Blue skin? Cool, but how?

Started by Teyl Maktoyu Ayfìwopxä, May 20, 2010, 01:20:08 PM

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Suzy

Another blue Earth creature: a blue poison dart frog (Na'vi frog!).

ToktorGrace

#21
Humans' skin colors depend on absorbing vitamin D into our systems - people of lighter skin live in areas with less sunlight, and the lighter skin therefore allows them to absorb more vitamin D while those at the equatorial regions have darker skin, which will less likely burn in the constant sun exposure.

I believe the Na'vi either do not need to synthesize vitamin D like we do - or they have other types of chemicals/light that they need to absorb that would warrant blue pigmentation (given that the forests are more green than blue).

Just my two cents...

EDIT: Also... tigers have striped skin as well as striped fur FYI :3
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omängum fra'uti

Heh beaten by an hour, I was going to say the same thing about tigers.

And if you think human skin is not colored, you would be mistaken.  Human skin is pigmented with melanin.  On Earth, melanin is a very common pigment because it offers excellent protection against the UV rays of the sun.  If on Pandora some evolutionary pressure developed a better pigment, you can bet that it would be as common on Pandora is melanin is on Earth.
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Ku'rända

All that CO2 gone and turned their blood blue!

Well, I would say that, if it weren't for clips showing them with red blood :P

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Human No More

#24
Quote from: Ikranä mokri on May 22, 2010, 04:56:22 AM
you also have to remember that alpha centuari (dont think is correct spelling) is a binary star system, in that it has 2 starts which are much brighter than our sun (or sol as it should be called) the different light could have had an effect
The stars are far enough apart (~0.2 light years) that Alpha Centauri B would appear brightly, but not actually cause significant changes in daylight.

Blue blends in fairly well with the forest and so arguably could be evolutionarily as a survival advantage. It's equally possible that other skin pigments just did not evolve or that blue was selected for as a preference (the prolemuris, an obvious evolutionary link between the Na'vi and the six-limbed creatures, have blue skin with darker parts (although in a different pattern to Na'vi markings) and areas of yellow and black which could have been selected against over time in the Na'vi)
It could also be related to the star's emission spectrum, in terms of wavelengths which are reflected.

Red blood wouldn't affect skin colour, there are animals on Earth with red blood and different skin colours (and humans with tattoos show the same principle there), blood doesn't have a lot of influence on skin colour other than in cases where it is diverted much closer or further form the skin surface when the body is at a temperature extreme - I did notice that when Jake was climbing Iknimaya, his face looked darker blue than usual which would be the same effect, in which case presence of more blood nearer the skin for cooling would just increase the prominence of the colours present and make them appear darker as less light would be reflected.
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ToktorGrace

Quote from: Human No More on October 30, 2010, 10:01:35 AM

It could also be related to the star's emission spectrum, in terms of wavelengths which are reflected.


This is in part what I was trying to allude to without much success XD

Basically if they have blue pigmentation their bodies are absorbing the other light colors of the spectrum, and this may have something to do with it...

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.  - St. Augustine

 



I speak Na'vi with a French accent...

Kactima

Probably the same way human skin color is determined. Coloured by Melanin, an Omnipresence substance or pigment. The Melanin dyes skin colour, Iris colour, and Hair colour. The Genes SLC45A2, Agouti signalling peptide, monophenol monooxygenase, OCA2, and SLC24A5 all play a small role in determining colours. In Na'vi, its possible that the same process occurs.  ???
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Meynari Ke'nawm

#27
Maybe it's a chemical reaction (possibly related to the bioluminescent freckles?). Maybe to live on Pandora, the Na'vi cells are specialized and reinforced with some type of chemical. That sounds about right, but who knows what could happen with all that chlorine in the air! 

Quote from: MIPP on May 20, 2010, 01:31:46 PM
Quote from: Mìhìl on May 20, 2010, 01:20:08 PM
I'm not sure anybody asked themselves before.

