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Q&A

General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.

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How could humans control a body made of nanobots?

My species lives on a world that is filled with very few storms, lush environments, and naturally forming metallic monoliths. The species are like humans, but one thing that sets them apart from hu...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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How can sapient beings engineer transportation and building when they can only count 0, 1 and many?

Imagine a species of humanoid beings living on an Earth-like planet somewhere in the universe; they have developed complex spoken and written languages and they can study their own anatomy and the ...

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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Fusion- or antimatter-powered propulsion: Which one will we likely develop first?

In terms of scientific and engineering challenges, which one is closer to fruition? Specifically I am looking for the feasibility of using one of these systems for space-only travel between the orb...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Jem‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Jem‭

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How can human evolution adopt to the changes of multiple births being commonplace?

Mariam Nabatanzi Babirye is a woman in Uganda who has had 44 children in her life due to her bearing many children at one time. This unusual situation is because of a rare genetic abnormality that ...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Incognito‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Incognito‭

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What is the science behind a wave that changes the laws of physics?

So I remember reading a long time ago about how a theoretical "wave" could exist, as the laws of physics suddenly changed in one place and then this rippled across the universe, basically at the sp...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Nierninwa‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Nierninwa‭

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How can floating limbs work?

(I'm new here, so if I'm doing something wrong please let me know) I have an idea for a world where most fauna (and potentially flora) have floating, disembodied limbs that hover in place. Think R...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by probablyatriangle‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by probablyatriangle‭

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How does an intelligent race which can only perceives microwave develops written language?

Imagine a race of humanoid alien living somewhere in the universe evolves weird sensory organ which can only picks up frequency of light ranging from 800MHz up to 2.5GHz which is in the microwave s...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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How to design a species that matches the following critera

This is another question that seeks to provide assistance in the design of ''Eosi Humans'' an alternate human species which makes up the population of my fantasy world ''Diggoran'' ( Pronounced Die...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭

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Why would men suffer from toxic masculinity?

Since the 1800s, the levels of testosterone has been steadily rising in males across the world. The increase in male testosterone has increased strength, speed, height, energy, and aggression. The ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Incognito‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Incognito‭

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How could space life deal with the cold?

I am workin on an ecosystem based on life within the rings of a planet. I will create creatures from single celled organisms, to algae/ lichen, plankton/worms and scales of predators leading to lar...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RandySavage‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RandySavage‭

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Silent Planet: Effects of Natural Psionic Evolution on Communication Tech?

"Imagine that. A planet teeming with life, entwined with one another with mere thought and nothing more. A silent harmony, a quiet world." Context Through some still unknown science, and on this ...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Millennium‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Millennium‭

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How would multiple minds control a single body?

One trope seen in movies is mind control. This trope involves a person or thing taking over another person's body, whilst visual or auditory cues and friends try to help the original person regain ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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Could my species exist naturally

The species I have created, are a species of gliding reptiles. They look primarily like horned lizards and measure up to 20 feet long, 7 feet wide, and 5-6 feet tall. however, they posses wings tha...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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Could my a highly advance species exist without a written or spoken language

One thing that nearly every multi cellular organism and complex thinking species is communicate, either it be pheromones, chemicals, chirps and sounds, symbols and shapes, to even complex sentences...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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What kind of lunar orbit would cause a total solar eclipse to happen once a day?

The eclipse needs to be visible from at least one region on the planet every revelation and last about one hour.

7 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Double_S‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Double_S‭

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Which natural resources could warrant interstellar conflicts?

Imagine a distant future in which humans' descendants have scattered throughout the stars, settling wherever they can. Some planets and moons are resource-rich paradises, while others are barren w...

11 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by HolocronCollector‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by HolocronCollector‭

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Could a creature evolve a cubic brain?

One thing that is fairly common amongst nearly every macro-scale living thing on this planet is the brain. The brain controls when creatures breathe, move, talk, etc., but the brains of said living...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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Walking Moisture Farms

JordanTheCynic here again with another question relating to my Eosi Humans. Most of my questions are NSFW by the way so just a fair warning. I made a post in the past which discussed how Eosi h...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭

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How would Humanoid Insects Molt?

