Activity for Matthew
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comment | Post #279725 |
So, at least in your mind, someone could have retarded ageing and *not* have super-healing, or rampant issues with cancer, or anything like that? (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Comment | Post #279498 |
I suggest watching a bullfight, or a bull-running. Bovids aren't predators, but there aren't many you'd want to stand near when they're angry. (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Comment | Post #277252 |
Just to be clear, it works in DoFP because Mystique previously shot the guard full of a bunch of *unbound* iron. Since the question asks about "iron based molecules", all of the above applies. (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Comment | Post #279499 |
"The thrust of this question is aimed at the assessment of risk/opportunity for purchasing tech you know you can use but can't yet duplicate." I think you just answered the question. Chances are you're reading this on a computer. A computer is a device that is useful to you but that *you* almost cert... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #263295 |
Post edited: fix mojibake |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Edit | Post #279667 | Initial revision | — | almost 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Effects of not growing up? 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 height they are when exposed to the process, that is how tall they will be. Same with proportions. -... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Would a sapient being sensitive to polarized light be able to see the angle of polarization in a photograph? Maybe... but probably not. It's possible that an animal that is "used" to seeing polarization would be able to infer this information from a reproduction that lacks it, based on other effects. This would probably depend highly on what was photographed. A human could conceivably be trained to recogni... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: An alternative way to rotate or in this case rolltate 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 identical to Earth except with all the land masses rotated 90°, but unless you completely change the definition ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: What species will benefit most from humanity's having been here? On thinking about the other answers, I'm not sure this is possible without a little "something extra"... If humans suddenly die out, nature is likely going to reclaim most of our stuff more quickly than something else can grow to the point of being able to care about it consciously and preserve it. ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How quickly could a "shapeshifter" lose mass, realistically? This isn't an answer to the question as asked, but since I mentioned: We can look at growth rates of real critters and use that as a reference, maybe with a little bit of fudge factor because we're bending the rules a bit as to how this is being triggered in the first place. I thought I'd follo... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How quickly could a "shapeshifter" lose mass, realistically? Shapeshifters and mass... ever the bane of realistic science fiction. Basics: Let's say someone is changing shape (for whatever reason, voluntary or involuntary, it doesn't matter for this purpose). Don't worry about what is causing this to happen. Let's also say that the start and end forms have n... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Weather and climate of Massive Grass Plains? Unless trees don't exist, this is dodgy. Even in the actual Great Plains, there are trees, especially around bodies of water. (This includes streams and ponds; you don't need something like the Great Lakes.) Assuming your world isn't entirely crazy¹, you can probably get fairly substantial grasslan... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would an obligate carnivore eat bread/grain? Say I have a race of obligate carnivores (for simplicity, we'll say they're felinoid). They have carnivore dentition, and must eat meat as a major component of their diet, but they can also eat fruit and derive nutrition from it. They enjoy fruit (and vegetables), but for the complex flavor and tartn... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Online Anatomy Creator/Maker..? As indicated in my comments, it's not at all clear what you're expecting to get out of this software. I highly doubt anything designed specifically for what you want to do exists. You're asking about an extremely niche application that very few people care about. If, on the other hand, you just wan... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How "young" can a non-aging person be and still function? 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 infant would probably not be fun, but how early can we push things? (For simplicity, let's call our hyp... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How could a civilization stay at a medieval tech level for millions of years? 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 proscription against technological advance, preferably with something to back it up. Safehold uses a super-a... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: What does it look like inside a transparent glowing gas? 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 not as opaque as fog... and that's not an unreasonable line of thought. However, because it is also glow... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How could a dragon-proof toy work? 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 points. The obvious answer, as anyone that has read The Flight of Dragons should already know, is: Gold ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How did aliens on a habitable planet hide themselves during the recon and scouting stage by human colonists? 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't hang around shores, they will be very, very hard to find unless you go looking for them. In particula... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How to monitor oxygen levels with medieval oxygen sphere 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 allowed sufficient scientific knowledge, when they start getting headaches, that's another indicator. (Especia... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How can a "magic" mirror flash blind people? 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 LEDs bright enough for your purpose. Check out what gets used in tactical flashlights, or this video (whi... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Language that cannot be divided into words? 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 comes up with, at some point you are going to have to translate your alien's language into words anyway. Th... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Would human civilization develop at a slower pace if Earth was 5.8x larger? 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 the one hand, it's quite believable that population density could increase at least as quickly as on ou... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Facial expressions for dragons? 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 ear-like fins)? If so, these will almost certainly be expressive. It's not much of a stretch to give them ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Could an Environment Sustain Large Eusocial Animals? 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 catch is that humans don't have morphological role segregation; the "division of labor into reproductiv... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Could my species exist naturally 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 would be bridges, or maybe causeways, all of which are stationary and require a lot of engineering to s... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How would digitigrade fingers work? 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 to design a "hand" that can function as both a digitigrade 'foot' and be useful to a civilized tool-user?... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How would a bird's flight change entering the zero gravity axis of an O'neil cylinder? How would their flight change as they enter the central zero gravity axis area? Once they're accustomed to it, I expect they'd flap their wings less often, since they don't need the lift to stay in the air. Would they have trouble in this area and avoid it? Assuming there is air up there, ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: What is the most damage/destruction I can do to Venus by redirecting sunlight? How much sunlight can you focus? Troy Rising postulates a solar-pumped "laser" that can push nearly 2000 petawatts, which reportedly can "destroy the Earth in 6 months, the biosphere in 16 days." But that's boring. What if we tried more power? Well, XKCD speculated what would happen if you aimed r... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
