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Let me add another point of view. Most answers assume that the large brain evolved in order to gain intelligence. However, I've once read another hypothesis (unfortunately I don't remember where): ...
If a universe is a simulation, then, logically, it must have all the natural laws built into it. Agreed? Now, if it is a deterministic universe - that is a universe where, theoretically, you could ...
Yes and No Quantum mechanics is full of probability. You simply can't get around it. You can never know for sure if a particle at time $t$ in the future will be at point $A$ or point $B$. Quantum ...
One quite nasty type of bug (which can especially be hard to find, and can give quite inconsistent results) is out-of-range indices, in a language which doesn't range-check indices (likely to be us...
I suspect that they would lose any flying ability rather quickly. Here's why: If you own a cat, you probably have an emotional attachment to it. Perhaps that's a strong attachment. You'd be pretty...
Plausibility To answer your implied question about the possibility of this high pressure: Jupiter's surface has a pressure of 100 times the Earth's. Cosmically, pressures this high are trivial: th...
Here on Earth, the majority of weather-related events happen in a layer of the atmosphere known as the troposphere. It lies from Earth's surface to approximately $20 \text { km}$ - at its highest. ...
First, the deadliness of a virus can vary widely from mostly harmless (Herpes) to very deadly (Ebola). However, note that even for Ebola, there are people who survive without treatment. Indeed, Ebo...
Here's a quick guide to changing the orbit of an asteroid: Figure out where it is. This is the crucial bit. You need to know its position, mass, velocity, orbit, size, density, and composition, a...
Secure $850 quadrillion, preferably in cash. Figure out a way to get around one or two famous and fairly successful treaties. Build a Death Star. Modify the Death Star so it won't blow up the enti...
I'm going to give you a cautious "yes". The reason I'm being cautious is that it depends partly on a hypothesis that is, and has always been, controversial. If it's correct, then absolutely, this s...
As has been discussed already, different objects would fall at different speeds. Why? Wikipedia led me to an interesting derivation. Consider Newton's second law: $$F=m_ia$$ Now consider his law o...
This is a really cool question, and I think I can (partially) answer it. Here goes. If two portals are placed a different heights, someone approaching the higher portal should perceive a gravit...
In any epidemic situation, there are a few important steps to work through: Contain Treat Learn Containment Fortunately for the rest of the world, Britain is an island. That takes care of a fa...
Very well thought out. A) I'm sure the conversion from armored battle fleet to floating colony would take a while, but that would be ok because you wouldn't need it to be done in a hurry. It would...
Someone is trying to do something like this on a smaller scale. But you could do better. Construction Thankfully 50 meters isn't all that far down, so while it will take some heavy duty construc...
I like TimB's answer discussing the Giant Impact Hypothesis. I see that in a comment on his answer, you wrote Thank you! I actually had this Moon origin theory in mind. But I'm actually wonderi...
It would not discourage oceanic shipping, but it would make the times it can be done more selective. If you have a port that is 20m deep and full at high tide, with our Moon you should still have ...
If you want a detailed analysis, simply solve Laplace's tidal equations. These are not easy to do. If you're curious, I can get you part of the way to what might be an answer. Also, I'm curious as ...
Habitability For a cosmic body to be habitable by humans, it needs to have a few things (or substitutes for those things): Oxygen Water Correct temperature Food source Some of those we can bri...
Civilizations without mounted cavalry are less likely to develop trousers. (See "Q: Why Do We Wear Pants? A: Horses" by Alexis Madrigal and "Cultural Evolution of Pants" by Peter Turchin.) So you'd...
The tidal forces would be the main gravitational effects that would change. Tidal forces cause, among other things, tides, and are the result of another object's gravitational pull. The Moon is inf...
This situation is quite similar to the current Earth-Moon system. As another answer here says, the two bodies do orbit each other, around a central point called the barycentre. The barycentre of th...
This is a real story about a lot of people dying. Lake Nyos is in a volcanically active area of Cameroon. It sits over a pool of magma, which leaks carbon dioxide gas into the lake. The gas dissol...
There was a Life After People episode about ships. Most of the navy ships would still be floating after a couple hundred years (depending on hull thickness, weather, hull imperfections, if the inte...
