A common sci-fi or horror trope of creatures gone amok is that they somehow become immune to “all known chemical deterrents or weapons” to explain why we can’t just kill these evil ants or wasps. Usually this isn’t even supernatural it’s that “the bugs are so smart they accelerated their own evolution!” which somehow means they can make themselves immune to normal chemicals through sheer willpower.
I’m curious if this can actually happen, obviously not this quickly but could you eventually say bioengineer yourself a cockroach where literally no chemicals can kill it?
All life on Earth, as far as we know, share a common ancestor. Through billions of years of evolution our biosphere has created a mind-boggling diversity of species, each equipped with their own ways of coping with surviving, thriving, and protecting themselves in our somewhat varied, somewhat extreme environment. They do a pretty good job with it.
But, imagine a biosphere that evolved on a planet with much more extreme conditions than Earth. We would likely have less in common with any of those alien species, than humans have with, say, a tree, or a microbe, or a fungi, etc… It’s not inconceivable that species who evolved on a hyper extreme planet could be impervious to any conditions on Earth.
An organism adapted to a hyper-extreme world could have:
Ultra-dense exoskeletons or internal support structures to withstand immense gravity.
Radiation-resistant biochemistry, possibly using novel cellular repair mechanisms or completely different molecular structures that don’t break down under high-energy bombardment.
Metabolism optimized for scarcity, making Earth’s abundant resources seem like an all-you-can-eat buffet.
Resilience to a wide range of temperatures, making our hottest and coldest regions equally hospitable.
And if such beings ever arrived here, they might find our concept of “hardship” laughable. A hurricane? A mild breeze. The vacuum of space? Just another environment. Deep-sea pressures? Child’s play.
An alien hailing from a hostile world could come to our mild little planet and shrug off conditions that would send Earth’s mightiest organisms running for cover. They’d consider Earth, with its relatively temperate climate, moderate radiation, and abundant resources, a veritable paradise—and likely be quite content living here. Let’s hope they’re friendly.
I should say I’m considering Earth creatures who just happen to either hyper-evolve or are bioengineered not something that’s literally completely alien to Earth.
Sticking with Earth-based life IMO the answer remains “No, they cannot become invincible”. But we need to define our terms a bit more precisely.
As applied to human warfare “chemical weapons” typically implies something that interferes with microscopic life processes, resulting in macro death. But don’t refer to things that disrupt the physical integrity of the targets. So not an explosion, fire, shrapnel, speeding lead slugs, etc. Those are “conventional” weapons, not chemical ones.
Where does e.g. “strong acid” fall on that spectrum? If we drop a roach into hydrofluouric acid, the result is pretty explosive and pretty instant. No roach. A “bug spray” of that stuff will make a real mess out of your house, but will also disassociate pretty much any organic compound. Which are pretty much the only kind animals are made of.
So is that a “chemical weapon”? It’s sure a chemical (non-kinetic) reaction with the animal tissue that’s rendering said tissue non-functional.
Not sure if these count as animals, but there are bacteria and Archaea that can withstand 3X to 6X times more radiation than a tardigrade, at least according to the table on this page.
I doubt it. Even if something is resistant to one factor, it will probably be vulnerable to other factors, possibly precisely for that reason.
This is why I neve liked that trope, nd admire movies in which some other reason is presented for not blasting the creature, such as “If you blow it to smithereens, each of the parts will grow into a new monster” (Reptilicus, The Blob, Robert Sheckley’s short story “The Leech”), or “The monster is sick and filled with deadly microbes that are killing people who come in contact with its blood, or breathe the air near its blood. Blow it up and you’ll have that all over the city.” (The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms) , or “The creature has no vital organs to hit. If you want to kill it you’ll have to put it through a meat grinder.” (various Robert Heinleun creatures).
Behold the mealybug, virtually impervious to all known chemical weapons. And I’ve tried most of them.
They can be dissolved by soaking in alcohol, but using enough to eradicate mealybugs can also kill the plant. Like destroying the village in order to save it.
Bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics is a classic example of natural selection and evolution in action—but on fast-forward. Within any bacterial population, there is natural genetic variation. Some bacteria may randomly acquire mutations that make them slightly less susceptible to an antibiotic.
When antibiotics are introduced, they kill most of the bacteria. However, if even a few bacteria have a resistance mutation, they survive and reproduce, passing their resistance genes to the next generation. This resistance spreads through:
Vertical gene transfer (parent to offspring)
Horizontal gene transfer (swapping genes between bacteria using plasmids)
As this cycle repeats, resistant strains become dominant, leading to the rise of superbugs—bacteria that antibiotics can no longer kill. This is why new antibiotics must constantly be developed to keep up with bacterial evolution.
Bacteria reproduce rapidly—sometimes in minutes or hours—which allows resistance to evolve much faster than in larger animals. The same evolutionary process could occur in animals, but it would take thousands to millions of years, as they reproduce more slowly and have fewer offspring.
Could animals evolve resistance to extreme chemicals like hydrofluoric acid (HF)? Some animals and insects have evolved resistance to toxins (e.g., pesticide-resistant insects and poison-resistant rats). But, chemicals like HF are exceptionally toxic and immediately lethal. Developing resistance to HF would require a fundamental biochemical shift in how an organism’s cell membranes, proteins, and calcium metabolism function (possibly through radical bio-engineering).
The most realistic use (to me as a mere reader or viewer) of the SF trope is evolved resistance to chemicals and radiation. I can imagine several life forms eventually becoming impervious to toxins that would kill their present species. I suspect that would take thousands of generations of gradual exposure to those toxins and radiation.
I was involved with a project for handling phosphine, PH3. As I understand it, PH3 is used for fumigation, mostly import/export (wood products, textiles) but also those whole-structure tent pest extermination jobs. It’s explosive and can ignite on contact with air and is by any definition a chemical weapon of mass destruction. I’m just a vendor support rep for another contractor and, while I often wish I could get out into the field more, I’m happy to stay far away from this end user.
Apparently, insects are becoming resistant to even phosphine and it’s very very toxic.
I’ve tasted some really weird things in my life, but bugs in alcohol is novel. (I have not been to Vietnam et al, where scorpians appear to play a large role in certain novelty beverages)
Back to topic, tardigrades probably could survive phosgene, but I am not the man to try the experiment.
I think Scudsucker wins the prize with Tardigrade. I watched a segment on them, and they are almost unbelievable in terms of their ability to survive virtually anything.
Not that I know of. But if you visit YouTube and search on “hydrofluoric acid” you’ll probably find bunches of “Wow, that blowed up good” vids.
Note that’s hydrofluoric, not hydrochloric. Good bet that if you flub the spelling, autocorrect or “here’s results for the search we guess you really meant, not what you said” will lean heavily towards the chloric interpretation.
Hydrofluoric acid is also unsettlingly dangerous. It will dissolve glass bottles (it’s stored in plastic bottles, and used to be stored in wax-covered glass bottles). If you get it on your skin it can star to leach into your skin and eventually attack the bone. You won’t feel this because it deadens the nerves. The cure for this is to cut away the affected tissue. It happened to a crystal grower I knew. People who have to work with this keep calcium gluconate gel handy to counteract it.
