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I'm spitballing a story where the main character goes through a monstrous transformation. Part of the conceit / my enjoyment is that she's an oncology researcher and will be tracking the transform...
Can electricity be generated directly from nuclear decay? It occurred to me that in alpha decay two protons fly off rapidly, leaving their associated electrons behind. If the alpha particle was ca...
When water is electrolysed with graphite electrodes some of the oxygen reacts immediately with the anode to produce carbon dioxide. Does a similar reaction ever occur at the cathode, producing meth...
Could nuclear energy be a basis for energy storage with foreseeable technology? One approach would be to use excited nuclear states, but I suspect they would be too unstable to ever be useful. Al...
Do {any, some, all} {unicellular, multicellular} plants require free oxygen? For example, would a cabbage asphyxiate over night, or even in daylight, in an oxygen-free atmosphere?
Quantum Computers are considered a more powerful type of computer than so called 'classical' computers. While a typical classical computer could be considered as a black box that can solve Polynomi...
I am trying to understand if it would be possible for organisms to evolve by different means other than random mutations and natural selection. Eukaryotes were predicted to be formed by fusion with...
In many sci fi universes that don't have handheld energy weapons, they instead use solid projectiles that either go big (Warhammer 40k) or really small (Mass Effect). The former I have a pretty go...
For the purposes of my story, seen here someone who went through a similar procedure involving parallel dimensions (see here), becomes nearly indestructible , invulnerable to damage related to exce...
This is a multi-species animal army with predators of all shapes and sixes, foxes, lions, bears, tigers, leopards, wolves, lynx, eagles, falcons and so on. The herbivores have been excluded from t...
I have a planet around 11242 km in diameter. It is very similar to Mars, with most surface water trapped at the poles. For this, I want the polar temperature below 0 C, but the equatorial temperatu...
The fluff: I have a humanoid who's about to breach a door. He's got some upgrades to his body and can pump some stimulants through it to boost his strength, resiliance and speed to ridiculous prop...
Normally, the human retina contains four types of light-sensitive receptors: three types of cones and one type of rods. The receptor proteins contain the chromo "” iodopsin in the sticks, the rhodo...
Due to reasons of magic an alien god that is about to takeover the earth in one year and can only be stopped by being shot through the entire earth. Assuming modern day Earth (no magic other then ...
I'm working on a tabletop roleplaying game about witches. I have most of the mechanics of broomsticks worked out, but I'm having trouble deciding on top speeds. Speed limits are not a result of how...
First time posting here but I would like to get some help with an issue I have. I have a planet that has 30% more gravity than earth. I have terrestrial animals with an exoskeleton, they stand at ...
WARNING: This post contains some spoilers for the anime/manga Dr.Stone. As I'm watching Dr.Stone, I see Senku and the gang trying to make vacuum tubes for their circuits. The vacuum tube is an anc...
My planet is tidally locked, airless, and has no magnetosphere. It's located close to a flare star (5% solar mass, 11 Gyr old), and is in it's habitable zone. The strongest flare ever detected on E...
In my story, I have a small extended family of 30 to 40 individuals ranging in age from 0 to 50 who are on the run from Chinese and Japanese forces in 1400AD. No place in Asia is safe for them. By...
How realistic is the concept of a space gulag? So let's say you want another option outside of a stern talking too, a fine, confining to quarters, demeaning tasks, VR "re-education," beating the s...
A thought occurred to me, and I wondered if it could be made practical... This video talks about the possibility of electrical battery powered planes, and in short, while it may be practical to bu...
I have posted a similar question where I asked how can two realities mix into one reality in which I received many helpful comments. I realise I should've expanded on the details I posted, so I wil...
Humans are not the fastest mammals on the planet, but for very long distances (more than 40 kilometers) we can overtake any species living on land. Except some dogs. The best runners on ultra-long...
Stun-wizards specialize in blinding and deafening opponents at a distance. To do so, they can exert their magical power to manifest a spherical region of vacuum by essentially "telekinetically" pus...
What is required for advanced lungs to filter dangerous chemicals (so to speak, to carry out the detoxification process) and then use oxygen? (It is advisable to take into account the above record,...
