Activity for SPavel‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	Which direction of slightly tilting the Earth will be most destructive? I am a vengeful scientist who crash-landed on your Earth. While I was repairing my space ship, I had to obtain nourishment by consuming organic matter, and visited a local nutrition warehouse your people call "Arby's." I have decided that the species responsible for this perversion must perish. Fo... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	How can my dragon convert heat to usable energy? In my world, dragons are big, and require lots of energy just to support their massive bodies and huge brains - and of course, to fly, using enormous oversized wings. Rather than causing mass extinctions when they have breakfast, I want my dragons to gain part or all of their energy needs by other me... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Plausible way to make a planet spin faster Imagine that you want to colonize Venus. But a day on Venus lasts 4 months, and that's terrible. The big brains at the Science Palace have decided to make Venus spin faster, so that the length of day would be correct (one of the big brains suggested putting opaque shields into orbit that would artifi... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Ejectable heat sinks for spaceships? Radiating heat into a vacuum is a no-go, so a spaceship that generates any kind of heat is going to be in trouble. I had an idea for a potential solution - dumping your heat into a disposable heat sink component, and then spacing the component. Sort of like the heat-sink clips in Mass Effect 2, but f... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	What are the considerations for waterproofing a building's first few floors? My city's founders had the short-sightedness to place it on the coast. Now, for mysterious reasons, the sea level is rising. The municipal government has decided that building dikes is "too Dutch" and wants to let water claim the city, turning streets into waterways. To do this, they will water-proof... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Flora and fauna of a tidally locked planet Imagine a world much like Earth, except it is nearly tidally locked to its star, making a complete revolution every few thousand years. The planet is far enough away that there is a band of livable area 300 hundred miles across. Everything on one side is scorching desert, everything on the other side... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Effects of freezing the moon in place? A mad scientist decides to hold the moon hostage for one million dollars. He accomplishes this using a tractor beam of arbitrary power to trap the moon directly between the Earth and the Sun. The tractor beam is indestructible, will not drift in respect to the Solar System, etc. A side effect of th... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	What would be the traits of a humanoid being who would live more comfortably in modern society? Evolution is a great system for incremental refinements, but it's not very good at drastic changes, and can leave behind a lot of inconvenient vestigial elements. It's also rubbish at dealing with changes on the short scale (such as hairless apes going and building an agricultural society). But let... (more)	—	over 7 years ago