General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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A class F star (1.4 times the mass of the sun — it has to go supernova) is expanding into the red giant phrase. Its Earth-like planet, with life on it, has slowly been pushed out of orbit as it exp...
Based on this question I asked a while ago, I would like to know how to safely introduce new heavier elements to the world by asteroids without wiping the entire life and even keeps handy quantity ...
Suppose a planet is covered with floating ice on top of water ocean and has no dry land. Would it be possible to establish permanent settlements, cities? Particularly I am interested in technolog...
Over the course of Homo-sapiens, we have become larger, because of diet & selection. Even in the last couple centuries. Today, we vary across geography and cultures, too, of course. Now it i...
So let's say that an alien civilization that we have made enemies with decides to use an advanced non-lethal biological weapon on the Earth as a warning. The aliens, while not infamous for any tec...
What effect would a crystalline material that is inert under ordinary environmental conditions have on someone if it was injected into their bloodstream? Examples materials include finely pulverize...
This is a multi-tiered question. I have seen these larger questions before, but if I need to separate them out into their own questions let me know. In my story I have a machine that can manipulat...
Water droplet forms from a pool of water and gradually rise or accelerate upward to the sky, my question is how can I explain such an phenomenon in a convincing way? kindly use magic sparingly and ...
What would a human colony on the moon look like? I already asked a prelusive question here about the safest place to start a moon colony but I needed further informations. After some answers, I re...
I have been reading on Wikipedia about cloning and am considering it a possibility for reproduction in my world. I am finding it slightly difficult to find all of the cons and pros associated with ...
I was watching Star Trek, and I thought that the shape of the Enterprise is quite weird. So what do you think a big spaceship like the Enterprise would look like? We assume in this case that the p...
We have been stimulating our brains either for research or to treat illness in people: using a minute electrical current a computer can target a specific region of the brain or a specific neuron to...
I need an advice about creating an independent city (a city state) in the middle of a desert (the stony kind of wasteland). I will scratch what I have in my mind so far and I would be glad to hear ...
Let's say there's an OCEAN planet smaller than Earth but larger than the Moon. The Sun lights on the ocean planet reflecting the water textures onto Earth. Would it be possible to see watery refle...
Is it possible to manipulate all artificial satellites(including ISS) and space junks currently in orbit to fall into Earth's atmosphere in one go? (Tech level is late 22nd century science) Note: ...
When you mention livestock you think of creatures such as cows, pigs, sheep, chickens and so on. We've been domesticating animals for like 17,000 years or so and have used them for a variety of mea...
Normally, summers are supposed to be hotter than winters because the axis of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun during the hot season. This mean that the north receive more energy from the Sun, day...
Our omniscient God has decided to intervene for (arguably, if you ask some religious people) the first time at least in a very long time. For matters unknown to us, He has frozen all time on Earth...
Several light-years away, an alien species has just discovered Mars. They deem it a candidate for colonization, so they launch a Voyager-like probe to get a closer look. They have no idea that ther...
EDIT: Question timeframe changed from early XXI to mid-XXI century. Lets say 2040 decade-ish. You are the engineer in charge for the construction of the latest 's stealth suit. It should be the...
This was spawned from this question about Blueshifting (BS) when traveling near the speed of light. I had found this while learning about the other question. @99.99995 percent c And interes...
Similar to the Death Star(s) depicted in Star Wars universe, my question is how do such a massive body move from its orbit around its parent planet across the stellar system or galaxy into the enem...
How can I explain a female adult dragon standing at 30 to 32 meters living on the peaks of a snowy mountain, will dive and swim hundreds of miles into the ocean to hunt for sperm whales and colossa...
I am writing a SF story, in this story, a life-form(You can just call them alien) from another universe comes to earth. They used "imaginary velocity" to make their time elapse faster than all bein...
Is there an energy substance, element, material, natural or artificial resource with attributes such that: When its moved it loses energy. When its intact, untouched and unmoved it contains energy.
Jellyfish is consists mostly water and they live in the ocean, I like to create a world of airborne jellyfish how can I explain the levitating mechanism and evolutionary advantage scientifically?
By psychological effects of alcohol, I mean the effects from 0.060"“0.099 Blood Alcohol Content % by volume (according to this Wikipedia article), but not the physical effects, like alcohol poisoni...
The Gobi Desert is what ecologists call an "interior desert" because it's too far away for water to reach. Now imagine that the Caspian Drainage Basin to the west has experienced a 75-meter rise i...
One of the biggest 'immortality sucks' issues has always been the question of what to do with the new people being born. Without death, a world's limited resources can't keep up with a never endin...
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...
I am wondering, what mechanism would be needed to generate gravity on a space ship in interstellar space, like we see it on Star Trek or Star Wars? What is the most realistic hypothetical way what ...
The inspiration for my question comes from The Great C by Philip K Dick. To summarize, the Great C is a computer that has taken over a large portion of the planet. It uses proxy agents to keep co...
I hope this isn't a stupid question ("just add air"). I would like my intrepid explorers to have drilled through the ice of Europa and into the water without creating a geyser (they plugged the ho...
I was thinking of potential planet explorations, by extremely advanced alien species, through automated drones (or "flying laboratories") scanning and analyzing the planets. (By "extremely advanced...
Is it possible to dissipate a blizzard with a chemical component? Or maybe with a special machine? There are no limits here except that the technology is gunpowder-renaissance-Napoleonic technolog...
Imagine a world so brilliant and yet unthinkable - a habitable Earth-like planet infested with intelligent life attempting to erect a flexible Dyson sphere enveloping two yellow hypergiants. I know...
The question is about what changes would have to be made to an Earth-like planet, in order to increase the density of air and hence make lifting gases more effective. If that is scientifically poss...
I am currently trying to create a very low fantasy setting, with the most scientific plausibility I can, in which, with technology and "human" development being akin to those of Earth's medieval pe...
In my alternate Earths, the plant class Ginkgoopsida has retained its prehistoric diversity, unlike back home, in which only Ginkgo biloba remains. In order for that diversity to be possible in th...
I'm designing a video game in which players command a small crew of aliens (10-20 of them) who are building an outpost on a planet. They are a bit larger than humans (around 2 meters tall) with abo...
I have some ideas, but I'd like my fictional Roman (100BC) General Mikey (ha) to build a submarine(s). This should be able to navigate in lakes and calm shores of the Mediterranean, succeed in bri...
The highest point in the Ethiopian Highlands is 14,928 feet above sea level. It is here that the Nile River begins its journey to the Mediterranean. If the highlands were instead 21,737 feet abov...
I'm interested in exploring an advanced society where electronic technology and infrastructure were not developed. What plausible natural phenomenon or context would prevent, or at least strongly d...
Suppose a team of explorers touched down on an Earth-like planet which do not generate its own magnetic field and there are always a thick layer of cloud covering the sky at all time. My question i...
Imagine the entire ocean becomes extremely corrosive due to ocean acidification over a couple of decades, all nations have agreed to erect a permanent barrier along all shorelines to seperate land ...
On earth our continents move...real...real slow. This is of course a good thing for sentient life. I am trying to imagine/develop a world where...things move a bit faster...ok a lot faster, but i...
Imagine a sci-fi world where many organic civilizations would have raised and have an empire between many planets and systems. Even if there is some political tensions, they all live in peace toget...
Imagine a big planet, gravity quite strong, 1.5 times earth. Irregular surface, rocky etc... (though flora and fauna will come into it later). It has a very thick atmosphere, drained off by a twin ...
Suppose one fine day a mischievous god decided to eradicate all air molecules on Earth in an instant, my question is what will hapen to the ocean? Please kindly disregard (omit) your concern for li...
Looking at all the movies that involve robots made from materials available from planet earth (think Pacific Rim, Iron Man etc. but not Transformers), what is the theoretical limit of the capabilit...
