook food. And what is their fuel source? And where does their food grow? But I digress. If our question is sand worms then the "blast furnace" innards of the critter could well be a ceramic chamber capable of a fusion reaction. Then we would be talking about temperatures in the 3,000 K range with massive energy releases! Easily enough to drive a few hundred blue whales "swimming" through the sand. I don't know what the byproducts would be, but in astrophysics, I understand super nova is the next stage. Melange could be a byproduct, as could some forms of silicon. And amorphous silicon powder is a known, unstable form of silicon, and could be another byproduct. Silicon powder is known to react explosively with water, which could explain a sand worm's aversion to water. But, as I said, there are just more questions. And that's part of what makes this series so fun. It is well thought out, with enough stuff explained to allow for the questions. And if you really want questions, we could ask about how Arrakis is jointly inhabited by carbon based AND silicon based life forms. And what happens to a sand worm when it dies? We have a pretty good idea of what happens to a whale. Does a worm carcass become its own ecosystem? And the questions don't stop! And thanks for listening to my Dune Rant.

[@billwood1101]

Oops, sorry, I left off a few orders of magnitude on the fusion of silicon. Should be in the billion K range. Of course, heat vs temperature would come into play.

[@iveharzing]

@@billwood1101 I think there's no chance of it being a fusion reaction, as you said, it's in the billion K range. They have no means of confining that amount of energy to keep it at that temperature. In real life fusion devices, we have trouble keeping plasmas confined at densities 100x lower than atmospheric, and at 150 million K, while using the strongest magnets we can produce.

[@MargoTheNerd]

I recommend watching PBS space time's video on ins and outs of silicon based life forms , they explain a lot of proposed mechanisms well.

[@rammstein413567]

Regarding the sand worm's heat exchange, I'm reading the third book right now and it's stated that the tail end of the sand worm is blisteringly hot so you have to avoid it when you're getting off a sand worm. That's probably how they shed their excess heat, in addition to being much more heat tolerant in general.

[@absalomdraconis]

I'd suspect that the large ones may actually need the internal heat to properly function.

[@hoppyandhisholidayhelpers1714]

I can't wait to hear how she's going to biologically explain Leto Jr.'s transformation?

[@razorhog8]

I just finished the third book! I was interested in that part too. Do you think that helps provide any thrust for them or is just a byproduct?

[@rammstein413567]

@@razorhog8 I would assume purely byproduct. When I think of fiery thrust I think of things like spaceships, which have totally rigid bodies. If you were to apply thrust from the back of a sandworm, which can move and undulate, I think it would mostly result in instability and no real meaningful thrust.

[@Kholdstare52]

If oxygen is a excretion of sandworms does that mean every time they breach the surface, theyre sticking their faces into an atmosphere/ocean of their own farts?

[@romanmay2867]

i mean i think so but also i think they breath oxygen so it wouldn’t be a difference than us breathing in others exhaled air ahaha

[@johnnyringo35]

Exhaled air would no longer be oxygen.....it would be carbon dioxide.....the whole purpose of breathing is to.....?????😉

[@romanmay2867]

@@johnnyringo35 you think all the air you breath is oxygen? you know part of it is carbon dioxide from us, most is nitrogen that we also breathe in. and where does the carbon dioxide come from?……. us, or other animals, machines(us) etc but you absolutely breathe in the same air someone else breathed in

[@UniDeathRaven]

ALARM: Deep thoughts

[@JorgeSilva-yp7gi]

😂 guess so 😂

[@nova338]

Absolutely love this!! Just saw Dune for the first time and I immediately fell in love with the sandworms, absolutely fascinated with how they might work. This video is such a fun exploration of that concept!

[@mayceehash8434]

I had to do a double take when I realize you were on camera. Congrats for putting yourself out there. I think it's a great addition to your format.

[@driftingporpoises4225]

Same! I thought I was seeing things!

[@driftingporpoises4225]

Same! I thought I was seeing things!

[@jimmorris5328]

It's great to put a face with the voice. I too, like the addition to your format. Keep up the great work and intelligent content.

