Matthew‭

No. The way we define latitude and longitude is based on the planet's axis of rotation. You can certainly (AFAIK) have a planet with a 90° axial inclination, or (probably) a planet that is identica...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  edited 4y ago by Matthew‭

Let's say I have a bunch of pre-pubescent children (circa 8-12 years old). Let's also say I subjected them to some drug/process/whatever that caused them to stop growing. In particular: Whatever...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by Olin Lathrop‭

So... I'm fiddling with Yet Another Bipedal Digitigrade Species. There is tons of material on the legs, but seemingly not so much on the hands. Short Version So... I'm wondering; is it possible t...

1 answer  ·  posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Matthew‭

they posses wings that stretch out over 1 mile Your species is extremely implausible. There are very few structures, period, that are this large; in fact, the only such structures I'm aware of...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Matthew‭

Humans would seem to be a strong argument at least for the plausibility. While typical western culture doesn't exactly fit the bill, there have been arguments that some human cultures qualify. The...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

Look at dogs and cats for inspiration. Besides doing things with their tongues (as CaptainSkyfish suggested; good suggestion!), think also about angle of their head. Do they have mobile ears (or ea...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Matthew‭

Yes and no, and possibly "it depends on what you mean by "civilization". As L. Dutch already noted, technological development is more a function of available resources and population density. On...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Matthew‭

Yes... and no. Since no one else has done so yet, I'll point out the elephant in the room... You are writing for a human audience. Humans think in words. Therefore, no matter what ideas anyone com...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

I don't think a "display" can accomplish this... but if it's a feature intentionally built into the mirror (and not just an "accidental" misuse of what it could otherwise do), there are certainly L...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

Bring a canary with them. When it dies, find fresh air fast. Yes, it's a trite answer, but it's also what we did back before we had technological ways of monitoring air quality. If they're allowe...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

I have to give partial credit to gianluca, whose answer inspired this, but... what if They live in the ocean If your aliens live underwater, and especially if they only live in deep water and don...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

I'm going to post this anyway, even though it overlaps with M.Winkens' answer, because a) I thought of it first (note comments on the question), and b) I think the other answer is missing a few poi...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

It would be foggy. In fact, it would probably look somewhat like fog illuminated by a car's headlights. I assume the reason this isn't obvious is because you're thinking that this glowing air is ...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

Safehold and Stargate both tried this. Neither worked out, but then, the point of both stories was people trying to overcome the "tech hurdle". In both instances, you have some sort of strict pros...

posted 5y ago by Matthew‭

Vampirism. There are benefits and drawbacks, but one of the benefits is not aging. Great if you get turned in your early twenties, but... what happens if you are turned earlier? Being turned as an...

7 answers  ·  posted 5y ago by Matthew‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by Matthew‭