General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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If you look at our society, you can see why we developed technology. Each individual wanted an easier life, therefore we invented tools and overcame obstacles to achieve this easier life. One could...
I need to find a way to explain away the simultaneous quiet deaths in the night of a couple of thousand people worldwide such that (were this the only thing to happen, of course) nobody would ever ...
This is loosely linked to my nature Mage questions. In my fantasy world I want a race of Orcs. These are the characteristics they have to have: Stand between 6 and 7 feet tall Have crude weapons ...
One science fiction short story I read (I don't remember the title or author, sorry!) featured some small creatures (unnamed) that were formed from metal, with the argument that "just like life dev...
In my scenario, a tremendous war wipes most of the humanity. While pockets survive here and there, the biggest part lives in one city, totaling around 3000 to 5000 survivors. It is also important t...
How much would the gravitational force (on earth) have to increase to make air-travel impractical (not impossible as escape by space flight to other planets would be a nice option). But to a point ...
So, for reasons which may or may not pop up in a later question of mine, I need to light a small Moon-like moon on fire. Well, sort of. See, I need a small object capable of emitting a lot of ligh...
Major Camila de Ocampo, "La Comandante", wakes with a start. As she's been trained to do when coming out of stasis, she flexes each muscle, beginning with her toes until she finally finishes by rai...
I recently envisioned a fight scene in which the three main characters are in a bar on a spaceship when about a dozen space marines ambush them. They take cover behind the bar, but without weapons ...
Linked: What would the conditions on a methane world be like? What would animal life on a methane world look like and how would it evolve? Background: Okay, an intelligent race has evolved on a...
Are there scientists currently, who could describe their specialization as "xenobiologist" or are they merely a thing of science-fiction? Assuming an alien is discovered today, and willing to coope...
Recently I had an idea for a world setting. A large part of this world focuses around a habitable satellite the size of Earth orbiting a Super-Jupiter. The fact that it's a moon is pretty integral ...
Related: How would a completely urbanized city-planet support its population? How a completely urbanized city-planet be maintained? Why would a completely urbanized city-planet exist? The prope...
The picture above is a representation of a Methane Earth. I pulled it from this Wikipedia article on alternative solvents. Several questions deal with whether life would be possible on a world w...
Imagine the Earth is struck by a laser/magic beam capable of piercing it and leaving a lasting hole. What effects would observed? Would there be a difference between the hole(s) being made in the o...
What could be the reasons for climate to be so localized that it could rain in one street and not in the next, be extremely hot in a city and not in the next, have extremely narrow gusts of wind......
I'm exploring this idea for a fantasy world, and I was wondering how these planets would affect each other. The system would feature orbits in all three dimensions, not relatively flat like ours is...
The Scenario: The Sun is eternal. We are producing much more oxygen than we need. First off, would the atmosphere grow, or would it just become much more dense? Given the circumstances, if th...
In a futuristic sci-fi world (galaxy?) I'm building, warfare has become highly regulated and commercialized. When two corporations meet on a deserted planet to do battle, they're followed by all so...
Without giving spoilers, this idea comes from the movie Titan A.E. How would one create an Earth-like planet in a reasonable time frame (100-250 years) that has both the gravity of Earth and a magn...
The long-term theory of climate patterns states that the Earth experiences an ice age, freezing over and remaining so for about 40 years, before returning to a normal, seasonal climate. My question...
Imagine a world in which the structures and resources are our own organs, tissues and cells. The society would be run by special cells and living microorganisms. My inspiration is from the animati...
After reading hours on here, I stumbled upon alot of answers that rely on some major changes in our understanding of space and time and its tech to allow us control antimatter or some future thrust...
What minerals can we find in martian soil? Or what rare minerals can we find on our planet and can be placed beneath Mars? How deep, how much, and most important: how precious. I really appreciate ...
The earth is migrating, somehow (it doesn't matter how, but it's not directly destructive) into a higher orbit over the course of a century. Details: The earth-sun distance will increase by 150...
