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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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I want ten Earth-years long day on my planet. Can I have it?

I need ten Earth years long day-night cycle on my planet. Hemera is a world I am creating as a setting for my story. Name comes from Greek deity - personification of Day. Needs of storytelling hav...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Zjerzy‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Zjerzy‭

climate planets day-night orbital-mechanics
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Why would a sleeper ship be designed to only wake one person in case of emergency?

Starliners are huge colony ships. They carry enough equipment, building materials, embryos, colonists and nutrient rich rations to permanently establish a sizeable colony on a far-flung world. Alth...

36 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Joe Bloggs‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Joe Bloggs‭

space travel space-travel colonization cryogenics
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How can I make the supporting pillars of an underground city less obstructive?

Node is the last active city of the lizard people. Node was built to be a self-sufficient city and a nexus of an interconnected bunker system. It was a vanity project from the peak of the lizard em...

22 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭

underground architecture engineering
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Specific gravity change for my world

Ok, so this is a culmination of a few questions into one final question: am I doing this right? I am trying to figure out the gravitational difference from one end of a continent to another. There ...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by NRJohnson‭

gravity mathematics science-fiction
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Are there *plausible* planetary conditions where jet aircraft just don't have much advantage over propeller-driven aircraft?

I've seen Which is easier to develop: a piston prop engine or a jet engine? and my own Effects of ~10atm pressure on engine design neither of which answers this. Would different atmospheric densit...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Tristan Klassen‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Tristan Klassen‭

atmosphere vehicles
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Plausibility of a six limbed, four legged giant

So, I'm creating a fantasy setting, and because why not, I decided to have giants. Not giant giants, just roughly 2 times the height of a human. Now, because physics is dumb, a giant species would ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by The Humbug‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by The Humbug‭

biology creature-design xenobiology
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Is my planet realistic?

Is my planet realistic? It doesn't need to be able to support life as it's just another planet in my solar system, but is a planet with such a high density and gravity really possible? I calculated...

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

reality-check planets solar-system
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Humanity is doomed because of succubi

The first two answers in the anatomically correct succubi question suggest a parasitic approach to the concept of succubi which snatches off human organs, either the tongue or the vagina and feed o...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Kay‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Kay‭

evolution humans survival
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Creature that increases its own lifespan by killing other animals

An intelligent creature who's natural life span is around 50 years in which they need to feed to not die of starvation after which they naturally die. But killing other beings of their own species...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Kay‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Kay‭

reality-check creature-design immortality anatomy anatomically-correct
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What might cause a civilization to be unable to colonize a large moon but live in space stations around it instead?

In my world a moon is reached and colonised but only in space stations for a long time. They gain the ability to reach the surface and then story happens. It needs to be something that can be bypas...

25 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Topcode‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Topcode‭

space moons colonization space-colonization
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Net shift of humans towards introversion?

Extraversion and introversion are a central dimension in the Big Five personality model (or OCEAN model). Being introverted or extraverted may not be mutually exclusive, but, when averaging out ove...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by subdermatoglyphic‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by subdermatoglyphic‭

reality-check society psychology humans
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What is the tallest mountain possible in any gravitational environment?

In world building it is often interesting to consider extreme landscapes "“ how tall can a mountain be on Earth for example. But what is the tallest mountain possible in any gravitational environme...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Slarty‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Slarty‭

planets physics gravity alternate-worlds
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What laws of physics would need to be broken in order to travel in space faster?

I have a spaceship which I want to have travel very quickly around a system like our own solar system -- let's say about 10 million miles per minute, which would go from Mars to Earth in ~15 minute...

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

space travel spaceships space-travel ships science-fiction
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What events would trigger linguistic hyper-evolution in a spacefaring civilisation?

Let's say that in an alternate universe, humans developed on a relatively small supercontinent, so their languages and cultures were somewhat similar. After a while, all of the nations merged into ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by System‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

language
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The most suitable martial art for birdpeople?

Tengu are a race of upright, humanoid creatures with the ability to fly and other avian characteristics to a varying degree. Konoha-tengu (foliage tengu) are six-limbed humanoid avians. The bird s...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭

martial-arts
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How much energy would be needed for a sentient plant species

Let's say humanity is a type 1 civilization, ( essentially a civilization that can control there entire planet and harness its energy ), now let's also say humanity wants to make an intelligent spe...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by RotNDecay‭

reality-check flora
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Would it be possible to build numerous spaceships that could transport 10 million people in the late 2100's?

