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I'm interested in exploring an advanced society where electronic technology and infrastructure were not developed. What plausible natural phenomenon or context would prevent, or at least strongly d...
So, I'd love to have werewolves in the world I'm building, but as it's a sci-fi setting I don't really want them to be magical. I can stomach some pseudoscience, but I want the process to be as rea...
Currently, the crust varies from 4km (oceanic) to 10km (continental) to 30km (mountains). How would the earth be different if it was all 1/4 the thickness? So it was 1km, 2km and 7km? Would we ha...
A lot of fictional works contain people who are well over 100 years old, some 200, some 1000s of years old. The Emperor Of Mankind for example is over 10,000 years old. Colin from Highlander is ove...
Assuming that a vampire expends as much energy as a human of similar size how much blood would they need to consume a day? My naive estimate is 2500 calories a day, there are (apparently) about 9...
I'm trying to write a 'gundam like' series, though with space fighters instead of humanoid robots. I want a semi-hard science world, I'm okay with making up technology without fully explaining how...
My story revolves around a star going supernova. The 'Earth' in this story is about 100 light-years or more away (a safe distance, but not too far away). I need this supernova to somehow accelerate...
Something that we generally see on earth is economies of scale. Large companies can be more efficient as they are producing massive amounts of the same thing. This can easily be seen if you look at...
In my story, some aliens try to conquer humans by slowly copying their mind into humans heads. This copy process is called "enlightenment" by the ones who undergo the transformation. For example, b...
Antimatter annihilation is the best source of energy per weight. However, antimatter is not readily available anywhere within reachable distance, it's insanely difficult to produce and contain. Ho...
I am imagining a race of spider-like creatures that remain still in the water. They glow to attract prey/would be predators. They surround themselves with a thick layer of slime that can catch crea...
Death of stars are fun and make for a great premise, but the actual dying of stars that are conducive to intelligent life aren't so interesting. Stars that can go supernova are too short-lived to h...
Imagine that one day in the not-too-distant future, our scientists discover that our world is dying. It doesn't matter how this is happening, maybe magic or unstable core or Gaia herself has finall...
I just stumbled across this website the other day, and this is my first time posting, so apologies if the question is too vague or improperly worded. I am trying to build an all ocean world. I'm ...
In the year 21--, a crew of 100 sets out from Earth on the good ship Tenzing Norgay, bound for Epsilon Eridani. The journey is estimated to take . . . well, quite some time, given that it was calcu...
(I've tried to research this online but I'm a linguist, not a physicist, and most places that discuss this quickly get too technical for me. Simple answers will get tons of gratitude!) I imagine t...
I am writing a book and have a species of invasive plants which secretes acid to turn plant and animal matter into a kind of fertilizer. Is this acid capable of causing a fire? Or are the countless...
On Earth today, even though most people speak some English, there is seemingly no reason to believe that future generation's main language will be the same in decades/centuries to come (i.e., we'll...
I'm thinking of making a world where the sky is purple, or at least perceived as purple by the native species taking centre stage in my story. What gases could cause this colour? Could the colour...
Often in science fiction, writers attribute the enormous energy capability of an advanced civilization to Dyson spheres. I've never heard of a detailed schematic of how the energy from the star is ...
In a short story that I read (don't have the link, but the short story itself is not relevant to this question), it is set about a millennia from now, where humans have long since made contact with...
It's a common trope in science-fiction: "scanning for life signs". A few taps on the screen, and you get an instant population count, often with the ability to distinguish species, and even person...
I ask this as a basis for a World (in this case Moons) Building I'm doing. I came up with a couple of different problems and some possible solutions to those problems: All of these questions pre...
So there are these AGIs made by some ancient aliens (who are out of the picture for now). The ancient aliens were a lot more intelligent than humans, we are at a dog-like intelligence level compare...
Maybe it was a trick of the light or a strange cloud, or just not enough sleep. A couple nights ago I could have sworn that thin crescent moon flickered. Which led to an interesting question - wh...