One of the solution to make a cold planet habitable for us is to increase the greenhouse effect. It works with planets like Mars that are inside the habitable zone but would it be enough for a plan...
In a story I am working on, I need a scene in which one of the main characters finds himself outside in precarious weather conditions, unable to see unaided much farther out than an armlength or so...
A sizeable human population was separated from the rest of the Earth people for a long time, long enough for allopatric speciation to happen. They are no longer Homo sapiens and now have ZERO repro...
Instead of flying say tons of metal and/or water and other raw materials/molecular matter to the Moon or Mars, could we shoot it there in ionized form by accelerating these sufficiently? Maybe sub...
A weird question. But let me define "a world without electricity": It's not that we haven't discovered electricity. But rather, electricity doesn't work anymore. Nothing conducts electricity. El...
On Earth, the polar bear is among the most sexually dimorphic animals, with males being on average almost twice as heavy as females (Wikipedia claims average weights of 450 kg for males versus 260 ...
Let's say we get a cheap technology to collect and then send (hypothetically all) our waste to the Sun by a rocket, and we choose this technology as the main (and only) method to utilize our waste....
I'm wondering what adverse effects might be felt by someone from a planet with, say, 80% of Earth's gravity and a denser, but breathable, atmosphere with a higher concentration of oxygen visiting a...
Could life be sustained only by a gas? Humans need food, water and air but can a ET or Alien could just live off gas.
Would something like this be feasible? Span of bridge is approximately 5km. Height above canyon floor is approximately 800 meters (1/2 mile). Bridge structurally close to neutral. Tethered dirigi...
Given the resources available on Earth, can we erect a colossal cage to envelope the entire planet? [Conditions] must covers the entire globe in a single non breaking element. brave any kinds of...
My story involves everyone in the year 2015 suddenly disappearing. What would visitors to Earth find if they arrived in the year 12015, or 10,000 years after we all disappeared? Assume none of our ...
Ignoring the fact that we need water in order to survive, what would happen if all of the "oceans" on Earth were filled with a dense non-reactive gas (e.g. xenon or sulfur hexafluoride) instead of ...
As the title says, what would the universe be like if the gravitational force was 0.1% stronger but the other forces (strong and weak nuclear forces, electromagnetic force) stayed the same? Would t...
In a type III civilization probably even type II, would have developed solid energy construct resembles force shield which acts like a semi-permeable membrane to allow friend to pass but prohibit s...
You see this in quite a bunch of movies / books (think avatar). What could be a reasoned physical explanation of such phenomenon? Would this explanation impact other things on a planet? Like most...
Can the gravitational pull of Earth drag the Moon into Earth's atmosphere? Likewise, can the gravitational pull of the Sun drag Earth into the Sun's atmosphere? If that can happen, what will happen...
Since earthquakes, typhoons, tsunami and many natural disasters were measured or calculated to release more energy than many H-bombs can produce every seconds, can we one day harness this powerful ...
Ornithopters are vehicles that fly by flapping their wings, rather than trough use of a propeller or jet engine. They've been proposed and built many times throughout history, and are a common elem...
Imagine a red dwarf star orbited by a considerably Earth-sized planet in the star's habitable zone. Assuming the planet has a sufficiently powerful magnetic field to protect its surface from the st...
The Settings: A pod of nanobots stranded on earth-like barren planet orbiting sun-like star. Assume no life form has formed on the planet, and nanobots popuate the planet. Could they evolve compl...
I'd like to construct a planet where the rivers all run east to west, but I need a plausible reason for them to do so. Rivers run from high altitude to low, but also I suppose there is the corioli...
I want to be able to apply tools or methodologies to help ensure consistency in my world. For example: Burning world Imagine a planet with a land mass around the equator on which a great fire rag...
Definitions: Slip Space - The area of space separating planes of the universe. Think of the universe as a flat piece of paper. Now imagine this flat piece of paper wrapped into a spherical ball. T...
Archimedes claimed that he would lift the Earth if he could find a suitable place outside it, with his knowledge of mechanics. So, my question is: What kind of set-up (e.g. how large lever or how ...