[@KippiExplainsStuff]

yep. was delighted. also - whoa :)

[@corniel657]

Nah she's AI generated

[@Ken_from_Barbie]

Something else interesting is how they move. Many speculate, but they haven't read the books. The people who speculate say the eat all the sand, then spew out their backs, or through vents on the side of the worms, underneath the layers. (We can see these vents in the 2nd movie, but they don't seem to do anything.) They also quote stuff from the books, like how in one of the books, we hear one of the characters talking about how you should never go to the back of a sandworm. (The evidence I am gonna show will disprove this, and the character probably says that because the sandworms make a big mess with how big they are and how fast. They kick up sand.) We learn in the books that they make a liquid out of the sand, and in the 2nd movie, we can kinda see that when the main character is riding the big sandworm. The sand is just free flowing. They also make a liquid on the bottom of their bodies, allowing them to slide even easier. Then they do something that I can't remember, but the word starts with an O. My guess on that is they use the vents we saw to spew air or sand into the liquid sand.

[@NewNormac]

You’re great on camera, I know that may not help the nerves but you’ve got what it takes!!! Thanks for stretching through the tough stuff and being an awesome example

[@jamesyoungquist6923]

Hear hear! 👏👏👏

[@johnnyringo35]

Simps all of ya....

[@jamesyoungquist6923]

@@johnnyringo35 why is it distasteful for you to give encouragement to someone else? Especially when they provide free and entertaining education? What benefit have you brought the world to justify your opinion?

[@TheFirstCurse1]

​@@johnnyringo35Just because they're complimenting a woman they're "simps"? Sexist much buddy?

[@turtlesrprettycool3379]

Obviously joking 😅

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

Thank you for including sand plankton and sand trout. I hate that the movies leave out these crucial stages. The fact that the Fremen children will snack on the sand trout for liquid has always struck me.

[@keelan3332]

The films must leave out things not relevant to the plot. The sandworms life cycle is not relevant to Paul's story, thus they are omitted. If they ever get to Children of Dune they would have to introduce the sandtrout then.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@keelan3332 It is relevant to Paul's story. Watching Fremen children and understanding how an entire people has been dedicated to one dream of transforming the planet is huge. It's one reason I want to throw things in Villeneuve's general direction with not allowing the full four years between Paul and Jessica escaping the Harkonnens and the confrontation with the Emperor. So many things don't make real sense without that time and Paul's observations of Fremen life.

[@keelan3332]

@@fabrisseterbrugghe8567 Villenueve showed the fremen dream with Stilgar and Jessica's scene by the water well. Also in part one with the palm trees, and the caretaker saying "old dream". Because every minute counts diologue needs to be quick, snappy, and give as much information to the viewer as possible. Showcasing the biological life of a sandworm would have been to much of a side track for the movies. I think the time skips were done well. Having a large leap in time with the subtitle "4 years later" would have halted the flow of the movie. Agree to disagree I suppose.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@keelan3332 Alia was too important and Paul's maturation was too important to knock it down to 8 months instead of 4 years. But yes, we can disagree.

[@pronoydutta614]

The sandworm were said to have furnace like insides, similar to a combustion engine. They had an extremely strong aversion to water. That's the most dramatic feature for me aside from spice creation. They're like organic 'fire hoses'.

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

At least you know if you get swallowed it won’t be incredibly slow. You’ll melt away instead of slowly breaking down in acid.

[@cantstopthepun]

At least your nervous system would be melted off relatively fast. You won't feel pain for too long

[@berjbedrosian4225]

if they had wings, we would call them dragons.

[@Kekoapono]

It's great to see more than a just a few frames of you on camera, You did very well! You pushed yourself to do something new and the results were fantastic!

[@alanhat5252]

7:26 ceramics? Several 'problems' would all go away at once as ceramics also cope well with heat & can be abrasion resistant.

[@GeoffryGifari]

right? why not silica? they're surrounded by sand...

[@MortRotu]

It's a bit stiff, in general ceramics are usually quite brittle on their own in comparison to many matetials. Not 8mpossible,just unlikely

[@OnePlancheMan]

​@@MortRotumaybe titanium reinforced with ceramic fibers?

[@mvmlego1212]

@@OnePlancheMan -- "Ceramic fibers" sounds extremely brittle. My (very limited) understanding of modern composite materials is that the ceramic components are shaped like chunks, much like the aggregate component of concrete.

[@OnePlancheMan]

@@mvmlego1212 hmm, maybe ceramic chunks interleaved in layers of viscoelastic proteins? Like abalone shell.

[@windozxpert]

Beautiful & intelligent. You have the whole world by the balls. You go girl!! Keep it coming!

[@k-dog7013]

All hail the silicon-based caffeine worm! One question I’d still like answered is how they would move so fast through sand. Sand is extremely heavy and doesn’t exactly move like a liquid but they seem to make it do so with the harmonic vibration they emit. Are there any examples of organisms on Earth that do something similar?

[@Colin.71]

The only thing I could say is just their weight and muscular power. As long as they don’t go past a certain depth, they should be strong enough to move the sand around them. And yes there are plenty of creatures that burrow and to some extent live in the sand on Earth, but they do the same thing: don’t go too low or you won’t be able to move

[@JohnHoranzy]

Seeing how the worms create a substance to warp Space Time, they probably just warp through the sand. Seeing how there is no real ecosystem or a closed ecosystem to recycle materials, they may warp to another planet for materials and food. Limited biological diversity is able to create extinction events like the Oxygen extinction here on Earth. Unless there is a source of energy and recycling of materials, they would go extinct in a short geological time period. At some point you just suspend belief/knowledge for sake of the story.

[@PhotonBeast]

No idea but the vibration would potentially liquify the sand enough for them to 'swim'. Heck, it's known that earthquakes can liquify solid earth and cause things to sink into the ground. The question would be getting henough vibration going without also being incredibly disruptive to the worm's own biology.

[@eewilson9835]

Such a great question, I am trying to get better at questions but for entertainment, I'll try an answer. All living things, in a world of waves, humans too, which is a fun organism we all have to navigate our understanding of physics with, play in a time space anomoly like the base of a great clif for enhanced spacial awareness.

[@notricky1680]

Yes, there is kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6qXg3RrfpV5gdUsi=eCUqPvqspeBZdfJ9

[@joel12398]

She makes it sound so genuine i love it. This channel is great

[@ScotsmanDougal]

I for one am really glad you put yourself on film for this. It's good to put a face to the voice.

[@sirBrouwer]

I think it was a diction made by Brian as to make it more difficult for others to steal there content going onwards. or to falsify content as if it comes from them with the use of AI. It's very easy to do so with only tekst on screen and a voiceover. Much harder still to do it with a the show of a talking human face.

[@SuperCuriousFox]

I don’t mind briefly watching someone speak, but it feels like a waste of the video format to “only” look at a speaking person. Showing images/videos/animations relevant to the topic at hand makes it easier to keep focus. Maybe a combination, like a presentation, would be a good compromise.

[@qwertyferix]

​@@SuperCuriousFox I think she should act out everything she says via interpretive dance.

[@johnnyringo35]

Or make it into a pron hub video..... Sex sells after all....

[@scruffles87]

I actually really like seeing faces in these kinds of videos more so nowadays than 2 years ago. As AI starts becoming more prominent I'm sure I'll only come to appreciate it more

[@Mike-kc5ew]

Great video! I just wish you would have expanded a little more on the subject of how water is toxic to them. That raises a lot of questions, like, how can they eat very many people and still be alive?

[@realscience]

I guess they are all very thirsty and dehydrated people lol. But in all seriousness that is a good point

[@jamie7472]

When I was a kid I found a copy of dune at a market stall. I wish I still had that copy. I've been hooked ever since.

[@dr.bright3081]

I mean… you can go buy another copy?

[@jamie7472]

@@dr.bright3081 I did.

[@shinhook2k280]

sentimental value@@dr.bright3081

[@LuisSierra42]

I've been hooked to spice

[@michaelhart7569]

When I was a Grad Student at the University of Washington, I chanced upon an old book in one of the libraries. It was titled "The Tansley Effect". Re--reading Dune for the 10th time, and knowing that Frank Herbert also studied at the University of Washington, my hands started shaking as I took it from the shelf. I thought about stealing the book that probably inspired his visions, but my better instincts prevailed. I wonder what happened to it.

[@danchadwick1495]

There's another way to get rid of heat as we do in the refrigeration industry. Sandworms compress heat within itself and shifts the operation to Silicate based in the range of a thousand degrees. Another operation neglected is electrical welding and cutting, 3d construction, and friction resistance. The substance found in the chrisknife is foundational through out bone and skin structure of the sandworm. Spice would be electrical-neurological binding to all the nerves whether to the sheathe or integral to the nerve, functions as adding processing power attuned to the neurological electrical activity. Not carbon based, therefore indigestible.

[@dre8181]

Beautiful narrating skills, your tone keeps me intrigued. Great science videos!

[@neilrichardson7454]

😊her looks aren't that bad either.

[@gpapich25]

Yes, little upspeak.

[@jhwblender]

I know others have already mentioned it, but just wanted to say it was great to see the face behind the voice and the fun expansion to your normal content. 😊 I'm here for all of it. Thank you for being brave and going out of your comfort zone.

[@achristiananarchist2509]

On the subject of heat dissipation on Arakkis, I think this is one of the examples of a system that we may not be able turn to earthly analogs to explain, since the environment is so different. While life on earth can give us a lot of hints about what extraterrestrial life might be like, it is quite likely that extraterrestrial life will contain unique adaptations to their own environments completely unlike what we would find on earth, and in these situations, I think that considering what sorts of mechanisms could solve *their* problem, rather than looking at earth life, might be more fruitful. Earth is kind of a cool planet, overall. There are a lot more places where getting up to an optimal body temperature is a challenge than where getting rid of heat is the primary problem, and in the places on earth where heat dissipation is the main thermoregulation challenge to deal with, the temperatures being accomodated are nothing compared to the hottest times and places on Arakkis. Living on a relatively cool planet, species on earth have developed various mechanisms to produce heat internally, resulting in the various flavors of "warm blooded" that exist across species on this planet, often combined with heat dissipation mechanisms like sweating to get rid of extra heat produced by the metabolism. On Arakkis, these sorts of mechanisms would never evolve. Nothing freezes to death on Arakkis. The primary thermoregulation challenge is heat dissipation, so why not develop internal metabolic heat dissipation mechanisms like the mechanisms of homeothermy on earth, rather than relying on our relatively inefficient evaporative cooling mechanisms? I considered this during a speculative biology project many years ago, and the solution I came up with wasn't based on biology, but engineering. I looked at how air conditioners work for inspiration. Nitrogenous waste is something all species have to deal with, and we deal with it just by expelling it, but ammonia is a fantastic chemical for absorbing heat. Imagine that instead of the bladder being just a bag that held urine until you could expel it, it contained enzymes that could convert the urea back into ammonia and then pump it into a rigid, blood vessel rich structure where it could expand, absorbing large amounts of heat before being expelled as gaseous waste. The result would be the equivilant of having an old ammonia AC unit inside your body. Perhaps life forms on Arrakis would be separated into "hot blooded", only able to dissipate heat passively and lacking metabolic cooling mechanisms, and "cool blooded", able to dissipate heat chemically using energy derived from the metabolism, rather than "cold blooded" and "warm blooded" as they are here on earth. Sweating may be the Arakkis equivalent of needing to bask to get warm.

[@aaronaragon7838]

I gave you a Thumbs Up for the most creative, intelligent comment on this page. Its also the first, and a guy above garnered 400 Thumbs Up by typing an incomplete thought...go figure.

[@ooooneeee]

I love the idea of an ammonia cooled organism. Speculative biology is rad.

[@TheSilmarillian]

And I thought I turned comments into a blog post no offence meant you nailed it.

[@AdamBlack]

I dont really think Heat Dissapation is a problem for worms. their internal temperatures are much higher than the environment. if they have excess heat they can expell it outside from their anus with sand. ( the real problem is Why they are not shitting glass everywhere? How much of the "rocky environment" was actually created in worm body? )

[@LoneTiger]

7:30 I read a long time ago that some of the biggest dinosaurs may have had hollow bones, just like birds, which provides great structural support and reduced weight, could be similar for the worms. Regarding the heat, a silicon-based life-form would be able to withstand much higher temperatures without any issue, and if needed to cool down, it could simply burrow deeper, where the sand is colder, and exchange its heat against the surrounding cold sand.

[@nicholasayres3265]

Birds are basically dinosaurs - not all died at the end of the Cenozoic.

[@biggestfan.]

The courage required to expand on the scope of your channel is admirable. Content is top notch, as per usual!

