Posts tagged science-fiction
I was curious about an odd effect I first saw in video here: YouTube : Copper's Surprising Reaction to Strong Magnets In the video, a big heavy magnet is brought to an abrupt halt by a simple piec...
I'm using Kapteyn-b for a story, which orbits its red dwarf star every 49 days. It's almost 5 times larger than Earth, though I've made a couple changes to the observed data to make it more plausib...
It's common in sci-fi for large medieval-esque populations of humans living in the ruins of a former technologically advanced civilisation. My story is one of these, with a large population of huma...
I've recently became curious about the moon wide super organism on Pandora known to the natives as Eywa. Eywa is theorized by human scientists to be a superorganism of all living things on Pand...
Assuming humanity was suddenly highly motivated to do it, how long would it take a probe launched from Earth to get into a position to record and broadcast images of the position in the opposite or...
I'm writing a Colonization story, and I'm trying to determine which propulsion system would be the best option. The destination is Kapteyn b, 12.76Ly from Earth, and our 40K colonists will be in Cr...
Suppose we've colonized a planet with 99% of the surface area covered by oceans. It has submerged continental crusts, averaging 200-500m underwater, with the average depth of open ocean being 1000-...
Lengthy Explanation of Why I'm Here: TLDR; "force field" made of electromagnetic radiation. Recently, I've decided to compile a list of possible technologies available in the 22nd and 23rd centur...
I've been grappling with a story for a while, involving a scenario where gravity starts to fail. The goal of the story is mostly how people react to the knowledge that the world will end. But, I al...
Okay so I just got off an episode of Gotham where this electrician villain dude uses shock therapy to reprogram people to do his bidding. Then I remembered that the brain operates on a sort ...
Premise: I have a character that is trying to replicate himself into offsprings that will accomplish his task. He is a major character with immense levels of power/energy. My character has to crea...
Is it possible to build a garbage recycler that turns residues into its constituent elements using plasma and accelerating it through a magnetic field? The technology level is around that of the t...
I created the above illustration to help convey my meaning, here is what everything means so that you can read it effectively: E = Earth V = Venus M = Mars The dots in the lower left hand cor...
The question: What realistic environmental signs would telegraph to the occupants of a floating landmass that their home was slowly losing altitude? The planet: I'm working on a story that takes p...
I am planning to make one of my characters in my novel have to have an ability to create positron beams as an offensive ability. I wonder what the effects on regular matter like a wall or a body of...
I'm writing the last issue of my comic and I'm in trouble. My villain is a member of a cosmic cult that wants to absorb everything in the universe to create a conceptual/energy pangea out of space ...
Just last week while developing a new CCTV camera system I accidentally produced a free energy generator. I know, what are the odds? So now I'd like to make some money. Unfortunately, this device ...
Imagine a human observation and research facility being built on a planet in a distant solar system. How could an alien colony exist beneath the planet's surface, staying completely invisible to h...
I'm making a game which takes place in an asteroid field that is very dense - I'm talking close enough that one is able to jump between asteroids (provided you have some sort of additional thrust b...
In my world, zombies are quite common, and are considered a part of the wild life. Most of the usual flora and fauna are similar to those in IRL. I have three key questions, but I'll put the other...
I haven't been here in a while but I got another question, Would it be scientifically possible for sunlight to cause a zombie to self combust into flames? And if they would only self combust if the...
Let's say the world is about to deteriorate to an uninhabitable state; and will become fully uninhabitable in 2100AD. Humanity realises that we have to leave this planet and go to Titan1 and the b...
I mean can time be controlled within an area or even a small portion of space? I would like to mention time-bombs, which either reverse time in a radius of explosion or take time forward. Also nan...
If there was a planet half the earth's diameter, for which every other aspect of the earth was changed proportionally to keep the Earth's perfect ratio intact (including having the perfect orbital ...
How do my PA civilizations rebuild after a depletion of the planet's natural fuels? Even with a wealth of information to rebuild, would civilization still be permanently stunted due to being unab...
