Activity for Monica Cellio
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Should posting on Meta affect reputation? When we launched this community, we did not yet have the ability to set different reputation grants for different categories. We've had this for a while but we failed to follow up before now, sorry. Do you want us to change posts on Meta to not award rep for upvotes or subtract it for downvotes? ... (more) |
— | 10 months ago |
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A: Is Scientific Speculation the Right Place for a Discussion Series About Space Sports? I'm speaking as a regular user here despite that "staff" label next to my name. Scope is decided by communities, not imposed from above. I think science-based questions about sports, like golf in low-gravity or sailing in high atmospheric pressure or fishing in waters of different composition, et... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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A: Incorrect number of answers showing in questions list This appears to be a data error related to imported questions. The question was imported with four answers on 2020-05-04. On 2021-03-02, a script deleted zero-score answers from accounts that were unclaimed -- that is, answers where the author never came and created an account here, and where nob... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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How can we grow this community? Codidact's communities have a lot of great content that is helping people on the Internet. Our communities are small, though, and sustainable communities depend on having lots of active, engaged participants. The folks already here are doing good work; our challenge is to find more people like you ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Which sciences are welcome? A now-deleted question involved archaeology, linguistics, and history. There were some downvotes and critical comments, and the author deleted the question. I don't know whether the downvotes were because of the scope or for other reasons, but it sent me to the FAQ to see what we say about our scop... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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Is this the right name for the site? We try to hammer these things out during the proposal phase; really we do... but in the last day or two we've seen some objections to the name "Speculative Science", and if we're going to change it now is the time, so... do we want a different name for the site? One objection was that the current ... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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A: Do we want to keep the [science-based] and [reality-check] tags? I would think that, at the very least, [science-based] is implied by this site's scope and doesn't add anything. (I didn't think to ask for it to be stripped on import, but presumably it's not hard to kill.) On WB I believe the rule was that [science-based] shouldn't be the only tag on a question; ... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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Welcome to Scientific Speculation! Welcome to the Codidact home for the Scientific Speculation community, an outgrowth of the SE Worldbuilding community. Please use it, report problems and make requests on Meta, and collect your thoughts about what we need to support this community. About scope This site was proposed to be narr... (more) |
— | almost 4 years ago |
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A: How to use a certain technology to communicate with colonies but keep the how-to a secret? If the Internet and all its component parts (routers, DNS servers, certificate authorities, etc) vanished tomorrow, would you know how to rebuild it? To most people on most of these worlds, the QEC system is "magic" -- not literally magic, but it's there, it works reliably, and for most people that'... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: What would be different if a person has broader visual spectrum than normal I have aphakia, so I can address the near-UV end from personal experience. For the near-IR, I can only reason from other sources. In daylight, subtle effects like the patterns on flowers mentioned in another answer are completely dwarfed by the giant UV source in the sky. Somebody seeing into the ... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What do Martians use for months and weeks? As you point out, Mars has so much stuff going on in its skies that its moons aren't going to provide meaningful calendrical support. Nothing else is both visible and consistent enough to act as a replacement. I suggest, therefore, that your indigenous Martians won't look to the sky for divisions o... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How does an ordinary person announce major discoveries? Twitter. (Or Facebook, or other similar vector.) What you need is the "share" or "retweet" concept, a button that a reader uses to put your post in front of his readers, whose readers have a button... this is how Internet phenomena start. There are no guarantees; lots of interesting, legitimate po... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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How expressive is a color-based language? In the answers to this question I learned that some cephalopods communicate via color: Some cephalopods are capable of rapid changes in skin color and pattern through nervous control of chromatophores.[8] This ability almost certainly evolved primarily for camouflage, but squid use color, pattern... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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What is plausible biology of ocean-dwelling, tool-using, intelligent creatures? I want to develop a water-dwelling, intelligent species that could ultimately reach space.1 My question here is about the biology of such creatures. I want my creatures to live in the water, not move onto land, but shorter outings onto land not only would be ok but would help my plot. This makes m... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How can a planet orbit two or more stars simultaneously? There are three ways a planet can be positioned in a binary-star system: The two stars are close together and the planet orbits both of them (technically it orbits their center of gravity). This is called a P-type orbit. Because the stars have to be far-enough apart to not collapse in on each oth... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Psychological effects of teleportation and coping mechanisms Teleportation as you describe it is a sudden change in location that the teleportee perceives through all available senses. We obviously can't test that on humans today, but we can get some clues from the closest approximation we can get with current technology: virtual reality. VR, like flight sim... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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About how many planets are plausible for this binary-star system? I have a binary system in which my world orbits one of the stars, not the pair, in the habitable zone. The stars are relatively close together (because I want the secondary one to shed significant light on the planet too), tentatively about 20AU apart with the secondary star in a small nebula. (I'm... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