[@JustSomeExpat]

Thank you for not being AI. Your efforts are very much appreciated. Giving you a sub.

[@luisfernandes4145]

It's nice to see the face behind the voice. I love all your videos, there's no wonder why you got so many subscribers so fast. Congratulations on your success.

[@Roy_Godiksen]

Never underestimate the value of "science fiction" science. By imagining possibilities, we open the door to opportunities. Lovely to see you, and not just hear you. ❤❤😊😊👋🏼👋🏼

[@drewmorrison]

Yep. While the “science” in science fiction may not be exact. It does lead to the concepts being discovered by keeping the imagination alive

[@emergencyfood3568]

@@drewmorrisonI tend not to enjoy or dabble in this genre. It's as if writers can't or won't design creatures that are different but still ground them in reality. There are certain limits that must be respected when it comes to biology/anatomy/physiology/what have you. When writers refuse to explain, or avoid explaining, how their own creatures work, that's an issue. Expecting readers to do so or simply forcing them to rely on suspension of disbelief is also an issue. I have no interest in works where all logic is thrown out the window for the sake of imagination. Imagination and science can be blended, but writers make no effort and simply exclude the latter completely. Displaying creativity while bound by limitations is the true demonstration of skillful writing, not fabricating impossible lifeforms.

[@MyName-tb9oz]

Yes, @@emergencyfood3568. If you're not a PhD. biologist and mechanical engineer you shouldn't be writing science fiction. Definitely. It's like you think the human species actually knows the limits of technological advances and that nothing could possibly exist if it can't be explained by current science. Arrogant much?

[@shadowraptorplays7163]

Patagotitan is bigger then an Argentinasaurus by the way, but this is a very good and interesting video, I like the videos you make, keep it up.

[@raphaelhonore308]

You were quite good in front of the Camera ! Continue what you are doing ! This is undoubtedly the best biology channel on KZbin !

[@Ramiromasters]

Cool

[@Strype13]

While this was about as far from "real science" as one could possibly get, as a Dune fan, I still found it to be incredibly intriguing. Thanks for sharing, as usual, RS! Keep up the great work!

[@LaineyBug2020]

You did great in camera!

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

to being an alien cheers🤣🤣🤣

[@Kroggnagch]

If one of those things took the energy to cut thru sand for a couple miles to eat 1 human, it would starve to death. Do that more than like 3 times (scurry after a human) and the caloric intake versus the energy output would result in the worms withering away.

[@mrjoe332]

I didn't know the voice has a body. I'm scared! Great video!!!

[@Grungy1]

The worms are silicon-based, including their bones. They get it from the sand. And the heat they produce is why Dune is so hot. They Dissipate the heat in to the sand.

[@misterscottintheway]

Great work stepping out of your comfort zone. You did a really good job and you will only get more comfortable over time. I don't think the two camera setup is adding anything here though. If a second camera angle serves a narrative or functional purpose I'm all for it but on KZbin the presenter is ostensibly speaking to "me" the individual viewer. Seeing the person speaking to me directly and then switching to see that person still speaking to me but from the position of an outside observer is very strange and takes me out of the video every time. 2 camera setups were used originally as a way of covering edits but then became shorthand for high budget network broadcasts who could afford multiple cameras that each cost many tens of thousands of dollars. Anyway it's a little anachronistic and it really wasn't working. Love the Dune content and looking forward to more wonderful informative videos.

[@trazwaggon]

yep, thought the same thing!

[@baconlamb]

Ok so, before I watch, based only on the intro (since I haven't read the dune books), here are some guesses: The sandworms can exist while being that big because they live in sand which provides support - same thing as whales in water. They can move through the sand through some combination of the following: Letting sand pass all the way through their body, air fluidized sand like the mark rober video, and movement by expansion. The spice is a cofactor and works like a vitamin. It can be used to recycle CO2 into O2 or the equivalent at the site in the body where it is used - circulatory system doesn't need to be as fast, is no longer the limiting factor. Magic abilities I don't know anything. The worms get their energy from the heat deeper down in the planet, the amount of energy involved might be the reason only the worms can produce spice, but that doesn't need explaining

[@pwilkinson18]

I watched Dune 2 yesterday and loved it. Had all sorts of questions about the Worms, and you did a great job answering them Next, where did all those people get their food from? I didn’t see a Costco anywhere nearby

[@alanhat5252]

There's large rock-underpinned areas where plants & animals grow.

