Investigating Cancer

“My mummy always said there were no monsters, no real ones, but there are”. Rebecca Jorden Have you ever looked at a problem or puzzle and thought it looks easy to solve, only to realise that you have opened a Pandora’s box. The initial question here being; ‘Is there a plausible scientific connection between the monsters we see on screen in Prometheus and how life has evolved in nature? The simplest way to answer this question is to look at any mythological creature and then see if there is an equivalent in nature. Then trace back through its evolutionary path and see what emerges. A straight forward task you may think. The answer however, lies in the journey we take from getting from point A to point B and through the process of discovery more intriguing questions arise. Have you ever wondered where monsters come from? Why are they here? What is their purpose? Do monsters evolve? When does fiction become reality? Who or What controls evolution? Is evolution under the control of conscious intelligent design processes? To fully give an answer to all these lines of enquiry would take some considerable time. For the purpose of this short article it is somewhat better to just remain mindful of them, as I know that they could be food for thought for anyone wishing to expand upon them. Prometheus is a story about exploration and the origins of life. There are a wide variety of themes and ideas that punctuate the background of the movie, but if we take a closer look at the evolution of life on this planet, it is possible to wonder if there have been other influences at work that have yet to be revealed to us. After all, this is science fiction and we become part of a universe that is synonymous with the exploration of ideas and driven by the question ‘What if ?’ What makes this a special journey is that the story teller is Ridley Scott, who has the gift of creating something that touches science fact and weaves itself into a reality. A very well detailed one at that. This is probably down to what Ridley states as being an all about everything film maker. Having an eye for detail, certainly adds to the flavour of his creativity. What makes Prometheus unique though, is that it already has a background that has evolved out of previous projects. When Alien was released in 1979, the world was introduced to the crew of the Nostromo. Like Prometheus, discovery of alien life was top of the agenda. Given that both crews were tasked with looking for something, and in the high expectation of actually finding something. As we all know, what was discovered in both expeditions is now subject to great debate. Alternatively, both crews could have discovered nothing of great significance, but that does not really make for the stuff of Hollywood movies. So I guess both crews just happened to be in the right place at the right time. From the film Alien we are introduced to the Facehugger. What is so credible about this creature is that its entire form looks natural. There is nothing in its appearance that would suggest that it has come from someone’s imagination. Every part of the creature looks fit for purpose. In some ways it does not appear to be designed for a story, instead it is so convincing we may believe it is real. Why is that? Maybe there is something more to this than meets the eye. So where could the inspiration for creatures like this come from? From another planet? When we look up at a clear night sky, what do our eyes see? Well, any good photographer or artist will tell you that our eyes are always drawn to the point of greatest contrast. As we gaze upon the vast canvass of stars that light up the heavens, we can be forgiven for directing our initial attention towards the brightest points of interest. It is easy to overlook some of the more distant constellations and suns that from earth may not appear to carry any great significance. We can of course look with imagination and try to create a meaning from what we see. We may wish to chart the position of the stars and put names to the patterns that they can form. For those who believe that the stars somehow affect our destiny then we can apply a mythology. Naturally, the most prominent constellations are named first, and the lesser ones last. One of the dimmest constellations is Cancer, the sign of the crab. The same constellation can also be found in ancient Egyptian records represented by the scarab, a sacred emblem of immortality. The zodiac as we know it is based on Greek mythology and is a representation of the twelve trials of Hercules. The sign of Cancer is about how Hercules slew the Lernaean Hydra. Those who are familiar with Greek mythology will be more than aware that there are lots of tales containing extraordinary and fantastic creatures. Take the Lernaean Hydra for instance, which was a serpent-like beast with many heads and poison for blood. It also had breath that could kill. It can be best described as generally unpleasant. Greek mythology does influence the background to the movie Prometheus in many ways and is certainly full of mythical creatures. Today we appear to accept the existence of fantasticl creatures, as