General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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From some research, I have learned that atmospheric circulation - winds currents and ocean currents - depend on pressure and the Coriolis effect. But if the oxygen level is increased and the press...
It has been said that one of the inspirations of the Cyclops of Greek mythology was from a skull of a dwarf elephant. Being twice the size of a human, people interpreted the nasal cavity (for the t...
In many fantasy stories, dragons are portrayed as giantic monsters that can destroy cities, if not, then at least a castle. Now, we can theoretically create something flight-capable even with mass...
Let's say metallic hydrogen becomes an economically viable resource that we are able to either make ourselves or mine from a gas giant, how would we use it as a power source for vehicles both plane...
Would an organism that evolved on a world with a short day length have a faster metabolism in comparison to one that evolved on a slower rotating world?
I'm looking for a rock from which my island is constructed. It needs to be: Either created from the sea or via intense pressure/heat Capable of trapping layers of gas beneath it White(ish) I wa...
Water, as is, with its physical and chemical properties, is the base of any living being on Earth. Water has a rather high specific heat capacity of 4.184 J/gC, which in itself has a great effect ...
Let's say that around 4-5 million years ago, members of the earliest proto-humans, maybe Australopithecus, get whisked away to another habitable planet/parallel dimension - doesn't matter how at th...
In my world, taking place sometime in the near future, scientists decide to mess around with genetic engineering. The goal is to create hybrid supersoldiers with animal genes ad have them perform e...
What resources would be most valuable to enhancing space travel, establishing new colonies, be cause for invasion, etc?
Rust Monsters are one the few original monsters in D&D that didn't fade into obscurity. Probably because of their ability to turn James' favourite metal items into dust. Rust monsters are ba...
I'm working on a story about Earth or an Earth like planet with current or very near future levels of civilisation and technology drifting or speeding out of the solar system. Currently my method f...
Could a species with an incredibly advanced electroreceptive organ (such as that of a shark) be able to use it above water? The gas-mix in which the sense works must be breathable to humans, and it...
I'm working on a scenario operating on Clarke's Third Law, with nanotechnology percieved as magic to humanity, and I want to create a non-spiritual afterlife for humanity. My intention was to simpl...
I am trying to construct a terrestrial planet that is almost entirely made of silicates but with a core that's able to generate a magnetic field. I really don't want to use iron, nickel, or cobalt,...
Would it even be feasible under science fiction logic? It would allow nuclear weapons to be mass produced if the nuclear pasta could actually be collected and contained safely.
I think it would make sense for hurricanes to be combatted using shade balls to block the evaporation of the ocean into the storm. What would we need to stop a hurricane? Info on shade balls.
I like the idea of elves having a distinct weakness against iron, to the point where they're intensely scared of it and can't stand the touch of it. My question is: Assuming the Elves are mostly...
Is it physically possible for a complex crater to form and remain stable after an impact event large enough to deform the Earth's crust globally, insofar that the surface of the planet becomes unre...
In Star Trek TNG, you hear about some sort of defense back on earth that is supposed to screen out all the bad weather. In the episode "True Q," it is mentioned several times as being capable of pr...
For a story I have, modern civilisation must be destroyed by a worldwide disaster. The objective is roughly something that: Could be man-made or aided (if not now, maybe in the future) Decimates...
These humans must never see the ocean and should still be able to survive. They can only get out of the land if they improve the technology level. Is it even possible? The lakes or seas should prob...
Essentially, my question is, can one larger black hole be split into a system of smaller black holes? I'm assuming energy requirements will be prohibitive, and that it may not be possible without ...
I am currently building a campaign for DnD. The main plot plays out on an island the heroes are stranded on after their ship goes off track and sinks. They discover that this island is ruled by m...
Lately I have been thinking about possible forms of life on planets that would have radically different experiences than here on Earth. I was wondering if life based on transition metals was possib...