What would be the approximate gravity, atmosphere etc. of a planet for a species to never make or use launch vehicles with rounded shapes like tapering cylinders, because they make use of the incre...
My question is: I need to improve the muscle fibers and nervous system of my genetically modified human so that it has dexterity and physical responses 4 to 10 times faster than the average human.Â...
I did some research recently for a story on the physical feasibility of some aspects of living in the Saturn cloud deck, and wanted to share it. Please, however, if you have alternate approaches,...
I read this and wonder now, what if we would introduce a new planet to our solar system; would the force of gravitation demand a similar plane as that of the other planets? Mercuries 6.3° indica...
In this near-future setting, biotechnology is slightly more advanced than our own. Genetic engineering is cheap as well, but due to an ecological disaster the environment just doesn't have enough c...
Effectively what the title says; What would different observers experience while travelling through / seeing one travel through the tube, and how could they be used to cut travel times? (Just answe...
Magical fire is often depicted as flames. To get fire and flames the right mixture of oxygen, fuel and heat is needed. Assuming that the magic only provides the heat, there are only two chemical re...
So far I've been using Artifexian's How To Build A Star YouTube video. The problem with this video is that it's quite old and thus outdated. The things I've noticed to be particularly weird are the...
I need to know how wide the diameter of a space fountain's* particle stream is in relation to the mass it's trying to support. It would have to lift its mass at least 40000 kilometers. The vacuum...
No, this is not not about courtship displays or dominance figths. (even thought I know that that is also part of mating) This is more of "What their genitalia would look like" and how they would "...
On Mars any initial colony will be power limited. Power sources can be brought from Earth, but any power generation capacity would reduce the mass available for other, more useful cargo. Alternat...
Sadly, the asteroid belt isn't the place to showoff your ace pilot skills. It is so sparse you wouldn't even see an asteroid most of the time if you flew through it. But Saturn's rings! The rings ...
Prosimians on average are not as intelligent as their simian counter parts with the notable exception being lemurs which live in semi large groups. what I want to know is could a group of prosimian...
I want to send a flying saucer (a $\frac{1}{10}$ scale Independence Day City Destroyer - calculated as a sphere cap 112m high with 1.2km segment radius, $\rho$ about 43.3kg/m3) away from the sun as...
Interstellar travel is hard and complicated, yet I want to have a plausible interstellar propulsion system for my setting. Rockets are out because of the rocket equation and the horrible top speeds...
There are 2 planet sized structures that are artificially made with no means of propulsion. Each structure has the approximate mass of Earth but are hollow inside. The inside area is where the peop...
Right now I'm currently trying to calculate the average surface pressure at sea level of an atmosphere, but I'm having a struggle finding the relevant formulae with which to determine this number. ...
I came across the design of a nuclear pistol from a deviantart artist, shown here: I want to know if this can actually be built. My additions: The "egg" needs not be uranium, which has a huge ...
Let's say Santa got himself a new toy: a present delivery cannon. With this new cannon, he wants to deliver presents to children by shooting their presents from the cannon into their chimneys. Let'...
I've had a number of interesting conversations with people about how the cosmic microwave background (CMB) will evolve in the future. The CMB is the sea of photons left over from the epoch of recom...
I am currently brainstorming a hard (like the hardest possible; everything that occurs in the story must at least be theoretically possible) sci-fi story which will take place far in the future. I ...
Time traveler here, stranded in the year of 1019 AD, medieval ages. Location: europe. While I can still access and post on web forums because my temporal transmitter has a 1Ky range, I have a broke...
This question asks for hard science. All answers to this question should be backed up by equations, empirical evidence, scientific papers, other citations, etc. Answers that do not satisfy this req...
I want to beam into solid concrete as a bomb. I have transporters and unlike Star Trek I'm not afraid to use them. Terrorists have taken the tech and have nasty plans for us. The bomb is 1 kg sphe...
A scientist is resetting the clock on his microwave one day as he considers the hopelessness of keeping the time exactly right. Not for the reasons we worry about like power outages and daylight s...