[@robertmiller9735]

Sealed underground greenhouses, I'd assume. Fremen are quite advanced.

[@pulverizedpeanuts]

7:48 sandworms were there *way* before the harvesters lol

[@theasianone3327]

Not what I was expecting from this channel but still amazingly informative and interesting! Keep up the amazing content

[@VELVETPERSON]

I like your style, please keep it going

[@blairistic]

Did Frank Herbert ever say how much gravity was on Dune? If Dune has less gravity, then the worms would be better able to handle their own mass. But then you'd have to explain why humans walk similar to earth-bound humans; maybe you could say that the Harkkonens and Atraiedes homeworlds also have less gravity, so people have adapted to that level of gravity

[@absalomdraconis]

I believe the gravity is at least similar enough to Earth for the difference to not be important.

[@saadisave]

People won't walk very differently on Mars than they do on Earth, yet Mars has only ⅓ of Earth's gravity

[@duvetboa]

Been reading Dune this week. Page 79, one of Atreides workers says that it's "Nine-tenths of a G by the book."

[@hoppyandhisholidayhelpers1714]

@@saadisave tell that top John Carter.

[@KamikazeChinaman]

Doesn't the liquefaction of sand solve their mass problem?

[@bowenmadden6122]

Yay, speculative biology by the single best biology channel! 🥳

[@r00kie36]

Loved this video, and also loved the nebula show. Still greatful every day I use it that there seems to be enough of a market to sustain a platform like nebula and its content. P.S. Your eyebrow movement seemed regular to me :D

[@Handinmapocket]

What is abundant on Dune is sand, and Sandworms constantly burrow through it. So what if using their furnace-like internal organs and the pressure of it's own body, it can press the sand into a diamond-like material? It's even stronger by weight than steel and isn't as prone to bending, making it ideal to form it's skeleton and saving on weight. Would also go to explaining what it's scales are made of, as it's hard enough to resist the constant abrasion of dry sand.

[@StartouchArts]

That would also explain the crystal-like baleen in their mouths. When growing, they compress the carbons in the sand and somehow turn it into diamond teeth when they get bigger.

[@SubiLifeCo]

Just an awesome review of Sandworms after I just seen the new Dune. Thank you for connecting a face to the voice I have listened to so long. Keep up the great work. Big fan as always

[@egonzlatovlas2304]

A comment for supporting nebula and the beauty in front of a camera. Keep it up! You have nothink to be ashamed of.

[@sampatterson2434]

I love Nebula and am so glad to hear it helps. (I also rewatch on KZbin to hopefully help here as well.) This was great fun, and as a lifelong Dune fan, awesome to think about.

[@TheJECNova]

IIRC, someone mentioned the Dune sandworms are essentially a hybrid living nuclear reactor. If that was the case? That could open the door to a horrific and fascinating range of metabolic production/manufacture.

[@MrSalvarion]

You're doing great on cam. And it was quite fun to watch as an old Dune fan. Many years ago I saw a video somewhat like this speculating over a plausible biology for dragons. They addressed the need for more stomachs and a digestive system, almost like cows, to build up and hold methane, to "lighten" their total body weight making them able to fly (even with hollow bones the skeleton was to large a portion of the body to let them fly otherwise). They also used the methane to breathe fire in rival combats, which was often ended by one part not having enough methane left to both fight and fly. To actually be able to make the fire, they also suggested that they'd have to have minerals as a part of their diet (apart from ofc grass for making the methane). This could potentially mean, that through their diet, they also get a catalyst mineral to spark the fire when they breathe out the methane (in high pressure ofc to avoid a blow back). All in all a very funny and interesting way of making a fantasy creature plausible.

[@TetonTurkey307]

I’ve been watching this channel for a long while now and this is the first time I’ve seen the lady of the voice. Trippin me out! You’re on of my favorite narrators of all time. Do any audio books?

[@chrisbrowning360]

"How much is the normal human amount to move my eyebrows?" lmao ikr

[@thelittlehooer]

A question Elon Musk and Mark Zukerberg are faced with daily

[@annazann7236]

Incredible video! Although the theme is an imagined creature from a nonexistent planet, we are still learning a lot about our own world just by reference. I love your channel and content. It's always fascinating and very well presented.

[@sten4982]

10:36, nice little Hemp seedling there hatching.

[@SnoopyNug]

I’d recognize those true leaves anywhere

[@PS1212]

World: *Needs cancer cure* Biologists: *Can the Sandworm even exist?*

[@GeoffryGifari]

Is it possible that their massive weight together with being tube-shaped (which minimizes surface area) actually make sand behave "more fluid" to the Arrakis sand worms compared to sand-burrowing earth life?

[@theexchipmunk]

It´s probably part of it. The Sand Worm probably would have multiple adaptations working together to make their movement possible, and funnily enougth they fit perfectly with what is described in the books. They are scaled, so you can expect them to be structured for extreamly low friction similar to some earth reptiles that "swim" in sand. Now we get to the density and weight of the sand making it all but solid if you go even a little further under ground. But one point described gives us a hint of what might be happening, the vibrations before a sand worm surfaces. If you vibrate sand, really any form of loose ground, and hit the right frequencys, it liquifies. So long as the material is constantly vibrated, it will act more like a liquid and solid. Add in the enourmous weight to not float up, and you have a neutral boyant, extreamly low friction animal moving through a dense liquid. Like a large animal swiming through water. The fact that it is sand actually is a contributing factor towards the size of the sand worms. Large water animals have a limit because they cannot become to dense to keep swimming, but after a certain point growing larger would force them to become too dense to swim. But if you are submerged in a medium that is a lot more dense than water, like sand for example, you have a higher limit on how dense you can get before you cannot keep swimming anymore and the "liquid" stops being a support. So sand worms could have ridiculously dense skeletal structures and organisms, likely being silica based life they are basically living rock, and still be close to neutral boyent in liquified the sand.

[@styx85]

You moved your eyebrows a perfectly natural amount. Well done!

[@boleidi4936]

I wish there are animals that magnitude on earth to keep humans humble and keep their respect for nature.

[@darklord161]

But hey, that's just a theory A FILM THEORY

[@justhaku9240]

I would absolutely love more biology videos fictional creature's this is awesomeness

[@Liliphant_]

You have the cleanest/clearest enunciated American English I've ever heard, I wish could speak as well as you

[@vigneshrb1626]

To digest those gigantic machines they definitely need a furnace in their stomach

[@_Feyd-Rautha]

I'd never had guessed Real Science and Dune cross paths but how wonderful!! You're like my favorite scientist

[@egorsdeimos3523]

drake vs largest sandworm:

[@pheonixgray6078]

They just gonna slap noodles?

[@egorsdeimos3523]

@@pheonixgray6078 absolute elephant trunk fight. shit gonna rumble the earth

[@warrickterry4742]

I would love a video on what effects increased CO2, would have on biology. Not the external factors like rising oceans, acidification etc.. Those have been covered enough. The context behind this comment is the size of insect life when oxygen levels were higher.

[@josephmiller3672]

I find it slightly ironic that a channel called "Real Science" is talking about the biology of a fictional worm.

[@jhwblender]

True, but I'm here for it 😅

[@pinkace]

I had no idea what Stephanie looked like. After watching literally every single video on this channel it’s cool to put a face behind the voice :)

[@ficus1721]

The sandowrms were clearly inspired by Drake

[@-RandoBando-]

Funny demogorgon😂😂

[@konstantindiachenko4974]

How thankful we should be to live on such a wonderful planet the Earth! There is a Russian saying: "Песок - неважная замена овсу". (Sand is a very poor substitute for oats).

[@TheosLogos]

"Real Science"

[@aliensoup2420]

There is a tremendous amount of scientific "hand-waving" in the DUNE world, particularly on Arrakis. Herbert evades it by casually tossing around a few ecological terms and concepts, but avoids glaring fundamental issues such as entropy and energy exchange. It is enjoyable as long as one doesn't think too much about it.

[@AboundedBoot]

I think you moved your eyebrows a perfectly normal amount

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Having seen some of your videos before where you stayed off-camera, I was pleasantly surprised when you showed your face, this time. I think you did a very good job on-camera and have nothing to worry about!

[@daanbondt3167]

just a question, why can't the sand trouts eat the spice they create?, plants also run of of glucose. To me it would make more sense that they eat the thing they create themselves for a consistent supply of food.

