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Looking at current Jovian satellites, Europa and Io give you some idea of what you'd need to consider. Starting with the Solar system model: Europa is (as Aaron commented) the most likely candida...
Yes, because: Here on Earth you see a wide range of colours in the sky depending on time of day, cloud cover, dust etc. as the atmosphere absorbs and scatters different frequencies of the generall...
I like to use Kasting et al. (1993) when talking about better climate models of planets around main sequence stars, as it evaluates habitable zones in while taking into account atmospheric effects....
The tag on this is mythology, not hard science. You need to think mythologically. How could garlic, a spice whose only offense is plain stink, deter an attractive man with a seriously unhealthy...
I think evolution could handle this, given enough time and the right pressures. Here are the steps, in brief: Start with an existing carnivorous plant like a butterwort or bladderwort. Increase ...
There are some real-world examples we can point to that indicate the possibility of a realistic small humanoid. Since we don't need anything exotic like antlers, carapaces, or magic, this should b...
The meteor missed. The end-cretaceous mass extinction event didn't happen. Velociraptors and their friends lived on. They continued to evolve, to be large, and to eat whatever they wanted. We n...
Actually, there is a network with properties similar to those that would likely be seen on an interplanetary version of the Internet. We can use it for comparison. It's called FidoNet. FidoNet us...
Your quadrabirds don't have to loose flight to have a walking fore-limb. Another answer already mentions that some groups of pterosaurs folded their wings when on the ground and used them for walk...
For ultimate spread and mortality, you want something that has the following properties in combination: High probability of infection when somebody is exposed to the disease (highly infectious) H...
I believe that an EMP attack would do what you want. 8-10 bombs launched on scuds from container ships and set off in low earth orbit, evenly spread around the north and south hemispheres, would ta...
Plants contain chlorophyll, which absorbs electromagnetic energy in the range 400-800nm, which happens to coincide with light tossed toward earth by the sun. Quite convenient. The plant uses this...
I think you may have been slightly mixing cause and effect. In your example insects, every egg the queen lays has equal potential to become a worker, drone, or future queen. It all depends on how...
Let's go more with the scenario you are describing, than the question you start out by asking (which appears to be only peripherally related). Let's assume that a "pebble" is approximately 1 cm3 i...
My chief reference here is Appendino et al. (2009), though this possibility was first brought to my attention by this National Geographic article. The Joker's real-world substance of choice? Oenan...
Give it a protoplanetary disk: Image in the public domain. Protoplanetary disks are circumstellar disks that form early on in the life of a planetary system, from the original protoplanetary ne...
13 square meters BIOS-3, a sealed, underground compound designed to mimic a spacecraft, managed to generate oxygen for humans using algae. Its specifics are outlined in an article by Salisbury et ...
The two ways historical kings, emperors, and such have gained the worship of their constituents is to either make the people love them or make the people fear them. Several other answers already d...
It seems like you've generated a chthonian planet, although typically, they're theorized to form when normal solar winds from a star slowly strip away the atmosphere, not the release of a star's ou...
In two words: absolutely yes. Cryptography, at its core, is not about computers at all. Sure; automated, programmable, electronic computers operating at about a gazillion instructions per millifor...
In order to get to the final state you mention, you are going to have to radically alter your initial state, which other answers hint at. Our planet's surface is mostly water, and your planet will...
Riding or Carrying a Pack - NO Suitability for this is somewhat a function of the shape of the spine. if you want a saddle or pack to hold on the animal, you want gravity to work for you and hold...
The core idea you have is very similar to that of an air well, and these have been around since ancient times. You are simply talking about building yours higher up in the atmosphere. The air wel...
Possibly by detecting resonance on a membrane through nerve signals. Sound is vibrations in the air, and when those waves run into things you get vibrations. Human skin is sensitive to sound to...
Ever heard of shepherd moons? Shepherd moons are moons (typically not very massive) that orbit in the middle of planetary rings, creating gaps in the material. They also keep the ring material wher...
