General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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So, in my last question, I asked "How could an animal run fast using blade-like feet that sink into spongy ground?" The premise was that on my planet, forests grow not from soil but from spongy, ...
I want to have an Earth-sized planet (with similar gravity) with an extremely low-density atmosphere (comparable to Mars) at most of its surface. Complex life, including an information-age civiliza...
In my world, Southern Europe, Northern Africa and all the territories surrounding the Mediterranean belong to a single empire. The Emperor and his Council have decided that they are going to drain...
The Black Sea is a brackish body of water, that used to be separate from the Mediterranean. Further back, it was likely part of the Mediterranean before the last ice age. How long would it, or for ...
The Planet The Planet I'm speaking of has the same size as earth but is much lighter. That's because the "Upper Mantle" is about 1000 km wider and mostly consist out of organic material. Such a hu...
This is the first question in my Arctic Airships series of questions. The second one is Arctic Airships, Part 2 - Navigation. The premise: An Earth-like planet plunged into an ice age roughly 2,0...
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...
A submission for the Anatomically Correct Series. The plant genus Mandragora as we know today are nightshades that contain highly biologically active alkaloids that make them poisonous, with the...
Assume a world with no multiverse theory, just a single unbroken timeline. If you were to go back in time to the town your parents lived in on day of your conception, the air displacement due to yo...
On my alternate earth, elves originally evolved their phenotype (pointed ears) in the forests of Africa and migrated to other forest biomes afterward. After settling down they developed the racial ...
So I've created a Cerberus creature that is a group of three hyena-like dogs instead of one organism. The three individuals are linked together, much like an ant colony or bee hive. They would be l...
How would a four-legged bird's flight differ from a regular two-legged one? Would it be slower in flight but have more power taking off? The bird in question is modeled on a bird of prey. (four leg...
Here's the plan for the proposed system of FTL communication. A huge pole made of the strongest solid in existence (or whatever solid would work best for this scenario, if no solid exists that wo...
Bonobos tend to solve disagreements through sex instead of violence, what might have caused this to evolve, or something similar to evolve in a sapient race of humanoids?
One of the answers to What could make a star green? describes a living Dyson sphere made of photosynthetic, plant-like material. What type of star or star system is ideal for a plant-like Dyson sp...
My thoughts go like this: I postulate a superintelligent rational agent, that is given, or assumes, control over its mother civilization. I call this agent "the Ruler". I postulate that in order ...
In the future, space travel is common, so common, in fact, that commercial transport is available to most people, like air travel is to us. As a passenger on a vessel of Galactic Spacelines, half ...
First, yes I was inspired by this question: "How do you check if a room behind a door aboard a spaceship has an atmosphere/pressure?" I wanted to take the scenario further, instead of asking how t...
Space is filled with all kinds of things that are unkind to cloth, such as dust and radiation, and they are the reason why sticking a nylon national flag on the moon isn't permanent. In my world I...
Consider a near-future situation where humans have begun to explore the solar system, most groups are still working to start a profitable mining operation and only a few ships have gone beyond Jupi...
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...
In my world, a scientist and engineer by the name of Guoliang Guan successfully uproots and moves a quarter of a million tons of habitat, industry, miscellaneous chemicals, storage containers, rock...
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...
A ravine the size of the Mediterranean in area and ~15 miles (~ 24 km) deep on average opens up over the course of a few days in the Himalayas. A size comparison of the Mediterranean Sea to the U...
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...
How difficult would it be for a human to survive on a planet with an atmosphere 2-5 times as thick as Earth's but with gravity like Venus? Would such an atmosphere be survivable? If yes, then how ...
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...
For my a story I'm writing, I have 3 species that are from the same evolution line; Kitsune's, Tanuki's, and Bakeneko/Nekomatas. All three are familiar in the lines of shapeshifiting animals. Thei...
Stable Social Structures for Species with Three sexes As a continuation of this question, I'm curious about the viability of long-term social groups with the following characteristics: There are ...
I'm envisioning a series of moons in orbit of a super-earth (ideal) or gas giant. If technically workable, the super-earth would have earthlike gravity, the mass and size aren't important. If it's ...
My question is simple: In theory, would an industrial revolution driven exclusively by alcohol fueled internal and external combustion engines in the early 1800s be practical? What effect would th...
Previous parts here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 2: nervous system Creating a scientifically semi-...
Life Cycle Their life cycle is complicated but in the simplest way I can put it, a Keplerian is considered a baby for the first 2 years of its life. Then it is considered a gender neutral child (I...
Here, star systems are connected with "wormholes". The wormholes facilitate travel at $250\ c$, regardless of mass. They are made using special ships. Any travel (including military vessels) not th...
I am still working on my intelligent detrivore alien species and so far I have gotten some great help from you guys. But after searching online a lot about detrivore psychology I still cannot find ...
Prelude Prelude TLDR; A fleet of ships is passing through our galaxy, stopping off at particular stars and causing small dips in the light from stars. This is related to a couple of other questio...
We all know of plants that draw in animals with sweet nectar or even just sit around hoping an insect will sit on it and get caught, but I'm imagining a forest dimly lit by the flickering flames of...
Part 1 here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton Part 2 here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 2: nervous system In most movies, comics an...
Imagine a world where a creationist situation holds: God (or an alien master species, if you prefer) created all the species you see in the world today, and there will never be any others. Are th...
In my world, humanity reaches their new home among the stars by way of a portal that pops into the solar system one day. This portal instantaneously transports those who enter to a place that is lo...
Previous parts here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 2: nervous system Creating a scientifically semi-...
Part 1 here: Creating a scientifically semi-valid super-soldier, part 1: Skeleton This question is about a complete rebuild of the nervous system. The question as proposed here: Improving human re...
I was thinking of an idea for an alien species in a hard sci-fi universe, and I wondered if a species, with the same amount of emotions as bottlenose dolphins (Except for fear), survive as a specie...
I am writing a story that takes place in a big desert. I've figured that I could make my desert as extensive as possible by building a Pangea-like supercontinent, since I've learned here that, give...
In the near future, say about 50 years, the most powerful governments are starting to compete for control of interstellar resources. The first step is to send a probe or probes to a neighbouring st...
We all know what the minotaur is and what it looks like, a buff man with the head and tail of a bull. But could this creature evolve? Could it even exist? If a Minotaur could exist, what environmen...
The title says it all. How would one go about creating a planet with aliens that have medieval grade technology (windmills and carts and stuff.) No high level technology. However, I want the aliens...
Suppose there was a world on which evolution and natural selection took an odd turn and never produced an organism that could be considered a plant by our modern definition, but which still produce...
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...
