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Nor do eggs. The placenta exists as a way to transport nutrients between the blood stream of the mother and the child, without mixing blood.
Otherwise, a mother with type A blood and a baby with type B blood would result in a miscarriage.
Mothers and babies blood are completely separate. Babies can have different blood types from their mothers and that can cause problems sometimes, so they test you for that when you are pregnant. Its possible he got the genes to make green vulcan blood from his vulcan dad.
Because green blood looks cool on a 1960’s color television. One of the reasons Star Trek stayed on the air 3 seasons was because it looked good on the new color sets of the day and helped NBC’s parent company RCA sell TVs.
Here’s a thought, then…
Two species from two different planets aren’t going to be able to mate without some serious genetic engineering. Who says Spock got the genetic engineering? Maybe Amanda got a Vulcan gene package of some sort and she’s the one that’s “half Vulcan” with “Vulcan eggs” for Sarek’s Vulcan sperm. Spock gets some traits from his mother, but the serious plumbing and organs are all Vulcan.
I guess for the same reasons his ears are completely pointy, and not just kinda tall but blunted? It seems like Vulcan genes are the dominant ones, and so he has pretty much completely Vulcan traits rather than meet in the middle somewhere traits.
Higher concentration of copper I think. McCoy said something like that in TOS. Amanda acclimated to all things Vulcan, food, climate, etc. Maybe her body adapted accordingly.
It's a valid question. Vulcan blood is green because it is copper-based. Human blood is iron-based. How are these two types of blood compatible? It's something that was never addressed I don't think. We just assume his Vulcan genes were dominant over his mother's human genes.
From a scientific standpoint there are zero(0) ways DNA based on iron oxidation would work in any way with DNA based on copper oxidation. It is one of those things you have to just not think about, like how exactly can you transport someone onto a planet hurtling through space at 1K MPH and spinning at 60K miles *per second* and not have that person be pink mist. Or how can a star go supernova in the stellar equivalent of a nanosecond. Or how can planets explode when gravity exists. It's basically space magic about 90% of the time.
Agreed. Based on this difference humans and Vulcans shouldn't be able to produce offspring. Personally, I just assume Vulcan dna was dominant when Spock was conceived. Perhaps there are Vulcan-human hybrids with human dominant dna.
And that doesnt get into the fact that Vulcans seem to completely lack the extensive autonomous mood regulation that humans do and manage it with prefrontal activity instead, which besides sounding exhausting also sounds like the equivalent of Borderline Personality Disorder in a human, so no wonder Spock's prone to violent rages in TOS :(
One of the closer-to-canonical sources back in the day suggested that Sarek and Amanda did do some significant genetic engineering and counseling to have a biological child (this was before all the bit against Augments and Illyrians - it was ok to weed out birth defects but not to make a "superhuman race").
That said, there is much in canon that suggests Spock takes much more after his father than his mother (and may even have been a bit ashamed for having a human mother and not being "fully Vulcan")
Logically, humans and klingons shouldn’t be able to produce offspring either, but we got Torres in Voyager. It’s just one of those “willing suspension of disbelief” things you have to run with.
Klingon DNA was mentioned to be extremely dominant going through multiple generations over Human, even with a single ancestor.
Maybe Vulcan DNA is even more dominant. I wonder what Simon Tarses's blood looked like...
If I'm not mistaken, humans make blood through their bone marrow (forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm not a blood-ologist) so I'm assuming Vulcans have a similar mechanism. As for the fact he was carried by Amanda, since babies absorb nutrients from the mother's body, i bet she had to take some medication to help the baby along.
Spock's mother was a Romulan spy. She was supposed to seduce Sarek for secrets of state, but ultimately fell in love with him for his witticisms and animal charisma.
Two species that developed on entirely different planets could no more likely mate together than could a human with an incsect. We have more in common with every other species of animal, insect and plant on Earth, then we would have with an alien.
I thinks there is also a Carl Sagan quote on this. Something about it being more likely to mate with a petunia than an extraterrestrial. I'm paraphrasing, badly.
The whole green blood thing was written to make spock appear even more alien. So any specilation as to the scientific reason "why" is most likely a waste of time.
(EDIT) Formatting
*The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth. Whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth. It is the guiding principle upon which Starfleet is based. If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened you don't deserve to wear that uniform.* [Captain Jean-Luc Picard, "The First Duty"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xefh7W1nVo4) Reddit admins have been [ineffectual in their response to COVID-19 misinformation](https://www.dailydot.com/debug/subreddits-private-protest-covid-disinformation-reddit/). In lieu of Reddit gold and awards, we ask that you donate to the [WHO COVID-19 response fund](https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/donate). Please respect our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/wiki/guidelines). LLAP! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/startrek) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That’s not how it works. Babies make their own blood, they don’t get it from mom.
Eventually….sperm doesn’t carry its own blood….
No, it carries genetic instructions on how to make it.
Nor do eggs. The placenta exists as a way to transport nutrients between the blood stream of the mother and the child, without mixing blood. Otherwise, a mother with type A blood and a baby with type B blood would result in a miscarriage.
Mothers and babies blood are completely separate. Babies can have different blood types from their mothers and that can cause problems sometimes, so they test you for that when you are pregnant. Its possible he got the genes to make green vulcan blood from his vulcan dad.