if they had at one time been real. More to the point though, why are some creatures more credible than others? Is the amount of credibility a monster has based on something tangible, that already exists and we can relate to. The monsters of Greek mythology were created with a number of functions in mind. To generate fear and tension in an audience would certainly come high on the list. The problem back then though was that people needed a way of visualising monsters, and so one way of doing this, as with the Lernaean Hydra, was to take a known smaller organism and upscale it. The fictitious types of monsters we know today still rely on the skill of the story teller for them to work. The big exception now is that, unlike the ancient Greeks we can make them appear real through the medium of film. At some point fact and fiction need to entwine. This is where Science fiction shines its creative light and where the monsters of the future take on their own evolutionary path. The end result is still the same as the Ancient Greeks though, in that monsters are designed. The big difference now is that the complexity of design has evolved along side us just as our understanding of science and nature has. In 1831 Charles Darwin set off on his five year mission to discover strange new lands and civilizations, and boldly went where no one had been before. After his return Darwin proposed his theory of evolution. Every living creature on this planet, no matter how unusual or exotic, looks the way it does because it has adapted to its environment. Its form follows its function. Our understanding of nature allows us to realise this right down to a cellular level. It is not the case that Darwin stated that man is directly descended from apes. He actually said that it would appear that man shares a common ancestry with apes, which is a different proposal entirely. A common ancestry could even mean that we all evolved from sea creatures. Over 250 million years ago there were creatures known as Trilobites. If we compare the look of a Facehugger to a trilobite you will see that they do have a similar appearance. In a way the facehugger looks like an up scaling of a trilobite. Trilobites also belong to the Phylum classification of Arthropods, which includes insects, arachnids and crustaceans. Although most trilobites are now extinct, there is one that is still with us now. Its blood is not based on iron like most of the other creatures on this planet we are familiar with. Instead its blood uses copper to carry oxygen. It’s an interesting combination of elements making it a tough little son of a bitch. It’s a survivor. Millions of years of evolution would appear to have just passed it by. If you have’nt guessed by now what it is, then I am of course referring to the horseshoe crab. So it would appear there is a plausible connection between what we see on film and what occurs in nature. Is it just a strange coincidence that we have a theme going on in the background that is based on Cancer. What would really swing this line of enquiry is if there are more connections to this theme. One of the main creatures in Prometheus is the Trilobite. In the film there are two designs, but with respect to the visual aspect of the baby trilobite alien, why reference to the word trilobite? A look to the constellation of Cancer and the Greek myth of Hercules, reveals that it has more than likely been originally based on a hydra. Ideas and concepts have then been expanded upon to give us the adult trilobite, so the use of the word trilobite is more of a subtle back reference. Not convinced ? What is interesting about hydra is that they reproduce asexually and are carnivorous. They are currently used in stem cell research which could hold a cure for cancer. There is also a species known as hydra magnipapillata which is being used to shed light on genes that control the evolutionary adaptation of an organism to its environment. What is even more fascinating is that hydra pre date dinosaurs and could actually be considered a point of common ancestry from which life has evolved on this planet. For the purposes of Prometheus there has certainly been a bit of up-scaling gone on along with some artistic modification, but most hydra only get to a size of 30mm in length. It is certainly what I choose to believe, and as david8 says “Big things have small beginnings”. What do you believe? I cannot conclude this article without mentioning the father of creation for the creatures in Prometheus, who is H.R. Giger. When you look at the component parts that make up a hydra, we do see them included in the creatures in both Alien and Prometheus.; The serpent element we see in Prometheus. The mouth mechanism for the xenomorph from Alien, is more than likely a visual interpretation of the mythical hydra’s bad breath. So the Trilobite would most certainly be a nod to the origin of creature. Ridley Scott has given us Prometheus based upon the Greek character. In contrast, just like the constellation of Cancer resides in the night sky, sitting in the background of both Alien and Prometheus is the evolution of an idea by H.R Giger. It’s been with us all the way.