Can one live without bones?

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Feb 13, 2008
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Ok...there is a way...BUT you'd have to be smaller than a spider, because any size over that is unable to fill it's lungs with air, and therefore asphyxiates.

Anything smaller than a spider though, can do it with cartilage instead of bone. Hence insects being boneless.
 

Treblaine

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Jul 25, 2008
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Well if you "removed" the bones for a human using magic (it's the only way I can think), then they would die within seconds unless they were suspended in water (body tissue is about water density so sensitive parts would not be crushed). The internal organs should all work relatively normally for a while but a machine would have to actively blow air down the throat into the lungs to inflate and deflate them.

There are land mammals that don't need bones such as slugs and of course insects that technically don't have bones but an exoskeleton;

Arms-tech President Kenneth Baker: "Th-that exoskeleton....aaauuughh!"

But all of this is completely academic as there is no real way someone's bones can disappear or waste away without killing them in the process. What is possible is the bones turning back to collagen so that they are as floppy as the collagen in your ear, I is possible from a biochemistry perpsective but I have heard of no recorded cases.
 

Sethran

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Jun 15, 2008
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In human beings, our blood is created by the marrow in our bones.

Without our bones we'd have no blood and would not live.

End of discussion, really.
 

Limasol

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Feb 8, 2008
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Because both red and white blood cells are created in the marrow the people who added this point are all correct, i'm a bit annoyed i missed that. However simply rpeating what i said isn't as credible.

It's not an assumption that he means humans, could "you" survive without bones...... without life support. Kinda suggesting a human debate.
 

no.soap.radio

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Aug 6, 2008
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first of all you would not be able to move which means your souldnt breathe wich mean your lungs would collapse. and even if you lugs didnt collapse you would lask the abilily to make and blood cells or platalets. so i hope you dont get a scratch.
 

JC123

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Apr 10, 2008
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At our size, no. Smaller, you could have an exoskeleton instead. Gravity ruins it otherwise.

/Zoology student high and mighty feeling.
 

mark_n_b

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Mar 24, 2008
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Ever wonder how Peter Griffin's head maintained its shape without a skull?

Could a Human Being survive without bones without life support? No, that's stupid. Even assuming a fetus formed without a skeletal system (the most likely way something like this would happen) and it survived to term (this deformity would likely result in miscarriage) It would perish at birth.

Could a Boneless creature evolve on planet earth and survive? Yes, Jellyfish to add to the list on this thread.

Are animated series and video games a good source for scientific evidence? No.

Do people who say stupid things ever admit it. No, I speak from personal experience, if I make a point, when it becomes clear that it was just silly, I argue for it non-stop anyway. better to keep on looking stupid than admit it. At least with me, and likely your friend too.

Tell him that next time just kind of forget or lose interest in it and it will likely go away on its own.
 

Johnn Johnston

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May 4, 2008
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Yes, of course you could live without bones. Not for very long, due to the effects of not having any bones killing you, but you could still live.
 

Thaliur

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Jan 3, 2008
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You would most definitely die quite soon, most likely from a lack of oxygene, since without bones nothing would keep your lungs from collapsing.
But, as Octopi, Snails, Slugs, insects, spiders, clams and similar creatures show, bones are not really necessary.
 

sunami88

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Jun 23, 2008
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Apparently I'm not the only person that thought of Peter Griffin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Guy_Viewer_Mail_1]. But if TV has taught us anything, it's that no matter what happens, hilarity will ensue.