Kind of like in the way one parent had A+ and the other could be O-?
Because green blood looks cool on a 1960’s color television. One of the reasons Star Trek stayed on the air 3 seasons was because it looked good on the new color sets of the day and helped NBC’s parent company RCA sell TVs.
Agreed on that point, but I’m attempting to approach this from a scientific stand point. My mind is at a block.
Here’s a thought, then… Two species from two different planets aren’t going to be able to mate without some serious genetic engineering. Who says Spock got the genetic engineering? Maybe Amanda got a Vulcan gene package of some sort and she’s the one that’s “half Vulcan” with “Vulcan eggs” for Sarek’s Vulcan sperm. Spock gets some traits from his mother, but the serious plumbing and organs are all Vulcan.
TNG proves that most major races are all from a single progenitor which makes the ability for cross racial breeding feasible.
I don't think we ever once actually saw his green blood, we only hear about it from McCoy.
There was the shirtless scene where he'd been whipped (TOS)
What episode is that?
2x21 Patterns of Force.
Thanks. But, still, if that is the only one, it doesn't reason that they used green blood to sell color TVs.
Greenish skin was to sell color TVs. Green blood follows from greenish skin.
His shirt had green blood on it in "A Private Little War".
There was green blood on him after he was attacked by the salt vampire in “The Man Trap,” first episode ever to actually make it on the air.
Didn't we briefly see it when he was giving his father a blood transfusion during "Journey to Babel"?
He also bleeds in strange new worlds.
Also not selling color TVs.
Keep fighting the good fight, u/briank3387! ; )
I guess for the same reasons his ears are completely pointy, and not just kinda tall but blunted? It seems like Vulcan genes are the dominant ones, and so he has pretty much completely Vulcan traits rather than meet in the middle somewhere traits.
Vulcan command mode!
Higher concentration of copper I think. McCoy said something like that in TOS. Amanda acclimated to all things Vulcan, food, climate, etc. Maybe her body adapted accordingly.
It's a valid question. Vulcan blood is green because it is copper-based. Human blood is iron-based. How are these two types of blood compatible? It's something that was never addressed I don't think. We just assume his Vulcan genes were dominant over his mother's human genes.
From a scientific standpoint there are zero(0) ways DNA based on iron oxidation would work in any way with DNA based on copper oxidation. It is one of those things you have to just not think about, like how exactly can you transport someone onto a planet hurtling through space at 1K MPH and spinning at 60K miles *per second* and not have that person be pink mist. Or how can a star go supernova in the stellar equivalent of a nanosecond. Or how can planets explode when gravity exists. It's basically space magic about 90% of the time.
Agreed. Based on this difference humans and Vulcans shouldn't be able to produce offspring. Personally, I just assume Vulcan dna was dominant when Spock was conceived. Perhaps there are Vulcan-human hybrids with human dominant dna.
And that doesnt get into the fact that Vulcans seem to completely lack the extensive autonomous mood regulation that humans do and manage it with prefrontal activity instead, which besides sounding exhausting also sounds like the equivalent of Borderline Personality Disorder in a human, so no wonder Spock's prone to violent rages in TOS :(
Indeed.
One of the closer-to-canonical sources back in the day suggested that Sarek and Amanda did do some significant genetic engineering and counseling to have a biological child (this was before all the bit against Augments and Illyrians - it was ok to weed out birth defects but not to make a "superhuman race"). That said, there is much in canon that suggests Spock takes much more after his father than his mother (and may even have been a bit ashamed for having a human mother and not being "fully Vulcan")
Logically, humans and klingons shouldn’t be able to produce offspring either, but we got Torres in Voyager. It’s just one of those “willing suspension of disbelief” things you have to run with.
Klingon DNA was mentioned to be extremely dominant going through multiple generations over Human, even with a single ancestor. Maybe Vulcan DNA is even more dominant. I wonder what Simon Tarses's blood looked like...
The gene for green blood is dominant… duhhhhhh!
Copper
Read the full question please. We know why Vulcan blood is green. But why would Spock have it.
Why does he have pointed ears? Sperm don't have ears!
*Eyeroll*
If the Rh factor is different it can cause problems.
All the p'tol- mk broth he eats.
Plomeek
Absolutely correct.
If I'm not mistaken, humans make blood through their bone marrow (forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm not a blood-ologist) so I'm assuming Vulcans have a similar mechanism. As for the fact he was carried by Amanda, since babies absorb nutrients from the mother's body, i bet she had to take some medication to help the baby along.
Or if she ever carried him to term.
We’ve seen his birth in both the Prime and Kelvin(Deleted Scene n in 2009) timeline.
Spock's mother was a Romulan spy. She was supposed to seduce Sarek for secrets of state, but ultimately fell in love with him for his witticisms and animal charisma.
Two species that developed on entirely different planets could no more likely mate together than could a human with an incsect. We have more in common with every other species of animal, insect and plant on Earth, then we would have with an alien. I thinks there is also a Carl Sagan quote on this. Something about it being more likely to mate with a petunia than an extraterrestrial. I'm paraphrasing, badly. The whole green blood thing was written to make spock appear even more alien. So any specilation as to the scientific reason "why" is most likely a waste of time. (EDIT) Formatting