I'm a big fan of yours and find this blog a very good idea to share interesting facts about the world!
I have a special interest on Ghost-types and the special organs that help them have abilities like passing through walls, levitating, sucking "life energy", etc. In fact, I'm doing a final year project on that!
I thought it'd be good to ask here for some info. Thanks in advance.
Thank you for the ask, and for the kind words! As you're likely aware, this is a quite advanced topic. We'll go over each of the unique or signature abilities of Ghost types, and how they work, briefly. For more detail, you may be interested in the works of Cedric Juniper of Unova and Jacq of Paldea.
Note: some of what will be shared here is far from conclusive, and more research into the functionality of the organs of Pokémon is required. (See this post from @quillpokebiology for a related recent breakthrough)
Considered to be the "signature" trait of Ghost types, voluntary intangibility is made possible by a series of near-identical organs throughout the Ghost type Pokémon's body. Controlled by the central nervous system, these organs simultaneously allow the surrounding area to pass through solid objects. While the exact mechanism is currently unknown, it is suspected that these organs manipulate the charge of the particles making up the Pokémon's body, allowing it to pass through unaffected by electromagnetic and strong nuclear forces.
As alluded to above, some Pokémon have modified versions of the organs described above that additionally allow them to make themselves invisible at will.
Energy Absorption ("Life Force" and Empathetic)
The ability of some Ghost type Pokémon to "absorb" the energy of other creatures (such as Palossand draining life essences, or Mismagius feeding off of fear) is not done in a single way, and appears to be a case of convergent evolution. For this reason, we cannot go over it in any detail here, but feel free to ask about a specific Pokémon!
There are many stories (though none have been verified at the time of writing) of Ghost type Pokémon "possessing" other creatures, including humans. Since no scientific studies have recorded this phenomenon, it's difficult to make any conclusive claims. However, descriptions closely match some forms of mind control, specifically the "full control" variation most famously performed by Beheeyem. How Ghost type Pokémon would be able to accomplish this feat is unclear.
Surprisingly, one of the most common and, on the face of it, simplest abilities of Ghost types is also one of the least understood. Levitation is achieved by Psychic types through application of their psychic abilities. For many Ghost types, this explanation seems perfectly applicable (especially given the strong overlap in abilities between Psychic, Dark, and Ghost type Pokémon), but there are plenty of Ghost type Pokémon such as Shedinja which do not display any latent psychic abilities. For these Pokémon, it has been suggested that their light weight allows them to float, but other light Ghost type Pokémon such as Galarian-form Corsola that do not levitate.
In short, more research is certainly required to fully understand Ghost type Pokémon. That said, it's not as if we're completely clueless!
