# ­xkcd thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 28, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574 "2020-05-28T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 227
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4523 "2025-06-26T16:57:57Z")
The trick is to invent self-replicating balloons. . ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4524 "2025-06-26T17:16:40Z")
It’s never happened as far as we have any record of, but it’s not hard to postulate some organism evolving methane-filled bladders for dispersing prodigy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4525 "2025-06-26T17:59:18Z")
Blimp sex! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4526 "2025-06-26T18:02:50Z")
No body shaming! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4527 "2025-06-26T19:31:58Z")
Or a life form that can generate hydrogen using electrolysis. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4528 "2025-06-26T19:38:32Z")
Somehow this became the “Ask about an SF story ID” thread… it’s _Jem_, by Frederik Pohl. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4529 "2025-06-26T19:40:13Z")
There are a number of living-blimp organisms in science fiction. 2010 mentions some living in Jupiter, and there are a race of them in Schlock Mercenary, off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4530 "2025-06-26T19:43:03Z")
The _Bobiverse_ stories also have many blimp-like lifeforms that live in the atmospheres of various gas giants in the galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4531 "2025-06-26T19:45:52Z")
The Vorkosiverse’s Sergyar has them, including “Vampire Balloons” that floated until they found a victim. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4532 "2025-06-26T19:52:03Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > There are a number of living-blimp organisms in science fiction. 2010 mentions some living in Jupiter That wasn’t the first instance of living Jupiter blimps in Clarke’s writing. There was at least one previous example, although I can’t remember title. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4533 "2025-06-26T22:09:17Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Or a life form that can generate hydrogen using electrolysis. I thought of that and hydrogen would be a more effective lifting gas; but on the other hand if there’s any microorganism that emits hydrogen I’ve not heard of it, whereas methane production is extremely common. > [@dtilque](#): > > That wasn’t the first instance of living Jupiter blimps in Clarke’s writing. There was at least one previous example, although I can’t remember title. “A Meeting With Medusa” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4534 "2025-06-26T22:33:44Z")
There’s one that produces ethanol and hydrogen: > **[Hydrogenispora ethanolica gen. nov., sp. nov., an anaerobic...](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24554637/)** > > An anaerobic, spore-forming, ethanol-hydrogen-coproducing bacterium, designated LX-BT, was isolated from an anaerobic sludge treating herbicide wastewater. Cells of strain LX-BT were non-motile rods (0.3-0.5×3.0-18.0 µm). Spores were terminal with a... The ethanol helps with the blimp sex, maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4535 "2025-06-26T22:36:58Z")
Interesting, but does the microbe produce a surplus of hydrogen as a discarded waste product or is it all consumed in other metabolic processes? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4536 "2025-06-26T22:41:21Z")
Seems like a waste product to me, but I don’t know any more than what’s in the abstract. I’d vaguely heard of hydrogen-producing bacteria before in the context of industrial hydrogen production. I figured there must be one that was naturally occurring. This was the first I found. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4537 "2025-06-26T22:51:14Z")
You got that idea from Rom, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4538 "2025-06-27T00:17:35Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The ethanol helps with the blimp sex, maybe. I’m thinking it’s probably real slow and kinda bouncy. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4539 "2025-06-27T00:17:39Z")
Rom’s an idiot. He couldn’t fix a straw if it was bent. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4540 "2025-06-27T00:20:28Z")
We’re gonna get to see some version of that when Starships start docking in space. Including the fluid transfer. It’ll be real slow, but hopefully not too bouncy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4541 "2025-06-27T00:37:43Z")
I’m envisioning a mild midair collision between two Goodyear blimps. The reality would be catastrophic but the cartoon version in my head is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574/4542 "2025-06-27T04:45:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Blimp sex! … _the horror_ … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=226) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xkcd-thread/854574.md?page=228)