Activity for JohnWDaileyâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
The Larynx vs. The Syrinx Today's dinosaurs--the birds--have a uniquely avian piece of anatomy called the syrinx, located at the base of the trachea. Because it is located at a point where the trachea branches to the lungs, the syrinx makes birdsong a possibility. The syrinx is an anatomy unique to birds--the non-avian dino... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
If Earth and the Moon's Relationship Were a Bit Closer Back home, Earth's moon is 2159.2 miles wide and orbits 238,900 miles from its parent. But let's pretend that the moon is 2500 miles wide and orbits 200,000 miles from Earth. Would the nightscape look any different? How much would tides and axial tilt be affected? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
If We Push the Ice A Little Further South Back home, the Pleistocene ice never reached farther south than New York or London. These ice ages had been coming and going for two and a half million years. On average, there was enough ice to suck down 100 meters of sea level. In this alternate Earth, the ice ages had been coming and going for ... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
How would a larger axial tilt affect the Earth's climate? One of Milutin Milankovic's three big factors in his ice age theories was Earth's obliquity, or axial tilt. Earth's axial tilt varies between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees at an approximation of 41,000 years. In this alternate Earth, the tilt varies between 20 and 25 degrees at an approximation of 61,500 y... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
If songbirds never existed what would replace them? Back home, the bird order Passeriformes consists of roughly 100 families totaling up to roughly 5400 species--that's over half of the entire class. But if the songbird order never existed, how would this affect the overall class? Which order would fill what niche? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Frog and the Jelly Back home, the phylum Cnidaria (jellyfish, coral, anemone) and the class Amphibia are two of the most ancient groups of animals on the planet. But let's say that, on an alternate Earth, many millions of years ago, the global climate became so hot and so dry (preferably from a volcanic eruption on th... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Reign of the Gas Titans In this alternate universe, we still have the gas giants of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. However, each planet has its mass increased $3.5$ times. How would this change affect the gravity of the rocky inner planets, especially Earth? Also, how would it affect the asteroid belt? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Winter of a Hundred Years Back home, one ice age during the two and a half million years of the Pleistocene lasted a total of 100,000 years, ninety thousand of intense cold followed by ten thousand of milder interglacial weather. But in this alternate Earth, we've been in an ice age for five million years, with glaciations l... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Asia vs. the Americas For 10,000 years since Beringia, the bridge connecting Asia to North America, had vanished, the Asian and Native American races show great distinction. But if Beringia has persisted to this day, could the racial differences between Asian and Native American still be the same, or could it have lessen... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Climate: A Greener Western united states In this scenario, I've done the following changes to the western United States. 1) Only the Rockies stand firm, so no Sierra Nevada or Coast Range. 2) The coastline has altered as though 75 meters of sea level have risen. 3) The ancient lakes of Bidahochi, Bonneville and Lahontan have been revi... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
When the Grass Gets Even Greener If we remove all the ferns and horsetails from the ecological equation would grass be the only candidate to fill the void? If not, then what else? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
A Completely Different Kind of Reef In this scenario, corals, sponges and bryozoans have been extinct for 65 million years. In their place as reefbuilders are echinoderms, bivalves, barnacles and worms of the infraclass canalipalpata. As reefbuilders, what advantage or edge would any of them have over coral? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Fate of the Gobi The Gobi Desert is what ecologists call an "interior desert" because it's too far away for water to reach. Now imagine that the Caspian Drainage Basin to the west has experienced a 75-meter rise in sea levels. Then imagine Asia's east coast to the east experiencing the same thing. Would the Gobi... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Mystery of the Missing Ginkgoes In my alternate Earths, the plant class Ginkgoopsida has retained its prehistoric diversity, unlike back home, in which only Ginkgo biloba remains. In order for that diversity to be possible in the modern day, what advantages would the Ginkgo have over the broad-leaved deciduous angiosperms? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Ethiopian Plateau The highest point in the Ethiopian Highlands is 14,928 feet above sea level. It is here that the Nile River begins its journey to the Mediterranean. If the highlands were instead 21,737 feet above sea level--1500 feet taller than McKinley--would it have affected the Nile in any way? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Glory of Lake Eyre Lake Eyre in Australia has an area of roughly 4,000 square miles, but the basin itself is over 450,000 square miles. If the entire basin were freshwater, how would that affect the Outback's climate? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
A Completely Different Africa In one of my Alternate Earths, I have made the following changes to Africa: 1) Re-angle the mainland (meaning Madagascar stays right where it is) to the point that the Mediterranean is connected to the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic. 2) Revitalize the Saharan Megalakes and Botswana's Lake Makgadi... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
A More Temperate Australia Currently, the distance between Australia and Antarctica is a rough estimate of 4500 miles. But if that number were cut by half, what would Australia's climate and ecology be? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Fullest Potential of The Human Race 70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens sapiens suffered a genetic bottleneck that reduced the population of likely 100,000 to 3,000. Over seven billion people of several distinctive races are descended from those small survivors. Whether or not the supereruption of Toba was to blame is still under debate. ... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The Polar Pangaea During the Permian and Triassic periods, all the continents had joined together to become the supercontinent Pangaea. Its size means that the majority of terrestrial life might have been confined to the coasts, away from the large, unforgiving desert, and its pole-to-pole position means that with no... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Turning the Mediterranean into a sort of NeoTethys Today's Mediterranean Sea is just a shadow of its former self, the Tethys. In an alternate scenario, I have rearranged the African mainland to an angle that turns Gibraltar from a strait into an isthmus, opening the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, not the Atlantic. I also have some big, geologic... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
The REAL Tallest Peak on Earth At 29,029 feet above sea level, Mount Everest has been credited as the tallest mountain on Earth. The only problem is that Mauna Kea, Hawaii's highest point, is 33,500 feet tall from its peak at 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level to the bottom of the deep Hawaiian Trough. So if we made the Himalay... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Rounding Up Our Balance (North America) I've been told that if I raise the axial tilt from 23.5 degrees to 25, I'd end up getting hotter summers and colder winters. That's great, except that Earth's diverse climate makes that statement broad. So what would the SPECIFIC consequences be? Since the forum might consider this scenario broad,... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Slowing the day down I have been told that if I slow down today from 24 hours to 30, I'd end up getting hotter days, colder nights and more intense weather. That's fine, except that Earth's diverse climate makes that statement broad. So what would the SPECIFIC consequences be? (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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