Activity for Green‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	Monster hurricanes to scrub islands clean We have an Earth-like planet except the tropics around the entire planet are covered with small island chains and archipelagos. No landmasses larger than Cuba appear between 35$^\circ$ N and 35$^\circ$ S. Otherwise, island density on this planet matches the size and spacing of the islands in the Cari... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	An iron rain to starve a planet I have a generic Earth like planet, same atmospheric composition, and the same oceanic composition. The crust of this planet is predominantly silicon based but plenty of iron, nickel and copper. Life started on this planet too and currently covers the entire surface, both above and below the waves.... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	Permitting Customizable UI for a Spaceship's Systems User Interface Customization for Spaceship Controls; "In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they're totally different." We often find that what we plan for isn't what actually happens. What we think we'll need, we actually don't and need something else. This holds for camping... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Answer	—	A: how would a spaceship helm "user interface" (flying controls) be designed in detail User Interfaces are hard; really hard. Humans and ships, of any kind, at any scale, form two part systems. Together, they achieve whatever missions/goals the ship is meant to fulfill. Humans are exceptionally good at planning, dealing with operational exceptions (where things just don't go as plann... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Viable Social Groups for species with three sexes Stable Social Structures for Species with Three sexes As a continuation of this question, I'm curious about the viability of long-term social groups with the following characteristics: There are three sexes, identified as A, B and C. Sex A is a sperm donor. Sex B and C are egg donors and carry th... (more)	—	almost 6 years ago
Question	—	Only Three Books: Restarting Chemistry after civilization collapses Global famines have dropped the population to 1 billion people and global civilization has collapsed. In an effort to save future civilization some time, you want to provide some information to kick start civilization's regrowth. You have to choose exactly three books or articles on chemistry By v... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	What would Alien Talking Heads sound like? We know from the International Pronunciation Alphabet (IPA) and the research that gave us the IPA, what sounds typically used in human speech (certainly not all sounds that can be made). This is all well and good but I want to do this for aliens with arbitrary physiology. I don't want approximations... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	The Transferable Skills of Sociopathy Executive Summary Thank you for considering Chronograph Talent Consulting for your talent acquisition needs. We select the best talent from all previous periods of human history and make them available to clients looking for the absolute finest talent that money and time can provide. Our talent po... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	A pack of velociraptors in a modern ecosystem, that would be pretty horrible, right? So there's been some industrial espionage committed against T-Rex Forever LLC. The method for how they acquired their T-Rexes has been stolen. Terrible Lizards Inc has acquired a mated pair of Velociraptors and a mated pair of Deinonychus using the same mysterious technique. Note that the Jurrasic ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	A double-bright Moon and plant growth It's Earth and the moon with all parameters as they are in real life with one exception, the moon is twice as reflective as usual. Instead of an albedo of 0.12, the moon has an albedo of 0.24. This change will have huge implications for all kinds of things. What I'm interested in is the growth rate o... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Releasing a T-Rex into a modern ecosystem wouldn't be that bad, right? T-Rex Forever LLC has a mating pair of Tyrannosaurus rex. They're a bit shady on how they got them, time travel, cloning...they won't say. Third-party biologists and paleontologists have examined the pair and their first clutch of offspring. They are definitely real. Somehow, T-Rex Forever goes o... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Lethal Low Pressure Fronts On a giant 50 mile high volcano, created and sustained by magic, there is extreme weather. Storms, high winds, snow, everything you'd find at the flanks of exceedingly high mountain. Explorers have started to push up the flanks, trying to push the bounds of how high they can go. Like all alpine explo... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Volcanoes in Orbit! Building on this question about space exploration on the slopes of a 50 mile high volcano, I'm curious what would happen when the volcano erupts. The volcano is: 50 miles high, just on the edge of official space at 62 miles (100km) Shield volcano. 2 or 3 degree slopes at the base. Max, 10 degree... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Exploration of a 50 mile high mountain My friends and I are building a world with a 50 mile high volcano on it. The mountain is the result of some bored god deciding to play a joke on everyone. Or, some other god got angry and decided to really, for realz this time, bury an unruly city. The legends aren't especially clear on how it got ... (more)	—	over 6 years ago