I am writing a story that has insects the size of humans, but I am having a little trouble with the biology. When you look up why there are no large insects on Earth, the most popular answer is th...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by E Tam‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by E Tam‭

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A drinks party underwater?

Landia, a land based civilisation, has recently established diplomatic relations with Aquatica, a civilisation of fish people. The two peoples exchange gifts to each other - including from Landia, ...

9 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Fhnuzoag‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Fhnuzoag‭

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How could humans reach distant stars and still stay as a united government if you can't use faster than light travel

If we didn't have the capability to use faster than light travel then how could we stay unified and are any realistic examples in science fiction?

29 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Miles Means‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Miles Means‭

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Could these trolls exist?

In a world I'm designing, a group of Homo Habilis or even Australopithecus Afarensis migrated into a northern Scotland environment becoming Trolls. These are not D&D trolls, but something else....

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by icewar1908‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by icewar1908‭

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Could a hypothetically big enough planet, with an earth-like atmosphere, be big enough so that you cannot see its curvature from above?

I want to know if a planet with an atmosphere identical to that of Earth could be big enough so that from no point in the lower atmosphere it would be possible to appreciate the curvature in relati...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by D3lf‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by D3lf‭

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Are Orbital Rings feasible to construct in another star system?

In this universe, Earth had a couple orbital rings during the construction of the colony ships that were sent to Alpha Centauri. Humanity has achieved fusion power and efficient space flight (1g ac...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user72655‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user72655‭

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Feasibility of The Absorbic Bomb from The Killing Star

I have come across a weapon by The Killing Star, which is called the Absorbic Bomb. Apparently, it reverses the formula E = mc^2, of how matter is converted to energy during standard nuclear blast...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by CYCLOPSCORE‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by CYCLOPSCORE‭

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Planet where animals capable of flight couldn't evolve?

Lets say you have a planet called...Galileo. Galileo has a large amount of biodiversity, with bacteria, plants, fungi, and animals. The animals are what I'd like to focus on today. Unlike Earth wit...

11 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by DT Cooper‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by DT Cooper‭

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What is keeping my Terror Bird from being the size of a T. Rex?

Background This is a Terror Bird: Specifically, this is Titanis one of the largest of the carnivorous Phorusrhacidae; it was perhaps 2.5 meters tall and 150 kg. I would like a terror bird that...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by kingledion‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by kingledion‭

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Super-strong genetically modified super-soldier?

My question is: What needs to be changed or improved in the structure of human muscle fibers so that my genetically modified person can lift several tons ( from 2700 to 7000 kilograms), taking into...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by French Thompson‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by French Thompson‭

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A bulletproof super Soldier who can Dodge bullets?

I also need to combine two suggestions about changing a person's muscle fibers so that my genetically modified person has both of them. The first sentence refers to the modification of human muscle...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by French Thompson‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by French Thompson‭

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Question on Creature Locomotion Ratios

I am considering a mid to large sized creature, the loping quhambo. Maybe eight to ten palms at the whithers and maybe five stone in weight. It is a proboscidean mammal of some sort, though quite ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by elemtilas‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by elemtilas‭

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The One Problem With Terraforming and Colonizing a Super-Earth

Many people are excited with the idea of super-Earths--rocky, habitable exoplanets greater in mass, density and diameter (because I'd prefer to go the whole way than stop at the halfway point) than...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

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What Prevents Gigantic Monotremes From Evolving?

Monotremes are the oddballs of the mammal family, the echidnas and especially the platypus are absolutely absurd creatures with their bizarre anatomical features and mishmash of reptilian and mamma...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by NixonCranium‭

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How to prevent crew from accidentally teleporting oneself outside a spaceship with portal gun?

Set in the year 3020 CE, every crew on board has a personal issued portal gun to easily get around the interior of the spaceship. The handheld portal gun can instantly teleport the user along with ...

9 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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Could present-day humanity survive on Antarctica alone?