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Could animal life develop on the TRAPPIST-1 planets? Recent news reported the discovery of three "earth-like" planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system. This is interesting because the star is a small, cool red dwarf about the size of Jupiter. The three planets in the habitable zone are tidally locked and about the size of Earth, could have atmospheres, and r... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
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A: The evolution of neon kittens The cat above glows because it was exposed to a virus that carried a suitable gene: US researcher Eric Poeschla has produced three glowing GM cats by using a virus to carry a gene, called green fluorescent protein (GFP), into the eggs from which the animals eventually grew. [...] The GFP g... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
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A: Why would robots use verbal communication? Networks go out sometimes, or can be jammed. This might be particularly problematic in high-radiation environments. See also this answer for reasons they might not be available. Voice communication always works, so long as the recipient is within range, there isn't too much background noise, and t... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
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What would this nebula look like from a planet? I have a binary system. The primary star is F- or G-class; the secondary is K-class, 20AU away, and in a small reflection nebula (suggested here). A planet orbits the primary in the habitable zone. This article suggests that F, G, and K classes can all support habitable planets; it's talking about... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: How does Santa avoid Heart Attacks from bad cholesterol? If Santa ate all that, he'd be packing on the pounds way more than he already is (and Santa is not a lightweight now). Since nobody's reported a 2-ton Santa, there must be another explanation. Santa's metabolism is really, really souped up. This makes sense; even though he's not doing the hard job... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How much does my secondary star heat the planet orbiting my primary star? In this question I asked about the lighting patterns from this system: A really helpful answer there explained when the planet is getting how much illumination. This question is about heat. On earth I have a pretty good sense of the temperature variations over the course of the year at dif... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: How will uploaded personalities be represented in a government? You said "assume uploaded personalities have been granted the franchise", which I am interpreting as "assume they are both 'persons' and 'citizens' under the constitution", which would be prerequisites for having a vote. The constitution assigns voters to representatives based on residency but does ... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: Would it be impossible for me to have a nebula in my planet's night sky? I asked How can I safely brighten my secondary star? because I was looking for a bright night, though not specifically a nebula, for my habitable planet. This answer suggested placing a star in a reflection nebula, which could be as close as 20AU to the primary star that the planet is orbiting. Neb... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How practical is it to capture an asteroid? Some answers to this question about mining asteroids suggest that it is easier and cheaper, in the long run, to bring the asteroid to you: move it into orbit around the planet where you are already set up to mine and process whatever it is you're harvesting from the asteroid, instead of moving your m... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How can you make a stable configuration including a moon that has a moon? A moon is, fundamentally, a rock that's caught in the gravitational field of a bigger rock (a planet) and drawn into an orbit. Some of Saturn's moons, for example, are speculated to be debris from the breakup of minor planets, while others are more-conventional small planets. (Please feel free to c... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How do seasons work in a binary system (planet orbits one star, not both)? I have a planet orbiting one star in a binary system. When the planet is exactly between the two stars it will experience a double day; when the primary sun sets the secondary one rises, no overlap. (My second star sheds enough light to make a difference on the planet.) When the planet is on the o... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How can I safely brighten my secondary star? I have an earth-like planet orbiting one of the stars in a binary system. I have learned that, for G-class stars, if the secondary star is 100AU from the primary one, I can expect the secondary star to have an apparent magnitude of about -17, about 40 times brighter than the earth's full moon (-13).... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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Orbiting one star in a binary system: what are the effects of the second star on the planet? This blog post about binary-star systems points out that, rather having the stars be close together, they could be far apart and a planet might orbit just one of them. It gives the example of the binary system in Alpha Centauri, where the two stars are 23 astronomical units apart. The post ends: ... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: How to preserve the remaining trolls? I agree with another answer that, if your cultural values permit it, giving over the dead to the trolls could work. That'd be a tough sell for early-middle-ages Europe, but then, caring about troll welfare would be too and you've got that, so this might work. Two other approaches: Military applica... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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How would humans be affected by a 12-hour day? In Can I significantly shorten the days on a planet that can support human life? I asked about changes needed to a planet to support human life with a much-shorter day (12 hours or so instead of 24ish), and learned that speeding up the rotation of an earth-like planet would be feasible. (Answers are... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
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A: What types of musical instruments would develop underwater? As this answer says, most musical instruments as we know them won't work underwater. You might see something completely new arise, but we should assume that people will first reach for what is easiest. And what's that, for underwater music? Vocalization, as noted in the linked answer. There's no ... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