But why is the Na'vi skin blue?
It can possibly be as camouflage in certain forest areas,
but that would include a major genetical change.
We humans have lived in forests for ages, and still our skin hasnt turned green.
The only reason skincolour changes on Earth is because of the sun.
How did the Na'vi do it? Anyone?

Let's not compare Na'vi people with humans.
Let's think on Na'vi people as animals. Here, on Earth, we have lots of animals who have changed the skin tone to camuflate.
For example, we have Polar Bears. They are white because they live in a white place, so they can camuflate.
Chamaleon can change its color anytime.
it happens because some animals have microscopic natural pigments that product colors automatically.
Other way is by microscopic fibers. Those act as prisms that reflect and scatter the visible color. That way, a certain combination of color is reflected. As an example, the polor bears, have a black skin, but it seems white because it has translucent hair.
Also some reptiles have a layer of yellow skin, and then a layer with blue which scatters the color to reflect the blue color.

By the way, in Pandora, things may not happen as here do. They may be blue just because they are ::)
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omängum fra'uti

There isn't a lack of oxygen on Pandora, hence why the exopacks just filter the air.
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Kactima

The Pandoran atmosphere is Based on Carbon Dioxide. The Na'vi's lungs are made to Breath in Carbon Dioxide and breath out oxygen  ??? anyway there blood is red and carry's carbon around the body.
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omängum fra'uti

No it is still oxygen/nitrogen based, there is just much higher levels of other things like CO2, among others. The Na'vi still breath oxygen, and as such still have red blood. On Pandorapedia you should be able to find the numbers, but the Oxygen level is comparable to Earth.
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Kactima

the pandoran atmosphere is 20% denser then ours. more then 18% co2. traces of hydrogen sulfide, and xenon is found.
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Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan)

this was brought up somewhere else in the thread "na'vi biology" trust me... it was... i remember we came to an agreement that it was mostly because of the gas giant and "things" it emits that hits pandora.
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Kactima

Things that are emi....... Does that even apply to real world biology, I mean if we we're to live on one of Jupiter's moons I don't think we would turn red,  :P
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Ku'rända

Quote from: Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan) on November 03, 2010, 12:20:48 AM
this was brought up somewhere else in the thread "na'vi biology" trust me... it was... i remember we came to an agreement that it was mostly because of the gas giant and "things" it emits that hits pandora.

If it were gas changing the light spectrum, then humans would be blue too.

Give us a chance, MORON!

Amaya

Quote from: Ku'rända on November 04, 2010, 10:35:07 PM
Quote from: Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan) on November 03, 2010, 12:20:48 AM
this was brought up somewhere else in the thread "na'vi biology" trust me... it was... i remember we came to an agreement that it was mostly because of the gas giant and "things" it emits that hits pandora.

If it were gas changing the light spectrum, then humans would be blue too.

What KaPTan means is radiation from the gas giant, not gas in the atmosphere, I think.

Kactima

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Ku'rända

Quote from: Amaya on November 04, 2010, 10:42:49 PM
Quote from: Ku'rända on November 04, 2010, 10:35:07 PM
Quote from: Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan) on November 03, 2010, 12:20:48 AM
this was brought up somewhere else in the thread "na'vi biology" trust me... it was... i remember we came to an agreement that it was mostly because of the gas giant and "things" it emits that hits pandora.

If it were gas changing the light spectrum, then humans would be blue too.

What KaPTan means is radiation from the gas giant, not gas in the atmosphere, I think.

Okay but...  That would imply exposure..  Lot's of the staff (Grace, for example) have been there for years, and they're still light-skinned, yet in the movie, babies and children are blue right from the get go.

Give us a chance, MORON!

Syaron

On Erta stripped animals have stripped skin in a lot of cases. Maybe in the Na'vi evolution they had blue stripped fur and then lost the fur over time. We humans certainly used to be more furry given the fossile record. Blue fur for their color spectrum would not be out of the question.

Syaron
Shara

Kactima

you know that could be a possibility, Theory's of evolution
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