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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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Is it realistic that mountain cultures use a different calendar than the low landers?

My fantasy setting is on a wet and humid world of innumerable islands; many of which are quite mountainous. With conditions ranging from Mediterranean to Tropical. The culture here experience onl...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Trismegistus‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Trismegistus‭

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Would human civilization develop at a slower pace if Earth was 5.8x larger?

EDIT: Calculations were incorrect, the earth in my comic is not 5.8x larger, it is 2.4x larger. Its surface area is 5.8x larger but the diameter is 2.4x larger. Anyway I'm working on a comic tha...

11 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JordanTheCynic‭

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How can space cop arrest the suspicious spacecraft moving at sub-luminal velocity?

Set in a distant future, reports of alien and drug traffickings have been on the rise and there was mounting pressure for Mr User6760, president of intergalactic interpol to resign. The traffickers...

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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Epidemic friendly time traveller

My time traveller from the distant future is about to get stranded back in time, but realises that by travelling back a short time, maybe 100000 years, he is going to leave a trail of destruction b...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by pjp‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by pjp‭

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Can You Evolve a Second Pair of Pectoral Muscles Without The Need for Flight?

Somewhere on DeviantArt, there is an insightful tutorial by someone named "Uzlo" on how to create anatomically believable angels. Among the instructed details is the possibility of developing a se...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

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The curious case of tengu, the "geometric anomaly" of their human disguises and how they can overcome it

Tengu are humanoid creatures with many avian features, including wings and beaks. Now, this is a problem when it comes to disguises. Disguises in this setting work by covering one's body in utilit...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭

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Can a "boneless" flying creature exist?

The creature was originally a human, altered by an external agent that basically remade its body (carbon based). The creature is roughly 2 meters and relatively light. It is humanoid and boneless, ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by ProjectApex‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by ProjectApex‭

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What are the possible ways of explaining the limits in cognitive abilities of evolution driven species?

For a story, I need to find a way to justify the limited cognitive capacities of an entire race that thrives on biomass, capable of eating anything that is inherently biological. This race is dri...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Fireww‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Fireww‭

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Would making a last ditch effort to skip save the spaceship?

Imagine a spaceship entering Earth's atmosphere, it has lost control of its engines and is relying on its reverse thrusters to decelerate before crashing into the Pacific ocean. So in an attempt ...

8 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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What modifications are needed to have tree that can create hurricane/cyclone around it?

I don't know much about hurricane/cyclone and how to created it (nor know the difference much, so bear with me if i make mistake), so I want to know what kind of plant organs or ability need to ach...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Li Jun‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Li Jun‭

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How massive would a planet need to be to sustain negligible damage from impact with the Earth?

I'm curious what factors a terrestrial planet impacting the Earth would require for the impact to cause negligible damage to the larger planet, while destroying the Earth.

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Wax‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Wax‭

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Quick! How far away is that asteroid?

How might an enterprising spacer, mining the rings of Saturn, go about quickly measuring/estimating the velocity of and distance to a nearby moving object (asteroid, habitat, pirate, etc)? Bonus po...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by user73226‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user73226‭

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How CAN You Justify Melalo's Dorsal Casque?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Melalo, described in the Book of Creatures website as "the oldest and most feared of Ana's children." His name literally means "filthy", "dirty" or even "obscene"....

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

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What modifications are needed to have plants that can grow and survive in a world of sugar and sweetness?

What modification would a plant "” especially tree "” develop in a world where everything is made of sugar, caramel, cake, syrup, soda, etc.? Think of something like Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factor...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Li Jun‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Li Jun‭

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Options for biological high-density energy storage within the human body

I've got my wizards, who operate by vanilla human biological laws and metabolism. They've got an organ in the pelvis which has its own mechanism - not breaking the laws of physics - which stores en...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by KeizerHarm‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by KeizerHarm‭

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What would be the maximum distance from which a space ship could physically see a planet?

A plot point of my novel is that the pilot accidentally finds a planet that is being purposefully hidden (i.e. been deleted from all star maps). It starts with him arriving at a location that is j...

7 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Primordial‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Primordial‭

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On our way to Mars: how do we do the laundry?

A human crew of 6 has been sent on mission to Mars The lowest energy transfer to Mars is a Hohmann transfer orbit, which would involve an approximately 9 month travel time from Earth to Mars, a...

13 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by L.Dutch - Reinstate Monica‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by L.Dutch - Reinstate Monica‭

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Would a single solar system be able to come up with a main time system?

I have a solar system containing multiple planets, most having an intelligent species inhabiting it. To keep a common peace, they created a large government system to help stop territorial wars bet...

9 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Aesin‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Aesin‭

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How can we make earth's temperature more uniform?

Scenario: Humans need to create a pull factor for people to move to and establish cities and economies in less comfortable and densely inhabited places, because they're a bit full already. The huma...

6 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Sheikchilli‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Sheikchilli‭

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How plausible is my creature?

My creature, called the Kurbish, inhabits a wasteland-world, in my universe. Recently, I have been wondering; "How plausible is this thing, really?" A description: Large, Elephant-like creatures ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Hunt Castle‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Hunt Castle‭

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What are planetary side effects of having a thicker atmosphere?

I've been told that having a thicker atmosphere would make it easier to fly, particularly of heavier-than-air designs, so I'm interested in giving my planet such conditions. I'm mainly interested t...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Vigilant‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Vigilant‭

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How long would it take for wildlife to colonize a newly exposed habitat?

A magical calamity has wiped out an area about twice as big as Germany. The calamity also altered the climate in the region from one supporting forests and grasslands to a desert similar to the Am...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Ryan_L‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Ryan_L‭

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Scientific explanation for extreme fighting strength

I was wondering if there is a scientific way to explain how my characters are capable of extreme levels of strength when engaging in combat. My characters are biological but have implants that all...

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

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What kind of climates and biomes would exist on the continents a tidally locked ocean world?

Please note: I am asking about planet orbiting a star, not a moon orbiting a planet. So I've been trying to get this planet down for a long while now but there are still so many pieces of the puzz...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by SentiCarter‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by SentiCarter‭

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What organs or modifications are need for a biological creature to develop lethal force as a poop machine gun?

so i want to know What organs or modifications are need for a biological creature to develop lethal force as a pooping machine gun. something like how skunk spray their stinky odor as defense mec...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Li Jun‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Li Jun‭

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What chemicals or modifications are need for a biological creature to be able to develop as natural/organic suicide bomb?

So in my world there's a creature as big as a common rodent or as big as a rabbit in size. They live in packs, usually burrowed, but occasionally come to surface to get food. The alpha male is task...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Li Jun‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Li Jun‭

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How to create fictional earth ecosystems with lots of megafauna which can plausibly coexist?

Ecosystems like the african savanna have lots of megafauna which to some extent compete with each other for the same prey/vegetation, but still coexist just fine. So how do I construct similarly d...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Vakus Drake‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Vakus Drake‭

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Old brain inside young body

You are 70 years old but you look 50, this because you have always maintained good health, mentally and physically. After experimenting with various clones before, you decide it's time for you to ...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Kay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Kay‭

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What problem in classical physics can a computer solve that a human doing calculus cannot?

So in my setting there is a small and exclusive group of people that have access to devices that work like computers (but which are not the same as computers. They do not use semiconductors and ele...

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

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How can my Mage Light spell work?

While I'm working on the Magical Artillery, let's look at another common spell. Mage Light is a very handy invention. When cast, the spell creates an orb, 13 cm in diameter. The orb radiates whi...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭

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How do you send out SOS in space if there is no absolute coordinate?

Imagine your spaceship encountered a gravitational anomaly and discovered that you are lost in space, your computer tells you that you are still inside the Milky Way galaxy but it cannot find the S...

9 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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Could a tetrapod Pegasus exist?

Pegasuses in most works of media are often depicted as hexapods with four legs and two wings: The only problem is (from what I understand) no vertebrates on earth are hexapods, so I've decided ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by icewar1908‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by icewar1908‭

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What problems would arise for the human species making itself into robots

In modern day society, few or many people have been fascinated with integrating robotic parts to their bodies. But sometimes that idea is taken to the next step, in which people want to have their ...