I'm trying to investigate the theory behind this phenomena. I have found answers to creating eternal storms but nothing specific to my world building. I'm looking at a future earth where any known ...
As the title suggests, this is a conceptual physics kinda question. What is the feasibility of using an electrically charged (as in not neutral) plasma as the working fluid in a turbine where the...
If you were tasking with creating a genetically engineered flying creature, capable of full powered flight on a (newly terraformed) planet with a surface gravity almost twice that of Earth's, do yo...
I'm writing a story where there is a large mining outpost built on a moon. This mining outpost is one large building holding around a thousand people, with an extensive system of passages and mine...
A concept I've encountered a few times is aliens with "vastly" different biology than terrestrial creatures. In this case, I'm interested in replacing the parts that use oxygen with something a bit...
An alien species has created a weapon. The alien stands on a planet, points the weapon at the ground, and pushes a button. A large amount of matter condenses itself into a mass, creating a huge hol...
Imagine I have a device that can stop time for the person who holds it (similar to Bernard's Watch). This device works in a very specific way - it creates a bubble around the user (just large enoug...
Question: many SF stories (e.g. The Expanse) put living organisms in highly radioactive environments and show them consuming that energy in some way. How might organisms put into these environments...
I'm writing a story about someone who is going to be frozen in cryo for about 450 years. He's frozen in 2120, so the technology is certainly well-developed in his time. I'm thinking maybe the cryo ...
Science-Fiction has tools to destroy anything: atoms, molecules, DNA, cellular organisms, multicellular organisms, buildings, streets, cities, countries, continents, planets, and even stars. Some e...
I'm trying to create a fictional world where the primary species breathes in gaseous nitrogen to survive (and hence relies on ammonia). I'm currently working with a planet that would be about the s...
The ships would be permanently extra planetary and manned by 4-5 crew. All life support water, food, oxygen and propulsion being produced by bacterial cultures (not necessarily the same). With all...
I've had this idea for a short novel, at the intersection of the One thousand and one nights and the Multivac (& co) short stories from Asimov. The idea is that there's some kind of super AI t...
I've never been satisfied with how this has been handled in any sci-fi story I've read, watched, etc. It always seems to get handwaved away with "we have sensor packages of various powers" and "the...
I'm working on a planet containing an atmosphere composed mainly of sulfur dioxide, with, notably, only trace amounts (if any) of oxygen. Is such a planet one that could realistically pop up in ou...
OK, here's the problem: I want to have a spaceship that is built for transporting large machines (in particular, heavy mining equipment). It does not and is not designed to leave space; transport d...
I'm trying to develop a planet which has somehow developed sentience. By sentience I mean more of an animal intelligence than being a person. So far I've got a couple of ideas: It's actually a sp...
I'm trying to find a way to explain an alien species' ability to control plants, specifically plant growth for crops, without it being 'magic.' So they can ensure the health and size of the plants ...
Could a untethered blimp be built strong enough to with stand a thunderstorm? Could wind generators be placed on it to transfer turbulence of shifting wind into wind power? Rain could be collected...
In a previous question on this site I asked about the side effects of a having ludicrously strong, permanent, static magnetic field on the surface of a planet, capable of pulling in non-magnetized ...
One of the points made in a number of recent questions regarding underwater races has prompted me to review one of my older pieces of world-building. Namely: the difficulty of producing common stru...
I've seen many sci-fi scenes that feature a ship underway on a deep space journey. As the ship passes the vantage point we can see engines burning during sub-FTL speeds (The Expanse most recently)....
I am trying to figure out what kind of liquid, if any, can be used to severely impede or slow human motion without killing or severely damaging their bodies (IE if after being submerged in this liq...
I was not entirely sure how to word the title question, so allow me to put my question into more detail here: Suppose there was a planet with just the right conditions to allow humans to live ther...
I understand that there is wide range of bullet calibers. I am interested in the ones that is 50 caliber or less, and if you can be high enough in a blimp to be safe either by to far to see or to f...