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Can I significantly shorten the days on a planet that can support human life? I would like to have a world on which humans can live unaided -- they can breathe, the climate is workable, they can eat the local vegetation, etc -- but on which a complete day is substantially shorter than it is here on earth. I think this means I need a faster rotation or a smaller planet or both... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
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Do different star types produce plants with different properties? From this chart it appears that the star types closest to our own are K-type (oranger, a little cooler, and less than half as bright) and F-type (bluer, a little warmer, and much brighter). If I want to place an "earth-like" planet around one of these star types, how should I expect plant life on my... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |
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A: Interstellar internet use cases, or "What if the internet was mail-order?" For many uses, I agree with this answer that you would see local internets serving live content (as now) backed by interplanetary replication. The technology exists today to manage large data repositories over unreliable or highly-latent networks with eventual consistency; we'd see that applied to t... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |
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A: Prison in space By putting prisoners in a place where they wouldn't be able to survive on their own, you are taking on a larger burden of caretaking: What if there is a mechanical or electrical failure on the station and people die? How are you going to keep these distant prisoners fed and basically healthy? Do y... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |
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Where should I place my city in space? I have a city in space that will have a local population and a lot of travel in and out (center of commerce). Should I place it out in open space or near a planet? Being near a planet obviously involves gravitational forces that affect both the station and travel; my gut feeling is that that's a po... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |
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What could cause Earth to drift out of orbit over a period of months to years? I would like to have Earth slowly move away from the sun, taking somewhere between several months and a couple of years to reach the point where human life on the surface is no longer possible. (The story revolves around efforts to get protected in time and the resulting conflicts. So yes, we have ... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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A: What would happen if the oxygen levels decreased by 15 percent? Denver has about 17% less oxygen than at sea level. Note that this isn't reduced concentration; there's just less air. This answer doesn't address the increased proportion of other elements in the air, only oxygen reduction. According to this article on altitude sickness, the first effect that kic... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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How can a spaceship unknowingly interfere with tides on a planet? I've asked before about my polytheists with competing moon gods. I now have a better understanding of how tides -- a very visible manifestation of lunar influence -- work with multiple moons (thanks), but now I need to disrupt it. My story calls for a human spaceship observing this planet (presumab... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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A: What would have to happen in order to force us to live in the ocean? Broadly speaking you need three things: (1) something that makes it infeasible to keep living on land (most people won't move unless pushed), (2) the inability to evacuate from the planet, and (3) enough time to build and move into those underwater habitats. For (1), other answers have proposed radi... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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What are the power options for intelligent humanoid robots? In my future setting on Earth (or an Earth-like planet; haven't decided), the fields of robotics and AI have taken off and we have intelligent, ambulatory robots. (They were initially thought of as machines, but, as is common in such settings, they have advanced and they are considered "human-equiva... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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Expanding occupied underground habitations safely? I have a colony of humans living underground in man-made catacombs on another planet. They are, essentially, digging/blasting as they go; they did not create a complete underground city first and then move in. Thus, I need for them to be able to expand "in place", without harming themselves with ei... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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Does living without access to sunlight for extended periods have known physical or psychological effects on humans? Humans (even programmers :-) ) are used to having some access to natural light, but in a colony in space, on the dark side of a tidally-locked planet, or underground (for example) this won't happen. Are there known (documented) effects on people's health (physical and psychological) as a result of l... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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How do I figure out how many people my domed city on a hostile planet can support? I have a colony of humans on Mars, living in enclosed cities to maintain breathable air. (If they need to leave, they suit up.) Assuming modern-day technology, how do I figure out how many people a city of volume V can support? Or, to reverse the question, how large a domed city would I need to su... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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How would having multiple moons affect tides? We know that planets can have multiple moons, sometimes quite a few (like Jupiter). Assuming that a planet with several moons were habitable in the first place and has significant oceans (greater than 50% of the surface), what effect would multiple moons with independent orbits and revolution speeds... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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A: What Factors Could Cause a World to See "Northern" Lights Much Closer to the Equator? On Earth, solar flares can lead to displays of the aurora that are both more spectacular and visible farther south. Flares in September 2014 led to the aurora being visible in Maine, which is around 45 degrees latitude, so that's halfway between the pole and the equator. (More typically you need to... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |
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In space, do "shipping lanes" make sense? In settings with space travel we often see stories that rely on ships encountering each other, such as space piracy (which means you need to know where to wait in ambush), or distress signals that actually get answered by passing ships. Now on earth the idea of shipping lanes make sense because of c... (more) |
— | over 9 years ago |