The crafts would have to contain large farms in order to sustain the immense amount of people, and they'd obviously have to be large and spacious to have good living conditions. I did some research...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Niobium_Sage‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Niobium_Sage‭

space travel reality-check spaceships space-travel food space-constructs ships
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Binary Star System Build - Alpha Centauri

I'm not sure if this site or Astronomy would be better, but I figured I would try here instead. I am attempting to create a [semi]plausible star system in Alpha Centauri for a series. The system w...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by user72655‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by user72655‭

space planets orbital-mechanics solar-system
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What binary poisons could work when ingested?

What are two non lethal substances that will combine to create a strong poison when ingested close together? Hopefully my character would be able to drink one of the substances mixed in to a wine ...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mais‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mais‭

chemistry poisons low-fantasy
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Could a "multicellular" virus exist?

When I say multicellular I mean it's made of more that one viruses. Basically it's a bunch of viruses that act like viruses but use the viruses made by infected cells to build a "multicellular" lif...

6 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Topcode‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Topcode‭

reality-check fauna creature-design viruses
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toilet for mermaid?

I want to know what kind of toilet design for mermaid is, considering they live surrounded by water and they poop through the anus (or whatever the organs name is) that located in the front rather ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Li Jun‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Li Jun‭

technology races mythical-creatures fantasy-races furniture
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How much brain power per KG/volume?

When writing a futuristic story I always try to minimise the impact of computerization. Its rather uncomfortable writig a story when technology is advanced enough that humans arent in a position to...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Demigan‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Demigan‭

biology computers
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Despite almost zero energy consumption why does my spaceship scheduled cryostasis in shifts?

In the distant future a breakthrough in cryostasis technology can put healthy people into frozen state so that all metabolism halts and cells never age a bit, the spaceship is carrying them across ...

12 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by user6760‭

space travel technology space-travel cryogenics
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Meteorological consequences of walls reaching into the sky, enclosing a large area

Suppose we walled off a 1000 km square. These walls would be made of unobtanium (so they don't break), and have no cracks or holes that go all the way through. They are also around 15 kilometres hi...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Mark Gardner‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mark Gardner‭

weather reality-check megastructures gas
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Through Uterus/Reproductive System

Early life, and many modern organisms have what we call 'blind guts'. Food enters and exits via the same opening. However, that is inefficient and has been widely replaced with 'through guts'. Fo...

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

reality-check evolution creature-design reproduction anatomy
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Mountain Destruction by mining

I have a mountain in a story that basically needs to be taken down (inadvertently) by human action in a world with premodern (so mediëval/ early renaissance at best) tech levels. I have been thin...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Blue Devil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Blue Devil‭

reality-check geology
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Could there be a complex creature with a flatworm-like pharynx?

I'm designing a creature which possesses a decently unusual trait: despite having a developed head, it's mouthparts are attached to a tentacle that retracts into the creature's belly when not in us...

0 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Ichthys King‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Ichthys King‭

evolution creature-design
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How can I prevent the invention of skyscrapers?

Introduction I want my story, set in the modern day, to have a unique architectural feel. Part of my strategy - no skyscrapers. Wikipedia: The term skyscraper was first applied to buildings o...

27 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by subdermatoglyphic‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by subdermatoglyphic‭

society cities alternate-history history infrastructure
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Could Meridiungulates Colonize The World Before the Opening of Panama?

The last time I asked something similar, I asked if it would be possible for xenarthran mammals (armadillos, sloths and anteaters) to be thrown off of South America from life-giving rafts to other ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by JohnWDailey‭

evolution alternate-history history mammals
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Is it possible for a planet to only support liquid water at the poles?

Could a planet be hot enough that oceans could form at the poles, but would boil at the equator? And would oceans form at all on this planet?

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Ichthys King‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Ichthys King‭

planets ocean
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What does it look like inside a transparent glowing gas?

If you were inside of a gas that was producing its own light (for example, air at 900°C), what would it look like? Would it look foggy, or would objects that aren't the same colour as the glow sti...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Ichthys King‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Ichthys King‭

atmosphere
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Naturally altering the climate in order to create lush areas in a wasteland - Is it plausible, and if so how?

In essence: I'm playing around with a few ideas relating to a post apocalyptic United States, and one of the concepts I've come up with is a world of mostly dusty deserts and other regions mostly d...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Yayguy‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Yayguy‭

climate geography apocalypse post-apocalypse
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How could a ballistic mask provide full protection without compromising the wearer's singing voice?

So, I'm having trouble with one of my character designs. Guardian angels are former humans who died in such dumb ways that Heaven simply couldn't let them in, not before they proved they can preve...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭

armors audio engineering
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Are flexible digits viable for both running and climbing?

I'm basically designing a quadrupedal digitigrade alien, which has evolved from a predominantly arboreal animal into a predator with more cursorial adaptations, capable of running fast, but still b...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by ProjectApex‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by ProjectApex‭

biology evolution creature-design xenobiology
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Could triangular DNA exist?

This is sort of a follow up on my question Could a "multicellular" virus exist? in which part of the consensus was that viruses simply can't hold enough DNA. In theory, could DNA form in a structur...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Topcode‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Topcode‭

biology reality-check genetics
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How could an underground city hide its existence for potentially thousands of years?

After the fall of the lizard empire, most of the lizard people fled to Node to avoid genocide (This is in the Lovecraft universe, racism is mandatory). In short order, this former bomb shelter beca...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭

underground infrastructure city
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A semi-habitable Mars and the differences between the plains and the craters

I'm developing a world based on a terraformed Mars, which was cut off from interstellar society and regressed to a pre-industrial level of technology. Mars has an ocean, but most of the settled peo...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Geraintosaurus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Geraintosaurus‭

terraforming mars farming
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(Semi) Believable way to quickly submerge a large landmass

I once before asked a question on how to quickly submerge a large landmass/continent. The answers there basically concluded that literally ''Sinking'' (a la Atlantis) is pretty much impossible to...

3 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Blue Devil‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Blue Devil‭

geography physics geology tectonics geophysics
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How to plausibly reanimate a person?

What hypothetical scientific procedure could be used to reanimate someone who is brain dead. I am aware that it is possible to bring someone back if they are clinically dead which is where a vital ...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by DEMI‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by DEMI‭

death life
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Question about Kessler syndrome

I'm writing a novel set in a post post-apocalyptic world, where society on Earth collapsed a long time ago and has rebuilt itself by the time the novel starts. I need a reason to keep the people ...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Dashane Du Plessis‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Dashane Du Plessis‭

space physics space-debris kessler-syndrome
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Could a species evolve to the point were they cause their own extinction

We know that in biology, a species evolves to better survive its planet and its various climates and geography, which is mainly a result of natural selection. But, sometimes, this natural selecti...

5 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by RotNDecay‭

reality-check evolution extinction
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How could a dragon-proof toy work?

So I was outlining the part of the story where Gyvaris, a dragon, almost gets killed, when I realized I glanced over something. You see, Gyv had a human friend before and they used to play games to...

10 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Mephistopheles‭

dragons
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Do chemicals from nuclear reprocessing waste remain radioactive? Are they flammable?

I'm writing a story about a town whose residents all work at a nuclear reprocessing site. Some teenagers begin to hang out near a small body of water close to the site that they call "the swamp". T...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Julia‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Julia‭

science-fiction nuclear-power nuclear waste
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Changing humans to their mirror image versions to become immune to infectious diseases

If we could replace DNA, RNA and the ribosomes in our cells by their mirror image versions, then everything would work in the same way, except that the chirality of all molecules would have been in...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Count Iblis‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Count Iblis‭

biology diseases genetics sea xenobiology
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Minimal mass of an Earth-like satellite to seriously deter space travel?

I want to write a story taking place on the natural satellite of a gas giant, with said satellite being massive enough to prevent, or at least strongly deter, space travel, such that the resources ...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Udon Nomaneim‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Udon Nomaneim‭

space travel orbital-mechanics space-travel satellites city escape velocity
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Could habitable planets form in an ultracompact galaxy?

I am wondering if habitable planets could form around stars in super dense dwarf galaxies. There are some super dense galaxies such as M60-UCD1 and M85-HCC1 which can have a typical distance betwee...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by RandySavage‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by RandySavage‭

reality-check planets gravity galactic interstellar
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How to handle transhumanism vs space colonization

Given the difficulties in doing things like constructing O'Neil cylinders or habitats on places like Mars, is it at all plausible that current humans could ever really colonize anything in space? I...

4 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Adam Reynolds‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Adam Reynolds‭

space colonization intelligence space-colonization artificial-intelligence trans-humanism
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a tribe of neanderthals survive on a tropical island off of the coast of india into the modern day. how might they evolve?

lets say this island is an exact copy of the climate and ecosystem of tropical India. how might Neanderthals evolve in order to survive this environment?

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by bigboi‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by bigboi‭

evolution science-fiction
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Human labor required to setup automated mining outpost on faraway planet?

Glossing over the technological implications of interstellar travel, what sort of human labor might still be required in a future where we are capable of setting up nigh-fully automated endeavors o...

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

space technology economy colonization space-colonization science-fiction
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can any animals (example dragons) can synthesise pyrophoric subtances and contain it in a special sac (like tert-butyllithium)?

so according to this website: https://haraldas.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/dragon-fire-ever-wonder-if-its-possible/ it said that it could be possible for any animals to synthesise tert-butyllithium...

2 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by user3556983‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by user3556983‭

fauna creature-design dragons zoology