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Inspired by this question, and this article, activating self-destruct mechanism disengage coolant system for the ship's main reactor, which then increases the core temperature and triggers explosio...
A follow up question for What is the method to produce food within a volcano caldera? How can a plant harness magma's heat to "photosynthesize"? It is very different from an animal, which can move...
Inspired by A.C.A.C's comment, how can the metabolism of an animal that is harnessing the heat from magma or lava be explained? I'm thinking of conventional "eating lava or magma", but it could be...
Let's say we have a group of high IQ individuals of a sizeable number. In what manner should they reproduce in order to maximise the odds of creating a genetically high IQ population over several g...
Let's say you've either cloned yourself a native population (the ethical option) or taken a bunch of volunteers and wiped all their memories of modern technology and society (the slightly more mora...
I love watching cartoons and I love when they feature cool science gadgets. In an episode of Spongebob, Patrick and Spongebob buy invisible spray to pull pranks on people. They spray themselves and...
The purpose of a magnetic field is to shield against solar winds, which are relativistic ions produced by our Sun. This is a typical O'Neill cylinder with 4 islands. I'm looking for a cost effectiv...
I'm imagining a universe where interplanetary, but intrasystem, space travel is common (e.g. at a similar level to The Expanse books/TV show) - but not necessarily our local solar system. Perhaps w...
There are various questions about the stability of multiple moons, how they affect tides and so on, but I don't think this one has been covered here: If my planet has two moons, assuming they have...
Supposing there is a system of several (four to twelve) celestial bodies which are orbiting a star. In this system of bodies, each body is similar enough in size that no single body has a dominant ...
It must be ingestable and the victim can't detect by taste or smell, though easily detectable in an autopsy, if performed, but mimics regular illness so the first few deaths won't be autopsied (Due...
A sub-group of Orcs have settled into an area that is occupied by humans who culturally resemble the Greeks from the Hellenic period. These Orcs, who physically resemble Orcs from The Elder Scrolls...
I want to use mechanical counterpressure spacesuits (something along the lines of BioSuit) for my story. They seem to have many advantages over traditional pressure spacesuits. The existing protot...
Most species of animal, especially mammals, have a special skin cell the produces melanin, which is responsible for the color of their skin, but orcs are generally depicted as green creatures and, ...
I'm coming up with ideas for locations in my sci-fi story and I thought of an interesting one. Here's the scenario: A planet has a watery ocean sitting on heated bedrock. Temperatures range from 5...
What planetary conditions would make flight easiest for both lighter than air and heavier than air craft together? The planet is earth like and habitable, but the conditions can be adjusted to sui...
On my world a jellyfish type of animal exists, it's an aquatic animal of course and extremely dangerous as it consumes anything organic it touches. It's thin and wide, like a fleshy transparent bl...
Background: The main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is the closest and richest source of non terrestrial resources to Earth in the solar system. Even though it is vast its resources are ob...
Is there a way to design a river system in an O'Neill/McKendree-style cylindrical habitat to passively feed into itself in an endless loop, from one end of the habitat to the other and back again? ...
In my idea for a story, my main character has Telekinesis. My problem is, this is a definite hard science fiction world, and he is abnormal in the fact that he is the only known one who can perform...
How could you feasibly extract hydrogen from a star to power a plasma fusion reactor, with as little handwavium as possible? This takes place in a sci-fi setting, but isn't necessarily hard science...
I don't want my world to be infinite, that would be a pain to draw maps for. And I need it to be flat (for a slightly unrelated reason). How would I explain why no one has looked over or seen the e...
On saturn's north pole there is a hexagonal cloud which does not move. My question is: is it possible to theoretically make a hexagonal cloud on an earth-like planet? And furthermore, is it possibl...
Scenario + question: So for the purposes of this question lets so that there is a canyon much like the grand canyon but about 50 miles deeper, so the bottom is always in shadow and it has no observ...
You are native to a planet that falls between two suns, thus ensuring eternal sunshine. How would we be able to tell the time? Do you formulate some kind of system based on which sun is in the sky...
