Mass Effect - Xenobiology 101

The space opera genre got a big new player in 2007 when Mass Effect was released. Centring around the player character, Commander Shepard, you explored the galaxy, saving planets, and being generally heroic. Whilst the latest entry in the series, Mass Effect 3, was the source of some controversy, it was the final part of a trilogy that let us explore an incredibly detailed and well built world, full of interesting characters and some of the most fascinating alien species ever seen.

The Set-Up:

The Mass Effect universe is home to a wide variety of different alien species. There's the Asari, a species of blue-skinned all-female aliens, the Turians, who are avian-like humanoids with metallic exoskeletons, and the Krogans, a species of angry, eight foot tall frog-like things. This time around, I'm going to take a slightly different approach, giving a quick look to each species, then looking at some real world comparisons with each of the species. Let's get started.

The Science:

The Asari: 

In the games, the asari are an interesting race because they are mono-gendered: that is, only females of the species exist. They mate in the game by using another species' DNA to randomise the genes of their offspring, as bizarre as that sounds.

Whilst there's no real example of this in the real world, there is are quite a few examples of species that only have one gender, or at least, don't have two. Snails, for example are hermaphroditic, and will trade sperm during mating. This means that both participants become pregnant, so both can continue the species, which is a handy evolutionary trick.

The Turians:

Whilst it isn't mentioned a great amount within the games, the turians are shown to have dark blue blood. Whilst this might seem to be nothing but a way to make them seem a little more alien, there's actually some sound biology behind it. In humans, oxygen is carried around the the blood by haemoglobin, which is made up of iron molecules. The oxygenated iron in our blood is what gives it its distinctive red colour. There's another kind of oxygen transporter found on earth however, called haemocyanin, which uses copper molecules instead of iron. As a result, this gives the blood of certain molluscs and crabs, which use haemocyanin rather than haemoglobin, a distinctive blue colour. Since the turians share many physiological similarities with arthropods, such as a tough exoskeleton and a low oxygen pressure habitat, we can assume they also use haemocyanin to transport oxygen in their blood.

The Krogan:

The Krogan are hands down the toughest species in the Mass Effect universe, having come from a planet where almost everything is trying to kill you. As strange as it sounds, they actually have similarities to our camels. The krogans, for example, have a hump on their backs which stores fluids and nutrients for later use. Similarly, a camel's hump contains large deposits of fatty tissues which serves numerous purposes. Primarily, it reduces the insulation fat provides, which helps the cool down in the hot climates. More relevantly, it provides them with an energy store that they can access in the absence of food. Another similar adaptations that both camels and the krogan demonstrate is the ability to eat food that might be considered dangerous. The krogans have an adapted digestive system which allows them to consume otherwise dangerous foods. Not quite as extremely, the mouth of a camel has a thick leathery lining, which allows them to safely consume any thorny desert plans without causing damage to their mouths. 

It's clear to see that the developers of the Mass Effect universe have drawn a lot of inspiration from the real world in creating their aliens. There's nothing so incredibly far-fetched that it could never happen, but it's still far enough aware from reality that it's definitely "science fiction".

Of course, there's a lot of physics in Mass Effect as well, but I'm not a physicist, so I'll have to come back to that one next time.