Tomorrow morning, an apocalyptic event wipes humanity off the face of the earth - except for in Antarctica. The nature of the catastrophe is unclear, but it seems that any human will die within a f...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Tom Hosker‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Tom Hosker‭

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Is there a plausible way to change the appearance of the surface of a planet, and have it immediately reform?

Basically a world that cannot be mapped.

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by mmj‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by mmj‭

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Individualist Intelligence

Under what circumstances could an inherently individualist species become intelligent and advanced? Usually, animals require social interaction for intelligence to develope. Or at least that's wha...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Aezyc‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Aezyc‭

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Feasibility of floating city-sized forests

My world is essentially a Neptune-sized gas planet that got seeded with life and its surface layer filled with oxygen, therefore gaining a sizeable layer with Earthlike conditions. Within this la...

3 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by user199429‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user199429‭

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Could Vocal Mimicry be a Viable Tactic for a Predator?

Vocal mimicry for this question refers to the ability to imitate the sounds of other animals, exemplified in this video of a lyrebird mimicking several species of birds, a chainsaw and even a camer...

5 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by NixonCranium‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by NixonCranium‭

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How is the visual luminosity of a star calculated?

My idea is a planet that orbits a red dwarf at a distance in which the apparent magnitude of this seen from the planet is the same as that of the sun seen from Earth. Does this mean that the daylig...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by URIZEN‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by URIZEN‭

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How would a slip-strike fault develop in my terrain?

I am designing a fictitious continent, and as part of this I am also designing the prehistoric development of the continent up to the present day. A particular tricky part of this has been that, i...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Antarctica07‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Antarctica07‭

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Would Mind Uploaded People on Fast Computers have any Unique Skills or Knowledge?

In my setting, there are basically no biological life forms left, as everyone has either been mind-uploaded or is an artificial intelligence. It is supposed to take place at a very distant point i...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by ZestyNesquik‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by ZestyNesquik‭

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Best place on Earth to fake being on a distant planet?

Lets say an alien trickster wants to trick a group of human astronauts into thinking they've been transported to another world far away. But in reality, he wants them to stay on good old Earth, thr...

17 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by DT Cooper‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by DT Cooper‭

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Intergalactic Communication?

I am building a science fiction world with technology comparable to the Halo Universe (AKA Warp Drives are a thing). The story is set in a section of the galaxy with various nations controlling mul...

7 answers  ·  posted 6y ago by Tigershad0w‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Tigershad0w‭

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How quickly could a rogue Earth return to habitability after a deep freeze?

Background A large star makes a relatively close approach to a solar system like our own and the orbits of many of the planets are badly perturbed. A planet similar to Earth is in the wrong place a...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Slarty‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Slarty‭

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How to calculate the furthest an animal could fly?

In my story several flying mythical creatures have been brought in a more realistic world. some creatures like Gargoyles can only fly for short distances while others like the heavenpiercer (a type...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by icewar1908‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by icewar1908‭

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Is it believable to have a spaceship spin around a weight for artificial gravity?

In my narrative universe, there will be ships that use a 1g acceleration for artificial gravity. However, when they are not accelerating (whether on a longer journey at a constant velocity or simpl...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user72655‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user72655‭

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What biological trait could make (certain members of) an insectoid species good at astronomy?

This is a science fiction intelligent alien biology question. I'm imagining a race of large (around 2m in height) insect-like species on a distant planet who discovered astronomy VERY late in thei...

12 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Iroh‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Iroh‭

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How could a portable handheld weather machine work?

Intro: As some of you may know, the character shown in this picture is none other than the Weather Wizard, one of the Flash's most dangerous adversaries. With the help of rod-like device in his h...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Strivs‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Strivs‭

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Climate Map Climate

My friend and I are working on this world called Roia. It shares many terrestrial properties with the real life earth: composition, axial tilt, distance from the star, presence of water, etc. You c...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by NukeyFox‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by NukeyFox‭

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Who is likely to die because of a prolonged power outage? How long does it take?

My antagonist is going to cause a widespread blackout to flex on the protagonist, but the unexpected consequence is that some folks are going to die as a result. This will cause the protagonist to ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by David‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by David‭