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"Poised between intransigent scepticism and uncritical credulity, it [science fiction] is par excellence the literature of the open mind."
- John Brunner
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| Mining Worm (Organic) | ||
| Genetically altered earthworm created just for mining. |
Mount Lookitthat had valuable ores to mine, and the colonists had lots of little helpers for the job of mining. Just don't let one bite you.
| A mining worm is five inches long and a quarter inch in diameter, mutated from an earthworm. Its grinding orifice is rimmed with little diamond teeth. It ingests metal ores for pleasure, but for food it has to be supplied with blocks of synthetic stuff which is different for each breed of worm - and there's a breed for every metal... What breaks down the ores is a bacterium in the worm's stomach. Then the worm drops metal grains around it's food block, and we sweep them up. |
| Technovelgy from A Gift From Earth,
by Larry Niven. Published by Del Rey in 1968 Additional resources -
|
These little guys are reminiscent of the Hortas of Janus VI, who were also industrious mining creatures (from the orignial 1967 Star Trek episode Devil in the Dark, written by Gene Coon).
The idea of a mining worm predates Niven's work; see the mining worm (robot) from Love Among the Robots by Emmett McDowell, published in 1946.
As an aside, there appears to be a precursor to the idea of Mount Lookitthat, the highest mountain plateau in the universe (or at least in Larry Niven's Known Space). Here's a quote from The Rull (1948) by AE van Vogt:
Mount Monolith, discovered at the same time as the planet, two years before, had been named in the first words spoken about it. “Look at that monolith down there!” On a level plain that column stood, and reared up precipitously to a height of eight thousand two hundred feet. The most majestic pillar in the known universe, it easily qualified as one of the hundred natural wonders of the galaxy.
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from A Gift From Earth
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to A Gift From Earth
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Mining Worm (Organic)-related
news articles:
- Deep Sea Mining Tube Worms
- Evolved Earthworms To Clean Up Toxic Metals
- Earthworms Absorb Copper Nanomaterials From Soil
| Living Human Neuron Biological Compute Rack |
| Biological War: A Scenario |
| What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells? |
| Black Fungus Blocks Radiation |
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'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
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'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
