General Q&A about worldbuilding and other speculative developments that can be extrapolated from science.
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I want to have aliens approach the Earth looking for a new world to colonize. They come from a similar planet circling a similar star, but either their star has entered its red giant phase (how lon...
The square-cube law holds true only for objects that are similar. In evolution, you can't make big leaps forward, but since most fantasy worlds are created by gods or people who think they're gods,...
Please assume the following: There is a item on the ground and I want nothing but bare earth touching it. I cannot move the item myself. The item is impervious to fire. I cannot afford to guar...
I was unfortunate enough to imagine an ancient setting upside down. I started out with small features and, after connecting them, got the following: cold ^ | sun...
In a time period with medieval technology, what would be the most important local resources? I've put together a small list and broken it down into categories, but I'd like to know if there's anyth...
In Wayne Douglas Barlowe's classic book "Expedition" he has many strange creatures. One that intrigues the most is this one, the flipstick. It has two feet on either side and uses them to flip th...
I've written about these rocky hills with short grass, gravel, shrubs, and big boulders. At the bottom of one of the hills is a big bog. Basically I've designed some buildings to be sticking out of...
Think of this alien life form as something resembling earth bats, placed in a planet with Earth-like conditions. Micro-bats have small and poorly developed eyes. Similarly, this alien species is ...
Foreword: I'm aware of the limitations of the square-cube law involved in sizing an animal up, as these limitations have been relentlessly stressed in every discussion of realistic fantasy creature...
In my sci-fi world, mankind has begun colonization of the large asteroid Ceres. There are several established towns on the surface, but most of the population live underground in icy/rocky caves. T...
In 28 Days Later the Rage Virus causes uncontrollable aggression and changes in personality. Is such virus even possible in principle? I'm not talking about rabies but rather about a genetically en...
Background: In this scenario assume technology is initially equal to our own, but a method is discovered to render material indestructible. The affected material is treated as requiring infinite o...
I had an idea of a concept a while ago. If a planet that for some reason or another had only one giant continent like Pangea, but bigger, for more distinct habitats and giant lakes assuring isola...
What makes an animal suitable for domestication? I know it has something to do with the danger to productivity ratio. But this is not helpful for fantasy animals in the worlds we build. What factor...
If it is even possible, what would the Goldilocks zone be like - in fact is such a system even possible of holding life - around a binary black hole? Could it have planets orbiting it? EDIT 1: Oh ...
Note: I am aware of this question Could two planets be tidally locked to each other so close they share their atmosphere? My question is not about that. It is specifically about human travel. By...
When traveling at fast speeds through the galaxy, would it be possible to identify where all the black holes were on your path? I know most black holes are identified by their affect on other nearb...
In my sci-fi world, mankind has begun colonization of the large asteroid Ceres. It's a mining hub, with a lot of cargo vessels transporting things in and out. Hydrogen peroxide fuel is cheap and p...
I've been playing with the idea of living nests for insects for a while now to help populate my worlds. The idea is that they don't build a static nest out of wood pulp and other material but have ...
Following my mutant thread, I'd like some insight on one of them. I wrote this first generation highly powerful mutant whose ability revolves around metal. (Context, skippable if you're only here...
Let's go with an example. Three planets, all of roughly earth's size, follow the same orbit around a star with a mass of roughly 1 sun. Basically, all three planets are almost identical to Earth, o...
I'm currently writing this story where an intelligent lifeform, instead of human eye-sight, is able identify the chemical composition of their surroundings, by detecting and "mapping" all the atoms...
This question differs from that question in that the other question is asking about a change in history while this question is looking for a change in the future. In a near future setting I am w...
Suppose we detect a stellar black hole passing near the Solar system, and we have technology and time to send a manned mission to study it. Are there any experiments or observations that would hel...
I made a map for my fictional world and it would be convenient for the story to have all of it affected by a somewhat similar climate. The map is made of several pieces of a Pangaea-like continent...