[@mayzydayz611]

I'd love more episodes like this, it's just so fascinating thinking of this stuff!

[@doob8181]

"There a lot of unknowns" .. There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don’t know we don’t know

[@artawhirler]

This video is absolutely brilliant, Stephanie! Great work!! 😊

[@Bobio]

With the way the current internet is headed, we need more anxious aliens sitting in front of cameras. Fun video, keep up the great work!

[@fm4695]

Great job on your production! This must've consumed loads of time and attention - well done. As RE: the biomechanical construction and overall propagation of the sandworms, given that they are indeed fictional, one's imagination can run joyfully and completely wild!!! I've also read the Tolkien and C.S. Lewis epic fiction tales as well (not sure if i've read them all) and the initial Dune trilogy is equally amazing.

[@ThatDollLoopie]

It was nice seeing you talk about this topic, I quite like this interview style format

[@erickenehan9755]

I love this channel so much! Thank you, it’s my fav!

[@williehughes1690]

Man I love videos like this that analyze fictional lifeforms it's always so fascinating.

[@TsuchiGamer06]

As a nerd that thinks about the geology and the ecololgy of a setting while im playing the video game, I love hearing about how multiple generations of nerds have come together to hypothesize about Sand Worms in Dune I love this video

[@timdijkman6772]

it is said somewhere in the original trilogy (the books) that the worms "usually dwell deep under the sand" but are attracted to rithmic noises. sand is not very conductive so it could be a lot cooler down there.

[@davidioanhedges]

I love the speculative biology - and it's conclusion that Sandworms are completely alien, which is hinted at in the books Note : Using a metal instead of using Calcium .... Calcium *Is* a metal, bones are made from mostly calcium phosphate and collagen ..and a lot of gaps ...

[@user-if4nx2jn8r]

This is really cool, I'd like to see more videos like this in the future. I know you can't devote all your time to fictional organisms, but Godzilla, the synthetically evolved/mutated creatures of Resident Evil, there's a lot of really interesting theoretical/sci-fi biology that could be covered in future videos when you want to try a change of pace.

[@tetleyT]

Very nice. Just regarding the dry lightning - I thought that was a real missed opportunity by the filmmakers. What a dramatic and really cinematic way to introduce the worms.

[@longboardfella5306]

Well done. I love your biology deep dives and speculating about what is possible helps us consider what biology can achieve in the real world

[@ethanpowell3203]

I love how these biologists theorized about the biology of a fictional worm for fun basically. I’m here for it.

[@Tman001100]

Ah, Frank Herbert. A creative genius in the literary sense, I'd say. A master storyteller and not too bad on the world-building either lol. He helped paint such an illustrative picture of the appearance and biology of the Dune sandworms with just his words and I think the recent Denis Villeneuve Dune movies accurately depict visually how the sandworms would realistically move through the sand and how the sand would behave upon their terrifying approach. Anyway, great vid and I would LOVE to see you do a collab video with Kyle Hill, js lol.

[@voodoochile7581]

It’s really nice to put a face to your voice. Thank you for the really good videos that you do for us all. ❤️💕

[@keithdvorsky1529]

Gosh, I love your channel

[@amynagtegaal6941]

Sand = made out of silica which is Silicon Di-oxide.. so shed the 2 oxide ions and silicon is left behind, silicon could sustain an electrical charge. If their bones are made out of silicon or partially out of silicon then they could charge up like a capacitor due to the static electricity generated by the sand and then because they are moving they also short-circuit sometimes leading to the capacitance discharge leading to dry lightning, also the sand isn't like totally white sand leaning a bit towards an orange hue, so there could also be some iron in the sand which could also end up in their bodies. Edit: also... Like carbon, also chlorine and silicon are able to sustain complex macro molecules (also keep in mind that on that planet also other elements or different isotopes of elements with very different properties could be naturally present so that even widens the range of elements we could combine to explain the worms)

[@johnnyp2816]

I always taught you were AI voice but to see you on camera in person is amazing..❤

[@DapperDill]

One thing I will always love about science, nothing is ever impossible! Maybe there is an Arrakis out there, we just haven't found it!!!

[@burlacuninel5981]

No worries about the face reveal, it was nice. Everyone feels akward when filmed