General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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I have characters in mind for a science-fantasy setting which are mostly what you'd call mechanical/robotic, but that also have muscles in their major limb joints, as well as a cardiovascular syste...
Just out of curiosity, could a large constrictor such as a python or a boa evolve to rely on camouflaging itself as a branch, with the right colouration and positioning, in the jungle canopy and am...
Mind-Machine interfacing is fairly common across the width and breadth of sci-fi, from Science-fantasy to Hard Science-Fiction. The idea of connecting a human mind to a computer system especially t...
My idea is that the agent is absorbed quickly into the skin and will cause localized paralysis of muscles. It is housed in a paintball esque container, that soaks the target in impact. This is larg...
Good afternoon! I'm working on a fantasy series set on a very small planet, roughly the size of Pluto or the Moon. I've already read some topics on the small earth-like planets, but mine's a bit un...
A Golem is a creature of Jewish lore, they are living creature created by inanimate objects like clay, stone, hay or wood. They obey their master and will follow their orders. Creating a true golem...
I'm currently working on a number of artificial space megastructures. Recently, I've been trying to work out a couple of things to do with alderson disks: What a person on the surface would see (...
The Spriggan is a tree-like creature native to the Elder Scrolls, where they are often found in forests and groves. In appearance, a Spriggan appears to be made of entirely wood and a glowing sou...
Would it be possible for a small island to have both tropical beaches with a warm sea for swimming AND snow covered mountains suitable for skiing? If it is possible: how far apart would the beache...
After reading this question by Nick M (now closed) and exchanging some comments with him, I have some ideas related to the scenario. I realized that the comprehensive design covers several distinc...
A thought experiment occurred to me today that, say we have a synthetic superintelligence that does not wish to talk to people, not out of malice, but from an agonizing indifference toward humanity...
Every time a rocket is launched into space, debris accumulates. Every time an old satellite runs out of juice, it goes derelict and turns into more junk. Over the years, paint-chips, broken off sol...
In my world there is a kingdom built on hexagonal pillars like you see at the giant's causeway. Your social status is based on how tall the pillar you live on is. Sort of like the image below. T...
You are in charge of the world, with technology about the same as we have now, except that a while back the leaders of the world decided that nukes are too powerful, so they destroyed them all and ...
So I found out that it would under certain circumstances be economic to harvest Asteroids. Given the following: Technological level is nearly similar to todays Earth. There are transportships wh...
Space is vast and lawless. Private travel is commonplace, and pirates have become a significant problem. People mainly fly orbit-to-orbit craft that have chemical rockets and no one is running arou...
Is there a way that, on an Earth-like planet (similar size, mass, composition, resources, moon, climate, star orbit, etc.) some natural process could create and continually renew a Kessler Syndrome...
I'm curious as to what the implications to any navigation system are: ship trekking aviation etc. Will their compass change shape (as being spherical), or might they dump the compass alltogeth...
So, in my world there are these hit-men/assassins, who get all their missions/targets through their dreams. This takes place on Earth in the future. They have a dream the day before the kill, which...
In fantasy literature wyvern's often have their habitat set as extreme mountains. Sometimes even depicted as needing to drop from a height in order to take off. Evolutionarily speaking this does no...
Let's suppose Paleozoic marine creatures (Trilobites, early fish, and many else) has appeared in oceans of 2017. What kind of advantages and disadvantages will they have when they compete with mode...
Having been looking into scientifically plausible forms of telepathy, I stumbled across the electroreception senses that exist in some electric fish (and in a few land-dwelling marsupials). My ques...
What scientifically would make it possible that certain large bodies of water be impassable while others that seem very similar are able to be navigated? This is not what I am attempting to do, bu...
I'm creating a fantasy-world generator. So far I've got it generating a reasonably good surface map, complete with terrain, cities, and borders. Here's a link for anybody who wants to try it: https...
My world has lots of civilizations which, due to geography, have little access to the kind of sea travel as a means for trade, exploration, and conquest. I think the people of this world may be dri...
As a school project, I am designing an extraterrestrial animal, and I would like to include a multiple-hearted mammal-like organism. Is there any set of circumstances in which having 3 hearts would...
What are possible economic systems for use within a space-based industrial settlement? The different approaches are to be weighed by the competitve advantages they offer to their respective commun...
Here is the basic outline for the drive: The drive, at its most basic, is a device that converts any matter into pure energy, and the operator can choose exactly what kind of energy is produced, ...
Suppose humans discovered a beautiful new world they wanted to inhabit, far from the political machinations and military affairs of the alien-populated universe. They established a few colonies on ...
Let's say we have a planetary system that has somehow attracted an unusually high amount of dark matter and dark energy. We can hand-wave the physics and any impossibilities behind the method of th...
2017, flying islands just appeared in the sky. Different places in the world, different sizes. The biggest one is about the size of the Corsica french island. They have similar ecosystem than Eart...
So, I'm still working on the plasma weaponry, the shape is a: Spheromak: The spheromak is a type of plasma configuration which enables the plasma to contain itself with its own magnetic field, eve...
Is there a limit (and if so, what is it) to the size (mass) of terrestrial planet that could be "captured" as a moon by a migrating gas giant? I'm writing a novel where a colony ship crashes on su...
So, I have a story in which all of humanity flee's the Earth. The reason as to why they left is out of the scope of the question. After they leave, I want for the domestic house cat (or some other ...
How realistic is it that in the future someone invents plants that can live on top of the Antarctic ice sheet or are floating on ice like in the Arctic?
What would be the daily calorie requirements of a flying creature that could carry 200 lbs on its back? Are there features that could make a significant difference in this calculation (cold blooded...
An exploratory spaceship holding strangers from many cultures and races has a problem leading to escape pods being deployed to a nearby world that is conveniently survivable. The pods crash land in...
Stanley Miller's experiment was an amazing step forward in unifying inorganic and organic chemistry. It was also a landmark development for the theory of chemical evolution. Miller-Urey Experiment...
My setting is more Space Opera than science based, but I am attempting to keep a consistent set of rules for space travel. I'll try to narrow down my question to a "lowest denominator" for the bene...
My question is about a far off and seclusive colony in the reaches of the Orion nebula. As they are relatively isolated they have resorted to harvesting the nebula itself for resources. What I wa...
A common trope in science fiction is the idea that a human's consciousness and intelligence can be downloaded onto a computer. I recently had the idea that maybe in some apocalyptic scenario, mill...
So at some point in the future, humans have small colonies on the Moon, on Mars and many space stations in orbit of all the planets in the solar system. Everything is going great until one day some...
This answer states that "guided evolution" would help babies develop under constant 3-4g's. This answer has inspired me to ask , what sort of genetic tinkering would help humans adapt to life on a ...
Say we built two large scale portals and sent one to Venus and one to Mars much like in this question but with portals large enough that mass flow rates are not an issue seeing as nobody wants to w...
Since I'm creating a "new world" for my story, I wanted to know if the following conditions would work for an Earth-like planet: Its moon (more or less same size as our moon) being much closer (...
A seawall is basically a coastal defense to prevent waves and tsunamis. Let's suppose there is a town that is located in a lagoon next to the ocean, a sea version of Esgaroth, the lake town. In thi...
My current story is set inside a hollowed out dwarf planet (i.e. Ceres) with an artificial gravity generating "mesh" within the shell. This Gravity Mesh can generate a gravitational field that can...
Take the situation of a modern carrier group (Aircraft carrier, etc.) anchored just off shore (far enough that they initially couldn't run aground) with all the crews abandoning ship for land (in a...
