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Globular clusters are old, dense groups of stars that tend to have relatively few metals (in this case meaning any elements heavier than helium). Clusters near the galactic core tend to have more m...
Recently I was pondering mermaids and was wondering how their respiratory systems work. Most importantly, how could their vocal chords continue to function? Secondly, how would they draw the water ...
How is Charybdis from The Odyssey powered? As odd as it seems, I'm looking for a science-based answer. She needs energy. To suck down warships, she is at least 75 ft in diameter and must suck the...
Short Version (During the next 500 years on Earth) How does life change for students during school and after they graduate, to find work in a world where our economy is still based on gaining weal...
Adhering to natural laws and physics as much as possible[1], what could cause Venus to go from a habitable planet to its current state, and how long would it take from the apocalyptic event to achi...
Inspired by this question about a fantasy World Tree, I thought I'd ask about the science fiction equivalent: a Dyson Tree. Dyson Trees are a living tree planted in a comet, which when fully grown ...
Since we're dealing with cat-folk already with the question about the Khajiit, I figured we'd toss a different evolutionary lineage for furry humanoids around, that of the hyena. Ever since the ea...
Having read this excellent question and its answers, I've tried to come up with an evolutionary history for a sapient, avian race that populates part of a world I'm building. I'd like feedback as t...
I was just wondering if it would be possible for a planet to have life that only uses noble gases in their biology. Like for example breathing in certain noble gases like Argon or Krypton for ener...
The geographical features that make New York stand out from any other of the United States--Long Island, the huge boulders scattered in the city and the Hudson River, deep enough for barges to pass...
I'm asking for a world I'm making, which orbits a red star. According to this image, there is a star that would make the sky white. What would the sky look like during sunrise and sunset on a p...
I am thinking about the miniature kind of fae, like Tinker Bell. I think that class of faery would be the most likely to be able to fly realistically, due to the wingspan/body weight ratio. But wo...
I am often fascinated by one of Earth's most magnificent beings, the mantis shrimp (also known as 1-2-3-death). These beautiful animals have sixteen kinds of colour receptive cones - compare to our...
Enter the Argonian: a (really) ugly sentient human-like lizard. Although almost no one plays as this race on their Skyrim playthroughs, they have some pretty astounding capabilities; they are maste...
Sleipnir is Odin's steed - an eight-legged horse in Norse mythology. How and where to place its legs to make it faster than four-legged horses? What other benefits or drawbacks may arise from the a...
I am currently searching for a new execution method to be used in my fictional psychotic dictatorship. After introducing methods such as decompression, boiling, surgical torture (being dissected al...
In an Earth-like world I have long pondered building up, the pre-industrial (roughly colonial) society primarily exists on a single continent, roughly the size of Africa. Another continent has been...
In this alternate scenario, only the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians stand firm in the United States. Even so, some differences apply. The Appalachian Mountains (right) have grown to as tall...
And I'm not talking about insects. In what kind of environment could a large number of different species all develop six legs/limbs/appendages the same way most vertebrate species on Earth have fou...
According to Einstein's theory of relativity, if you travel faster than light, time would slow down so I could go into the future. But how do I come back from the future? Is there any science provi...
in the recent Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion Knights of the Fallen Empire, the planet of Zakuul, seat of the Eternal Empire, has a number of buildings that are so big that they're clearly vi...
Yes I'm talking about a living biological speaker. An organism that can produce any physically possible sound at any frequency, at any speed and any intensity. How would this biological speaker...
How could an auditory organ perceive sound waves with a completely different anatomy from the vertebrate ear (e.g. canal, typanum, bones) at the same effectiveness?
I always feel like "hypothetical history of science" questions are kind of impossible, but here's a go anyway: Imagine that, for the entirety of human history, EM radiation from anything beyond th...
The type of economy where your mining operation takes years just to start yielding marketable product, let alone generate revenue, because the speed of light makes the economic feasibility of inter...
