The Asari

Starships	Invisibility	Introduction	The Asari	Bibliography

The Asari

According to the Mass Effect Wikipedia: "The Asari, native to the planet Thessia, are often considered the most powerful and respected sentient species in the galaxy, and are known for their elegance, diplomacy, and biotic aptitude." "A mono-gender race, the asari are distinctly feminine in appearance and possess maternal instincts. Their unique physiology, expressed in a millennia-long lifespan and the ability to reproduce with a partner of any gender or species, gives them a conservative yet convivial attitude toward other races." Not only are the Asari known for their beauty, but also for their powerful natural biotic powers and long lifespan. Biotics			Gif Source
Biotics can be compared to The Force of Star Wars. A being with biotics can levitate objects and create gravitational vortexes that can destroy any enemy. Biotic powers are caused by Mass Effect Fields, and since the Asari have naturally occurring biotics, the Mass Effect Fields are created by their nervous system. However other races can have biotics also! They imbed chips of Element Zero into their skin, and as you know: Mass Effect Fields are created when electrical current is run through Element Zero. So the other races nervous system would send impulses to these chips, giving them biotics like the Asari. Is it actually possible to have powers like this? Well the answer is yes and no.			This graphic shows one of the games characters using his biotic powers to push the camera back. Gif Source
Unfortunately we wont be able to have biotic powers like the Asari in terms of summoning biotic throws from our body, or knock down opponents with cascading energy waves. However, we might just be able to move objects with our minds! Dr. Michio Kaku's talks in depth about biotics, or psychokinesis, in his book Physics of The Impossible. He states: "The problem with studying psychokinesis, even its advocates admit, is that it does not easily conform to the known laws of physics." (93, Physics of the Impossible) "Gravity, the weakest force in the universe, is only attractive and cannot be used to levitate or repel objects." (93, Physics of the Impossible) "Another problem... is the energy supply. The human body can produce only about one-fifth of a horsepower, yet when Yoda in Star Wars levitated an entire starship by the power of his mind, or when Cyclops unleashed bolts of laser power from his eyes, these cannot amass the amount of energy necessary to lift a starship." (93, Physics of the Impossible) So if gravity can't levitate or repel objects what can? What can do the sort of things Yoda or the Asari can do? Well according to Dr. Michio Kaku there are basically two ways: Superconductors and electromagnets. He said if we used superconductors in our walls and had electromagnets in our household objects that we could levitate objects. We could even hook our brain up to a computer which in tern can activate certain electromagnets we could choose to levitate objects at will! Unfortunately this is far from the Mass Effect version.			Here is a graphic of an Asari using her biotics to cast a huge blast of energy, throwing back her enemies.

Aging Like I mentioned above, the Asari are known also for their long lifespan. An Asari can live to be one thousand years old! Realistically this would be helpful in exploring space. Since the Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light-years across, it would take 50,000 years to get to the outer rim traveling at the speed of light. Even with the one thousand year lifespan you couldn't make it. However if you had a faster than light ship you could! With a lifespan of one thousand years it just might be possible for people to actually travel to other planets and maybe even meet other species! It's impossible to live for one thousand years you say? First off, aging is caused by the damaging of DNA over time and one man think he has an answer.			Image Source Here is an image of the main character and her love interest Liara T'Soni who is only one hundred and six years old!
Dr. Aubrey De Grey has been doing research for aging at the SENS Foundation. According to a Daily Mail interview with Dr. Aubrey De Grey: "Even more incredibly, Aubrey De Grey believes that the first person to live for 1,000 years will be born in the next two decades." One such way he is trying to do this is by using stem cells and enzymes: "Stem cell therapy is a big party of this. It's designed to reverse one type of damage, namely the loss of cells when cells die and are not automatically replaced." "Dr. De Grey is working with colleagues in the U.S. to identify enzymes in other species that can break down the garbage and clean out the cells and the aim then is to devise genetic therapies to give this capability to humans." So currently there is much research going on towards finding a cure for aging. Probably one of the only thing holding them back is funding. We might be decades away from truly finding a cure for aging and even further for implementing it, but it's a possibility I can't wait to see!			Image Source Here is another image of Liara. Who again looks like she is in her twenties when she is actually 106.