General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
Filters (None)
Pretty self explanatory question...can the Cube Earth described at the link below support a spherical core and a magnetic field? How would a civilization that has been living on a "cube" Earth di...
This is an extension of my first question, and precisely as Jim2B suggests, I want enough time to pass on my network of space stations for their inhabitants to forget why they're there, how they go...
An abandoned outpost from a long extinct race is discovered. It can easily be repaired and would make an ideal location for a colony, however it has been breached and any usable air has been long ...
This is going to take some imagination and assumptions (and knowledge about physics). Imagine gravitational mass and inertial mass would be different. In classical mechanics it seems a coincidence...
On Earth, the polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic animals, with males being on average almost twice as heavy as females (Wikipedia claims average weights of 450 kg for males versus 260 ...
As a child, I was always fascinated by the propensity of water going down a drain to form a vortex. I created a world with a global ocean where there was a narrow body of land running north-south...
With the technologies that we have got, is it possible to completely migrate 1/3rd of the world's population to another planet which has characteristics similar to those of earth ? Possibly it will...
OK, so humanity is going to space, and they are going to take farm animals into space, not only humans on earth value meat, but humans in space do, too. However, they don't want to waste precious r...
When the skies release a column of fire, the land around becomes a barren place... Can such phenomenon be explained with some rare, but "closely possible" circumstances? I don't think about ...
Fits into the planetary transfer of energy category...for whatever reason and using whatever means, one planet is used to generate a massive amount of energy, ultimately as electricity. This power...
In relation to this question, how could I create a force field dome over that city? Specifications of the city: 10 x 40 km on the surface 1 km in height has a city wall of 100 m all around the ...
I am looking at different ways to destroy a planet. I am assuming the planet is of a similar size and composition to the Earth just to keep things simple. I am starting at boiling the atmosphere t...
Somewhat in relation to this question - What could restrain post-singularity societies from spreading across the Galaxy? I'm assuming not all star systems move at the same velocity in relation to ...
Now, taking out the cost to produce/collect it, assume somehow we perfected a formula or find a natural source (because that is currently very prohibitive), how feasible would be to use antimatter ...
The other day I was watching my 8 year old grand-daughter run on the playground. She was running like a girl - like Jackie Joiner-Kersey to be precise. It appeared that her form was perfect - that...
I have a city in space that will have a local population and a lot of travel in and out (center of commerce). Should I place it out in open space or near a planet? Being near a planet obviously i...
If an earth-sized planet were tidally locked to a star, and was in the life zone of its star with an earth-like atmosphere, what would its wind patterns be like? The planet would have one hot hemi...
It is said that the Moon plays a significant role on stabilizing the obliquity of Earth (or call it the axial tilt). Without it, the tilt of the planet is subject to great variations causing unpred...
As the title says, what would the universe be like if the gravitational force was 0.1% stronger but the other forces (strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetic force) stayed the same? Would t...
I know that with a vacuum, you'll be able to gain a whole lot more lift than with any gas. I'm just wondering how you'd do it. What would be needed to make a vacuum balloon as opposed to a hot-air ...
Recently, a robot called Philae soft-landed quite safely onto the comet 67P/Churyumov"“Gerasimenko, then shot some photos and got some other interesting information that was sent back to Earth. Thi...
For the sake of this question, let's say that there would be a space mission that would send one man on a 40 year journey that will require him to be in a completely self sufficient habitat for the...
Let's say I have an OCD and I want everything to be perfect. I want all the planets and The sun of our solar system to be equal in size. Apart from that, I want the distance between the orbits to b...
Bioships - biological spaceships - appear in a lot of SF, so I thought I'd have a go. However, in most books they are depicted as more powerful than conventional tech in all and any regard. This ...
What ethical/legal implications would there be if we invented a technology to make it possible to communicate intelligibly with some (or all) animals? The constraints on this technology would mak...
At the end of a recent movie, the hero wakes up in a space station which is probably only a few kilometers wide and generates gravity by rotating. In this station, kids are playing baseball. It str...
Related: How would a completely urbanized city-planet support its population? How a completely urbanized city-planet be maintained? Why would a completely urbanized city-planet exist? The prope...
Meaning, cause a seemingly normal winter to suddenly take a turn within hours or a day/two into a completely frozen territory? From what I've read, abrupt climate change happens from ocean currents...
I'm interested in knowing if in terms of cost/efficiency/quality would be better to grow crops(food) in Earth and then sending it to space habitats on orbit, or would it be better to grow them in t...
Are there realistic circumstances that a planet would be accelerated (either artificially or naturally) to the speed at which relic radiation becomes so blue-shifted that the planet is illuminated ...
I heard that some scientists placed chickens under 2.5g for 6 months, and they survived. A normal human would black out at 5g. A trained astronaut could take up to 8g before blacking out. 20g woul...
A bridge is collapsing, and our poor MC is stuck in the middle. The ground beneath them collapses, but they miraculously are able to climb up the falling debris and safely make it to the main land ...
TL;DR then scroll down, genius This question is set in a planet with a human population, about the size of Earth with earth-like formations, that has appropriate lifeforms to the conditions follow...
This is steampunk, so assume a non-relativistic, non-quantum world (but more on that shortly). I want a material that insulates against acceleration but not gravity. Full explanation: This is t...
I can easily set a story in a dystopian environment not subject to ethics, but I would rather try to create a backdrop that is as ethical as possible given the requirements. I feel that writing abo...
Some published settings -- such as the Greyhawk 'verse commonly seen in conjunction with Dungeons & Dragons -- treat the prime planet's host solar system as geocentric. How could this be reconc...
Suppose the Earth entered a period of intense global warming, say by 50° Fahrenheit (28° Celsius), and then levelled off at the new, higher, temperature. Obviously, anywhere near the equator would ...
If you look at our society, you can see why we developed technology. Each individual wanted an easier life, therefore we invented tools and overcame obstacles to achieve this easier life. One could...
So we all know that the majority of sea creatures use fins that move either from side to side or up and down to propel themselves. But our boats don't do that. Our boats use propellers - a rotatio...
What would be the effects of high or low gravity on human body development? How would the human body develop under a different gravity? Many science fiction stories explore the idea that people fro...
Earth is dying. We mis-managed it and brought the whole ecosystem to the edge of total collapse. About 50 years ago, we decided to move humankind to another planet, and now we are almost ready. A ...
An aquatic creature made of a yellow goo moves through the water by moving its body like a squid. The goo can slowly dissolve small creatures and the planet's form of seaweed/kelp. It also has an a...
I'm not sure if enough heat would be generated, but this might be a simplest way to get Mars' Magnetic field going, by crashing a large body into it (perhaps Ceres?) - and, I realize the entire ide...
I'm reading this article on speech in animals, and it made an interesting claim: chimpanzees and other non-human great apes posses the anatomy needed to vocalize words, they just don't use it to do...
I've asked before about my polytheists with competing moon gods. I now have a better understanding of how tides -- a very visible manifestation of lunar influence -- work with multiple moons (than...
Apart from the obvious difference that liquid ammonia needs a much colder temperature than liquid water (but ammonia-based life forms wouldn't feel that as particularly cold), what would be the mos...
I'm trying to figure out if a certain city, with these characteristics, is possible, geographically: Assume the city's the size of Renaissance London... With Renaissance London technology Doesn't...
Conspiracy theorists love to talk about a group called the Illuminati that pull the strings of world events. While there have been several real (and many more imaginary) Illuminati groups, what wo...
Assuming in a galaxy far far away there is a Type 2 civilization (currently on the verge of making the transition to Type 3). Their scientists predicted that the star (red giant) they are orbiting...
Kaylee is a mechanic on a Generational ship. The ship has several means for propulsion and has a plotted course that goes from star to star, molecular cloud to molecular cloud. It has a Bussard Ram...