14 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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Interchangeable rooms

So, in the S.S Portland (The main setting of my story) there is a variety of rooms. A lounge, a lab, etc. so, i was thinking that at some point, the lounge would be changed out for a 0-g pool. A ba...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by CatSharkSnake‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by CatSharkSnake‭

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How does Wildfire work?

Don't you just hate when Euron injures your pet dragons and perforates your fleet with a ballista? Don't worry, all you need is a shipful of Wildfire and a very long fuse (or Mehdi Sadaghdar with ...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Mephistopheles‭

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How Would a Continental Landmass Sink?

Atlantis is real. It's just that there's more than one of them, and none of them are actually called "Atlantis". Instead, they consist from the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean to Zealandia,...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

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What are some ways to hide a planet?

A major plot point for my story is the Protagonist stumbling upon a planet that was purposely hidden from the rest of the galaxy (at the edge of the galaxy) as it's being used by high level governm...

11 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Primordial‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Primordial‭

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Planet With Higher Atmospheric Pressure

Consider a planet with Earth like gravity but an atmosphere that is 10x what Earth has at sea level (atmospheric composition is equivalent to Earth). If the vegetation is similar to Earth's, would ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user92101‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user92101‭

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How would a Universal Coordinate system work?

We have a variety of ways of describing our location here on Earth. We can refer to a nearby landmark (eg "by the City Hall"), we can describe our location relative to an area (eg "in the South of...

2 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Jimmery‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Jimmery‭

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What Stops Dragons From Causing Ecological Collapse?

In my setting Dragons evolved on a n isolated continent far from where man evolved. But in the past thousand years dragons have been introduced to the human inhabited continent, which is filled wit...

7 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by NixonCranium‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by NixonCranium‭

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How would you design Turn-Signals on a Flying Car?

When designing a flying car intended for congested city routes with slow traffic, should turn signals indicate all possible directions. In most sci-fi, I've seen designs that have no turn-signals o...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Woodlum Hoodlum‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Woodlum Hoodlum‭

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Intelligent life from trial by wildfires

In my question: Sustainability of Regular Global Wildfires Due to Oxygen Rich Atmosphere An answer was proposed for a kind of "Boom Bust Cycle". The atmosphere has little CO2 but a lot of O2. W...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Aezyc‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Aezyc‭

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Colonies on Jupiter

I'm making a series where a multi-purpose frigate travels to Jupiter in order to help in the Mars versus Jupiter war. However, I don't know what the colonies would look like. Maybe floating wit...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by CatSharkSnake‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by CatSharkSnake‭

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All planets and stars flat, how to bring day and night effect?

In a scenario in which all heavenly bodies are flat including earth. How to bring the effect of day and night effect like now i.e when day in japan and night in USA . Considering nobody can live b...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Amruth A‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Amruth A‭

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Why would my species expose their brains through a glass dome?

The species I have created looks eerily humanlike, practically indistinguishable from human except for a reptile-like tail and an exposed brain. The top portion of the skull is replaced with a gla...

30 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by RotNDecay‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by RotNDecay‭

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How can early people prove that their planet is a cuboid?

Imagine a cuboid planet with a thick atmosphere orbiting a star similar to our Sun. The inhabitants are as intelligent as humans and recently discovered the universal laws of gravitation and motion...

4 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by user6760‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by user6760‭

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Could an Environment Sustain Large Eusocial Animals?

Eusociality, is the most sophisticated level of organization of sociality, is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults, a...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by NixonCranium‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by NixonCranium‭

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In a world with time travel, would it be possible to be your own mother's mother?

Given that you can travel back in time and have a baby there, or alternatively, send your baby back in time, would it be possible that this baby one day becomes your own mother (gives birth to you)...

8 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by sebrockm‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by sebrockm‭

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How would normal colors be affected if a planet's atmosphere was green?

Good day everyone. I've recently finally gotten around to writing a sci fi novel but need help on some of the science of a few concepts I would like to incorporate in the novel. I'll start with ...

3 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Primordial‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Primordial‭

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A "time capsule" that can last for trillions of years?

The universe is dying because it has exhausted nearly all of its resources. Humans became the last species in the universe because of their resilience and sheer willpower. And yet, humanity still...

5 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by In the name of the story‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by In the name of the story‭