The idea is to build a cybernetic body for a human. Only the brain and a few glands related to emotions, like adrenal glands, will be kept. The brain and the glands will be in a closed, plug-and-p...
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode The Die is Cast. A planetary bombardment scene occured where 17 shots was stated to have destroyed 30% of a planet's crust. Now obviously that's a HUGE amo...
Huldra are forest creatures from Scandinavian folklore, best known for their seductive natures. They are frequently depicted as beautiful women, with the additional traits of a cow-like tail and oc...
In my conworld I have two moons (they could be planets if desired as long as they can stay 'close' to a larger nearby body) of habitable size. I want to reality-check and provide an explanation for...
This is part of my Alien Message series: Recognizable natural numbers for alien message? Alien message: "Invitation" I recall a TV show featuring a discussion on the design of warning messages ...
Sonic weapons are frequently used by military circles as non-lethal irritants to deter opponents. My question is; could a naturally evolved organism kill, or at least incapacitate, small prey using...
Looking at the case of Mike, I realized decentralizing the brain might not be infeasible. The idea is if Horus, the brown falcon, doesn't have enough room in his skull, then why not move various fu...
In a post-industrial collapse scenario, what would be the most effective methods for contraception? Situation is a small scale civilisation with limited access to industrial materials and tooling b...
Slimes are seen as merely base-level enemies which don't really challenge the heroic main character, the Chosen One. My question is how to make slimes incredibly powerful without using magic. The...
Is it possible for an earth-like planet to be perceived (by human eyes) in real-time as an infrared photograph? If so, in what conditions?
As the title say, can a planet have a different gravitational pull depending on its location in orbit around its sun? Is this explainable without magic?
Many people know that our blood is red because it is iron based. Many people also know that blood is blue or green if it is copper based. I'm wondering what color blood would be if it was let's say...
I am a new person to this but I have been looking at similar questions about silicon life. I'm currently trying to create silicon-based lifeforms on a planet with a surface temperature of about, -...
On Blue Planet 2: The Deep (at least, that is the title in the US version), there is discussion of crabs that grow bacteria on themselves as a food source. In the show, they kind of looked like the...
One of the solutions I think is making the muscle go inside the bone, something look like an exoskeleton creature. either mechanical or organic making the artificial muscle developed inside the mar...
I want the surface of my fantasy planet to be made hostile every few thousand years for long enough to make every species go extinct that breeds on land. The easiest explanation seems to be other p...
My world is far away exoplanet with water and some oxygene, but without life or plants, which means without coal and organic materials inside. High tech people from Earth come there and made some ...
Note: this takes place in a world populated by humanoid bears, where the population density in Siberia is much higher. The northern part of Russia is taken up by a country called Medwedia. As said...
With the rise of global warming and our leaders not seeming to do enough about it, expanding our ranges past the earth's ground seems like something we must do eventually. Everyone always points to...
Now maybe this belongs in physics, but I want it here because I'm interested in the impacts on our society if the speed of light (c) were to be 2x faster since the big bang. My first thoughts were...
The industrial company Astor since 2124 has equipped all "Long Hauls" (voyages beyond 3 months) with cryopofs in accordance with a new company bylaw and cost cutting measure (less resources the cre...
In JJBA: Stardust Crusaders, there was a two-parter with a falcon stand-user, called Pet Shop, as the antagonist. The character kinda intrigued me, so I decided to steal it while Araki wasn't watch...
This is the latest in a long series of questions I've asked on my fantasy world which contains many mythical and folkloric creatures. I won't link the other questions since at this stage the series...
Description So fellas have you ever head of pig from hell, well if you haven't its called the Entelodont and it is an extinct pig like omnivorous mammal that resembles a giant boar. It is thought ...
Most dragons (before Skyrim and GoT) had six limbs in total, four legs and a pair of wings. The question is how would a dragon's forelimbs be placed? It's obvious they have good terrestrial capabi...