Question	—	Adapting humans to a permanent 1.5g environment Ten thousand random adults have been magically transported from Earth to an Earth-like planet with a surface gravity of 1.5g. The planet is otherwise completely habitable (enough sun, the right temperature, right mix of amino acids in the flora and fauna, plenty of fresh surface water etc.) There is... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	Initial conditions for a fluorine hellscape I'm curious what it would take to get a planet with so much free fluorine that you can have an atmosphere of predominantly or purely fluorine. I realize how improbable a planet like this is, so I'm looking for the long set of perhaps contradictory conditions that would lead to a hellscape planet like... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	Formation of a planet with a mercury core Building on this question about the magnetosphere for a planet with a substantial mercury core, what is the proto-planetary environment required to form a planet with a mercury core? Specifically, I'm looking for initial conditions to the protoplanetary disk in terms of elemental composition, not th... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	How to communicate when humanity is deaf and dumb? This question is focused on a purely chemical messaging system for humans that provides the same degree of nuance that spoken human languages convey now as well as all the information that smells currently communicate to humans. Why humans aren't communicating by sound, touch or sight anymore is out... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Why does my species tock like it ticks? Starting with a creature and its environment, how does one create its psychology? Evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology attempt to explain attributes that we observe in our fellow humans and in the animals that inhabit Earth in terms of ancient fitness. Explanations come in the form of " ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	A localized artificial magnetosphere for Mars Mars has a couple of problems with regards to colonization such as lack of atmosphere, lack of magnetosphere, weak sunlight, and a few others. Of concern in this question is how to shield human colonists from all the nasty radiation? Shielding by building habitats underground is feasible but boring... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Would humanoids from high gravity planets be smaller than us? The usual characterization of humanoids from high gravity planet is that they are stockier with thicker bones and larger muscles and this assumption isn't far fetched. Heavy animals on earth have pillar-like legs and enormous muscle groups to move themselves. However, creatures built like this don'... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Humans specifically adapted to be ambush predators Humans as Ambush Predators Homo sapiens and many of our ancestors practiced a form of hunting known as persistence hunting where we just walk after an animal till it keels over dead from exhaustion. Alternatively, there is ambush predation where the hunter attacks prey from a concealed location or ... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	Evolution bottleneck event leading to color changing humans How to get humans that can change their skin color? Approximately 1.6 million years ago, hominids lost their hair and gained dark skin (so says the New York Times). Evidence shows several several population bottlenecks where the number of hominids dropped to less than 100,000. Every population bot... (more)	—	over 7 years ago
Question	—	How to get monsters with literal nerves of steel? Which solvent to use for metal nerves? Based on this answer on to how to evolve biological radios, the answer states that if creatures in an ecosystem utilize metal for electrical transmission instead the sodium-gate depolarization system used on earth, they would enjoy a considerable speed advantag... (more)	—	about 8 years ago
Question	—	Efficiency required of a photosynthetic system to support human level activities Chlorophyll as we know it on earth is estimated to be between 3% and 6% efficient in converting light energy to useable biomass. This support slow growth and no movement of plants like that observed in herbivores or carnivores. Higher up the food chain, animals directly or indirectly depend on plan... (more)	—	about 8 years ago
Question	—	The evolution of neon kittens Given the existence of neon kittens with: the internal properties and mentality of normal kittens bioluminescent fur. What evolutionary process outside of intentional human breeding/gene manipulation would lead to cats with glowing skin or glowing fur? If bioluminescence can't be achieved then f... (more)	—	about 8 years ago
Question	—	Tidal lock on a water moon Tidally locking a rock or metal moon isn't too hard and the understanding of how a solid moon behaves while tidally locked is relatively well understood. However, can a water moon be tidally locked or would the movement of the water prevent locking? I don't have any specific parameters for size or o... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Likelihood of a magnetosphere with a mercury core Earth has an iron-nickel core which gives us a magnetosphere. Based on this question that replaces our iron core with a mercury core, would we be likely get a magnetosphere? Mercury is highly conductive and forms mercury(Hg ii) crystals at high pressures. At low temperatures and high pressures it be... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How to evolve biological radios? Radio Thinkers Creatures that communicate by biological radio pops up in science fiction occasionally and it's a fun idea. However, there are some practical concerns with regards to evolving a radio in a creature's head. I'm looking for a discrete sequence of evolutionary pressures that would enco... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How to defend against the "convince-me" ray gun? A secret organization operating out of an undisclosed location for an undisclosed parent organizations have invented a "convince-me" ray gun (CMRG) that works by an unknown mechanism. After an idea is loaded in the ray gun, the gun is fired at a person or group of people resulting in 75% acceptance ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	What kinds of stories would people from a forest moon tell about their "moon"? Here on earth, the moon is this big white thing that lights the world and hangs in the sky. Every culture on the Earth has incorporated the moon into some of their legends. Sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a man, sometimes as a major god, sometimes as a lesser god. However, on an forested moon of E... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Shielding Mars from the Solar Wind It's well known that Mars has a very weak atmosphere as a result of billions of years of solar wind bombardment. Mars lacks a sufficiently large magnetic core to generate a magnetosphere strong enough to block the solar wind. My civilization has found ways to generate enormous magnetic fields (with... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Making Mars bigger An alien race, for reasons of their own, have decided that it's important to make the third and fourth planets in our solar system about the same size and mass. Since they have a strict moratorium on altering planets with clearly visible carbon-based life on them, Mars is the object of their "affect... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	What would it take to build a ship capable of crossing the Pacific? In my story, I have a small extended family of 30 to 40 individuals ranging in age from 0 to 50 who are on the run from Chinese and Japanese forces in 1400AD. No place in Asia is safe for them. By a series of lucky chances they have found a very quiet location that appears to be untouched by humans.... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Is an artificial womb feasible? Does the following progression/collection of technologies make sense on the way to an artificial womb? The central assumption to this question is that the female body is a delicate, complicated machine that produces a functional human being. And if a machine, then it can be duplicated. These are in... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How would I design a human body for zero gravity? It's well established that the human body does not do well in zero gravity. Symptoms such as fluid loss, muscle atrophy, bone mass loss are well known. Less well known problems extend to such mundane activities as urinating. Astronauts on space walks need to be reminded to urinate because their bl... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Could you fly airplanes on Jupiter? Perhaps you've flown in a plane on an especially cloudy day when all you can see are clouds beneath and above you. It's a beautiful sight, strata'd white all around. So what if the plane were flying on Jupiter instead and enjoying the cloud strata there? There's a couple of assumptions here: There... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	What is the best reproductive strategy for equality between the sexes? Many questions on Worldbuilding have posited different reproductive strategies that often result in the virtual enslavement of females (when there are females involved). On Earth, normal human biology lends itself to patriarchal societies and almost always, the oppression and marginalization of women... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How would you designate targets for orbital bombardment? Throwing big rocks at planets is so passe and any asteroid tug can do that now. The Intergalactic Arms Reduction Treaty forbids the intentional bombardment of a planet's surface with large asteroids. Further, it enjoins all space fairing races to take action to prevent such collisions. So no more ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	What is the best apex predator to thin the zombie herds? A global epidemic of H1Z2 virus has rendered 95% of the population into zombies. The zombies have lost most of their frontal and temporal lobes so the following capabilities are either severely degraded or missing: decisions about right/wrong, suppression of socially inappropriate behaviors, new mem... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How would a culture respond to a strong preference for males when sex can be chosen? Modern human mothers can now choose the sex of their children, without surgery or procedures. For every pregnancy, the sex of the fetus must be chosen. In a culture that has a strong preference for male children, such as China or India, how will that culture adapt to the ability to produce only male ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How to render a large percentage of humans infertile? I'm looking for a way to render a large percentage (30 to 50%) of Earth's human population infertile in about 10 years. Medicine and tech levels are approximately where they are now, maybe slightly more advanced. Sterility is permanent. No medical advances in the next 30 years will be able to undo... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Cloth-eating creature wants to eat synthetic textiles. How? Based on this question and answer about a human sized creature that lives completely on textiles, how feasible is it for a creature to consume nylon and polyester to derive fats/lipids useful for building cell walls? Whether the creature performs the transformation itself or special gut bacteria per... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Deposing the new Robot Overlord Deposing the new Robot Overlord Some people just can't leave well enough alone. The Robot Overlord has executed its programming of the Zeroth Law and the Three Laws of Robotics for the previous ten years. World hunger, world poverty and war "are over" (to use the popular phrase). Despite this new... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Making people accept their new robot overlord So, it's happened. We have a robot overlord who follows the 3 Laws of Robotics + the Zeroth Law of Robotics. How we got such a thing or the process by which it makes its decisions is outside this question's scope. All we know is that it exists and is capable of generating perfect economic policy t... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Answer	—	A: How would humans be affected by a 12-hour day? 6 hours of daylight, 6 hours of night, twice a 'day'. Mapped to our 24 hour days from midnight to 6am, it's darkness. From 6am to noon it's daylight. From noon to 6pm it's dark. Daylight from 6pm to midnight. With this schedule, for an office worker in a First World country, one could easily argu... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Hot rods into space! Based on this question about an impossible barbell planet, how hot would the bar be if it extended from halfway in the Earth's mantle to an altitude of 2r of Earth's radius? The diameter of the bar itself is 20% of the radius of Earth. The rod is made of mild steel (we are handwaving the structural i... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How do you find a mate when everyone looks amazing? We have modern humans found in a near future, first world country on Earth. The primary technological advancements are in the form of extremely cheap and fast genome sequencing ($10USD/genome) and in the inexpensive use of CRISPR gene manipulation to fix any and all defects. This gives everyone the... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	What would it take to be an Illuminati-like group? Conspiracy theorists love to talk about a group called the Illuminati that pull the strings of world events. While there have been several real (and many more imaginary) Illuminati groups, what would it actually take to have a very powerful group remain hidden for centuries? How would you coordina... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago