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Let's work out some factors. Luminosity You gave the radius of the inner edge of the habitable zone as 1.976 AU and the outer edge as 2.808 AU. From this, we can calculate the luminosity of the ...
Plants survive the night by producing excess energy during the day. This excess they then convert to starch and store. Research shows that chemical reactions in the plant's cells then calculate, ba...
No, you could not. Temperature probably isn't an issue, but a Dyson sphere shouldn't show the proper spectral lines. The-best case scenario This site gives the formula for the temperature of a Dy...
To expand on a point Sempie made, the colour of the ground determines how much light it reflects. White is the best reflector; black absorbs. This is why a black car will be hotter on the outside t...
Remove much of the Earth's mass. The giant impact hypothesis states that about 4 billion years ago, when Earth was but a wee protoplanet, a Mars-sized object dubbed "Theia" hit it at an angle of 4...
From what I've found, they'd be less prone to injury. Bird bones are hollow and therefore lighter than solid bones of the same size, which is a boon to flying. However, they're also extremely dens...
In order for this to be possible, the moon would have to be in the same place relative to the planet and the star throughout the day - in other words, if you drew a line from the center of the star...
Here, it is useful to treat the planet as a black body. The Stefan-Boltzmann law states that a black body will have a luminosity $L$ directly related to its temperature $T$ and radius $R$: $$L=4 \p...
The Bussard ramjet idea could very well work - if you plan your route correctly. You're worried about the low number density of hydrogen atoms/ions in outer space. This table shows that this is in...
This is my opinion on the topic. There is another point of view, as demonstrated by Tim B, but if you want to include humans in your story then perhaps this will help. The question posed recently ...
Based on one of the comments in my previous question about What is the max size for underground creatures before the square-cube law takes a toll? Makes me want to know the limit size for a long c...
I am making a story of a species who lives on a planet several light-years above the Galactic Bulge. With advanced technology, how much could they see from their vantage point? Could they carry out...
The pillars are spread out about a mile apart each, and they all come straight from the ground, slowly gets just a smidge smaller in the middle, and then get bigger near the top, reaching a height ...
I would like to have giant sand worms similar to the ones in the 'Dune' novel. What should the planet be like so that they are realistic? Giant sand worms are roughly 100m long and 5 meters in diam...
Why I've Chosen Not to Handwave: The fictional galaxy in which this humanoid species (I'll refer to them as Empaths from here on out) lives is protected by a space-faring military/law-enforcing leg...
So, it finally happened. The Earth was hit by a comet, and anyone outside of a research station at the bottom of the Atlantic is now dead, or dying. So, here's what we need to know: How big would a...
In a near-future world we have stopped directly fueling private, public, and mass transit and we have migrated to a hydrogen economy as the standard energy carrier. Consider the following factors:...
Would a community of around 300 people be able to start producing plentiful food in ~5 years post a civil war and plague? They were an isolated quite wealthy community, in a sub-tropical area, mai...
Here is all you need to know about the creodonts: They were a group of carnivorous mammals that, despite having carnassials, had no relation to Carnivora. They were a global force, occupying terr...
I was thinking of an interesting landmark to put on my conworld, and I went with the "large body of acid" trope. This lake would be about the size of Lake Superior, and near the equator. The atmosp...
First these are ground effect vehicles, not true aircraft. While Star Trek, Star Wars, Blade Runner, The Jetsons, and every scifi I can think of has "magically hovering" private transportation, I a...
Just as the title, is there a scientific or possible way to extract past memory from a person brain into some record such as video or visual player ? I know some theory say that it possible to du...
Not exactly indestructible, at least after flying to certain height it may pop out. I mean something like the bubble is as hard as stone or steel but still elastic and light to float like bubble, ...
Assuming a passenger was sitting in an elevator in a rotating wheel space station, as depicted in the movie 2001:A Space Odyssey and based on this question Elevator on rotating wheel space station...
I'm fairly certain such a creature is impossible, but I was curious to see if anyone could come up with an explanation for such a creature. How would a two-headed giant evolve/function if it was a ...