First question so hope I'm doing this right! Working on a setting right now where a bio-engineered virus/plague is wiping out a large portion of humanity. Most died upon first exposure. Some surviv...
Okay, trying to figure out this math guys! This may be simple math to some of you, but not me!!! I googled various ways of asking this question and got some good results, but I'm looking for a sim...
Consider the following GIF: The brooms from this Fantasia scene are always busy. They dance around energetically in a military-like march, never stopping to rest. When their wizard overlord is o...
I have two "new" planet earths -- we'll call them Light Earth (LE) and Heavy Earth (HE). These planets are generally the same as our Earth in terms of land masses, oceans, the moon and sun and othe...
Malevolent Spirit: Malevolent spirits are swarms of barely visible machines that have accidentally been imprinted with a deceased person's memories. They posess swarm intelligence and communicate w...
Need help with a topic for a sci-fi book. Basic premise is 200yr in future, mining facility on small Mars moon of Phobos. Power source we would like is an Sodium Fast Reactor breeder as we think th...
A part of the story I am writing involves two continents that centuries before the story takes place sunk into the sea. I want to have a way to explain this that does not come down to just the sea...
A Smaug giganteus. If you do as much as think about slaying it, I'll force feed you gasoline and shove a match down your throat. Sungazers are awesome. They're so awesome I decided to base some p...
i want to make my dragon spew/breath explosion mix with the gizzard stone fragments/shrapnel rather than common fire breath like a flamethrower but more like a shotgun. so is there any explosion c...
My planet is a frozen world. Roughly the size of earth and in a perpetual ice age. The planet has very cold temperatures at night and during the day its surface becomes very bright. The intense sol...
I was wondering how the species described below could survive in tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate zones and in mountains, forests, wetlands, deserts, open plains, rainforests and coastal a...
In my world, electricity has not yet been discovered, but they have somehow still managed to attain a technological advancement similar to modern times. I am currently trying to tackle the problem...
The demigods are immortal individuals that protect our reality from eldritch abominations, such as Cthulhu, Niggurath, etc, on a plane that exists between our world and theirs. These battles agains...
The Hippocampus is a mythological creature and has typically been depicted as having the upper body of a horse with the lower body of a fish. Considerations Gills or lungs? Would this creatu...
I usually like to leave some wiggle room for myself when fleshing a concept out. Dragons make that sort of impossible, same's true for nanomachines but ripped senators are a question for another d...
Raining animals is a rare meteorological phenomenon in which flightless animals fall from the sky. Such occurrences have been reported in many countries throughout history. One hypothesis is tha...
Okay, as an extension of my previous question, I'm just going to lay bare all the details I've written down about this planet (including corrections from my last question), and ask the big question...
Picture a band of happy campers, literal campers, sitting around some fires. Suddenly they feel their inner-ear "filling up" and after mere instants the ears begin popping, as if they were inside ...
In theory organisms derived from birds through genetic engineering could resemble theropod dinosaurs. So my question is what animals would serve as the basis for the other two groups of dinosaurs (...
If humans hadn't lost their tails and today we had fully prehensile tails as long as 1/2 our body and stronger than an arm, how would the tail of a bodybuilder or just a buff person look? Would tai...
I'm trying to create a new race of humanoids that are in appearance almost identical to humans with one exception: They have an extension of their spine protruding from their back, much like a tail...
In 2001:A Space Odyssey, from Space Station V the Earth appears to be spinning around a center that is near the edge of the planet. Phone call from space station scene If the same station (300 met...
I'm writing a story about a company similar to Google, i.e. which wants to know everything about everyone and which wants to trace everything that is traceable out there. But which, at the same tim...
So I have the following scenario for a story, and I want to know if it runs into any ridiculous no-nos from a scientific point of view: There is an earth-like world orbiting a red dwarf (similar t...
I am creating a fantasy world where on one continent there are humans, dwarves and gnomes. All 'species' can interbreed (much like Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens), thus they need to have close simil...
