Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Rigorous Science

Q&A with a focus on more stringent analysis. Questions and answers should be well-researched, clearly explained, and supported with references, equations, or empirical evidence based on current, widely-accepted science. Please read the category guidelines.

Filters (None)
50%
+0 −0
How many humans would there need to be for almost every body to have a doppelganger?

There are a number of stories about persons with exact look alikes. In general this seems to be a rather rare phenomenon. But if you assume more and more humans it should become also more likely ...

5 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by bdecaf‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by bdecaf‭

50%
+0 −0
Can you make arbitrary food out of yeast?

In his Robot Series, Isaac Asimov mentions "yeast substitutes" as a way of creating enough food to feed everybody in the Cities. It's also mentioned in Prelude to Foundation. Here's a few quotes fr...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by isanae‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by isanae‭

50%
+0 −0
Acceleration in space

Scenario: I have a generation ship moving between two star systems. Given that such a ship needs to have a completely self sufficient life cycle system to make it viable, ejecting mass continuously...

5 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Rudhra‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Rudhra‭

50%
+0 −0
Calculating G-Force and Velocity

Simplifying a larger problem. Building a sci-fi text game and I don't want the science to be too wrong. Imagine I have two points in space which are 111,125 kilometers apart and it takes 17 minut...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by Curtis Poe‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Curtis Poe‭

50%
+0 −0
Plausible Cure for N. fowleri

This is a rather nasty, if rare, brain-eating thermophilic amoeba which lives in warm waters in North America (and elsewhere?). It kills by infecting the brain via the olfactory nerve after it ente...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by Adam Wykes‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Adam Wykes‭

50%
+0 −0
The Bering Land Bridge--Open For PERMANENT Business

This is the Bering Sea today... ...and this was the Bering Sea as recently as 25,000 years ago. Truth of the matter is, the Bering had been shifting back and forth from land to sea for 100 mi...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by JohnWDailey‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by JohnWDailey‭

50%
+0 −0
Feasibility of life/existence of a world devoid of transition metals

I was wondering if it is possible for life to evolve in a world which lacks any transition metals. I am wondering this because, it could give a plausible explanation for a world which is very unli...

3 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by jbord39‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by jbord39‭

50%
+0 −0
How long would would it take algae to spread through the sea

Our intrepid interstellar crew arrive in a new solar system. The find a planet in the Goldilocks zone. However the planet has no life, but is otherwise earth like*. The atmosphere is 80% nitrogen, ...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by DarcyThomas‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by DarcyThomas‭

50%
+0 −0
Tougher Alternative Than Granite

Anyone who has a well-versed background in geology will know that the rock of the continents is granite. It forms as lava cools down very slowly, creating large minerals and crystals that shield...

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

50%
+0 −0
Could a monomolecular blade be seen, and could it last?

Recently, there have been some great questions pertaining to monomolecular blades and filaments, so I wanted to ask two very essential questions. If we can't definitively answer these, we can never...

3 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Caleb Woodman‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Caleb Woodman‭

50%
+0 −0
A different artificial gravity: Ultradense material

Guests of this large space station enjoy Earth-like gravity (80-90% minimum). How? Well the space station is so massive it has its own gravity. The disk shaped "core" is made with ultradense mater...

6 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by SilverCookies‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by SilverCookies‭

50%
+0 −0
Is it possible to calculate the extent of a planet's polar ice caps?

If so, what's the equation (or series of equations) for this, and what variables do I need to take into account? EDIT: the planet in my setting is rather "chilly" (around 9.35 Celsius average) wit...

1 answer  ·  posted 7y ago by Alexader Ferguson‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Alexader Ferguson‭

50%
+0 −0
Can a main-sequence star with planets exist orbiting a magnetar?

Lets say you have an average-ish magnetar "” about 3 solar masses, with a magnetic field of 108 teslas (it's decayed a bit since it was born). Now lets say we have a solar system with a small-ish ...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Shalvenay‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by Shalvenay‭

50%
+0 −0
How many Sovjet Era transport planes would be required to transport 30'000 Rhinocerotidae to the southern US border unnoticed?

In a world similar to ours, a mad scientist is bent on preventing the ascendance of one certain individual over the rest of the people inhabiting the northern part of the continental America, also ...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by dot_Sp0T‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by dot_Sp0T‭

50%
+0 −0
How to "set" the lightsail?

Suppose a starship is being powered by a lasers beamed first from the departure star, and then from the destination which is a moving base. The ship is moving in the regime of 10"“30% of light spee...

3 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by JDługosz‭  ·  last activity 7y ago by JDługosz‭

50%
+0 −0
How could a vampire pathogen operate in hard science fiction?

While the vampire is a monster of folklore, modern technothrillers (e.g. Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency, Ultraviolet, Blade, Underworld, Daybreakers) have portrayed vampires as humans infected b...

3 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by Anonymous‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Anonymous‭

40%
+0 −1
Changing Earth's rotation rate

Variations of this question have been asked and answered previously but I am looking for something specific. Situation: Earth's body (mantel and crust) rotate at different rates than it's core (I ...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by Jim2B‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by Jim2B‭

40%
+0 −1
Can I trigger an "ancient device" to start the process of terraforming Mars?

Let's say that an advanced civilisation once existed on Mars millions of years ago at a time when water existed in liquid form and that life was abundant on the planet. (Say this civilisation is a ...

1 answer  ·  posted 9y ago by Notaras‭  ·  last activity 9y ago by Notaras‭

40%
+0 −1
What good are herbivores in an animal army?

This is a multi-species animal army with predators of all shapes and sixes, foxes, lions, bears, tigers, leopards, wolves, lynx, eagles, falcons and so on. The herbivores have been excluded from t...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Green‭