How's the climate on my mesa? (Edited for focus; see history for previous version) Following up on this question, let's say I have a "coastal" mesa (relatively flat, high land not far from an ocean) with taller mountains behind it. Here's a rough illustration: Let's say that the climate near the bottom (elevation: 100m or le... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can these climates/biomes exist near each other? I am writing a story, in which I would like to have three locations within about a half hour to an hour driving distance (assuming population, road systems and automobiles on par with the contemporary real world). The location is unspecified; it is Earth-like, but not necessarily Earth. (As long as "... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Can an atmosphere be thicker at higher altitudes? In general, I think the answer is "no"; buoyancy simply doesn't work that way, and you'd need to somehow circumvent buoyancy. What might be plausible is to have a low spot in your terrain that is completely surrounded by higher terrain (maybe a caldera?) which, for some reason, is filled with a high... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How much energy do plants produce? According to this answer to a different question: On Earth, a large tree on average collects maybe 200 calories of energy in a day. (Thanks, Dan! This also gives the same answer, but could be where Dan got the number.) That's about 2.3 watt-hours, or slightly better than a AAA battery (but onl... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: "Dragon amongst the sheep" How could a dragon avoid other animals registering him as a threat? How can a dragon prevent the animals from registering him as a threat? Don't act threatening. Animals aren't stupid, and running away takes energy. I believe many/most prey animals will allow a predator to get within at least range that the dragon can (loudly) announce his benign intentions wit... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Way to prove you are human when the Turing test is not sufficient Y'all are making this too hard. The OP said the AI's aren't androids. That means they have physical limitations, even if they're tapped into most of the data channels. Simply don't give the AI's access to the communication equipment. Use a laser downlink from a section which is air-gapped from the ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Is my river map even remotely realistic? This seems like a great time to check out https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/. If you can turn your base map (coastlines) into a digital image, you can upload it there, start painting in height, and then ask the software to generate not only rivers, but also biomes (and, if you like, town... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How does this dragon's self-defense mechanism not burn the user? Monstrous Nightmare, anyone? Do they have to have fur? The Monstrous Nightmare exudes a flammable gel over its body, which it can ignite by a biologically-produced spark. Presumably, its scales are also flame resistant. Depending on how hot the fire actually burns, this isn't entirely implausible, ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Optimal posture for hexapodal dragon while flying? I wonder what the optimal posture be for these dragons when flying/gliding? Superman. No, seriously. I'm just not seeing any practical way those forelimbs can be tucked away against those (necessarily) massive flight muscles... which leaves pointing them forward, a la Superman. This could work ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How many pillows would you need to survive a fall from a church tower? Without having the information to crunch numbers on this... I'm going to call it plausible, but only if the commoners have enough knowledge of physics. What you really need is to absorb energy slowly. For this to happen, your pillows will have to be able to "give" a lot, and quickly. Now, the good n... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Would a biological interface be of any use in a computer? No. The best protection is air-gapping; don't allow untrusted information into the system in the first place. The next best protection is to thoroughly vet incoming information. This may take the form of requiring incoming information to conform to a very specific format that minimizes the potential... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Artificial lighting for a closed O'Neill cylinder First off... I don't think I buy the "but the power!" argument. Aside from atmospheric absorption (which isn't that significant), photons are going to keep until they hit something. Thus, as long as you are emitting most of your light in a useful direction, it doesn't matter how far away the light is... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: If humans were transplanted to a different Earth-like world that they didn't evolve on, how would they deduce how they came about? (Regardless of what you believe in this Earth...) You already answered (part of) your question; they'll believe in Intelligent Design¹. Genuine science does not a priori reject extraordinary explanations just because they are extraordinary. True scientists won't reject "IDESOT", especially since it... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Lagrange systems: What is the mass range for a gas giant if I want to place a earth-like planet on L4 and L5 Both this site and Wikipedia assert that L4 and L5 are stable for a mass up to about 25 times the mass of the secondary. Since plain old Jupiter is about 318 Earth-masses. Since a) 318 is more than 10x larger than 25, and b) L4/L5 are nowhere near any moons orbiting the secondary, I would have to gue... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: How could a skyhook stay in orbit with no human involvement for thousands of years They can "swim" If they're "dragging" in atmo, and they have some power source (solar would be fairly trivial), perhaps they can have some sort of propulsion system that leverages that for stationkeeping, i.e. suck in the air that's slowing them down in the first place and exhaust it in an advantage... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: Is the Hammer's Slammers Powergun feasible? It's pure handwavium... but it's not completely absurd. As noted in Christopher's answer, powerguns work via a hand-wavium reaction that generates plasma from a specially formed matrix of "stuff" (that probably qualifies as a metamaterial). Now... we've known how to achieve partial matter to energy... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: What effect would it have on the human psyche to be able to observe, but not interact, with other humans for an extended length of time? I imagine your character would become incredibly frustrated, if not go insane outright. I would try to imagine how you would feel if you were unable to speak and had your hands tied behind your back. Sure, you don't have the discomfort of being actually bound, or the frustrations of having to get oth... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: Why would Earth be long-term unsuitable for an advanced alien species that's already colonized it? "It's the smell!" -- Smith I think the easiest answer is that there is something in Earth's biology that disagrees with them... something that can be "managed" with continuous medical intervention, but would be really annoying for them to try to settle permanently without completely terraforming th... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Freedom from the tyranny of gravity This is a little outlandish (and, for the record, no I am not actually a pastafarian), but might give you ideas regardless... What is this "gravity" you speak of? Everyone knows there is no such thing. The reason stuff falls is because the FSM's noodly appendages push down on all things, because, y... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Could a dichromatic animal see red? [Would a dichromat] necessarily not be able to detect large light wavelengths (red)? I would much rather them not being able to detect small (blue) instead, and have a similar vision to tritanopia. Is that possible? Possible? I don't see why not. AFAIU, the three flavors of human color blindnes... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |