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Activity for Secespitus‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Answer A: What are some ways to explain why a ghoul feeds exclusively on humans?
Humans are yummy They prefer the taste of human flesh over the flesh of rodents that crawl around everywhere. Especially when munching on humans that are well off and can therefore afford to be clean(er) most of the time compared with other animals. That would also explain certain preferences when i...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: What mechanism can prevent super-healing heroes from accidentally budding?
There is exactly one important cell - the Core The Core is what coordinates the super-healing. Every other cell is unimportant and will simply die when cut off from a "normal" body. They can't really regenerate on the super-natural basis that you assume, it just looks to the observer as if they woul...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: Could scientists test a theory of everything?
A common misunderstanding about theories in general is that you can prove them, when in fact you will never be able to prove a theory - you can only ever falsify a theory. There is simply no way to prove that a theory will always apply to every case that it's supposed to be usable for. You can only e...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: How to monetize uploaded consciousness?
We give the minds some hobbies to do We have lots of people who have literally nothing else to do than think. That will probably be boring for quite a few of them. Why don't we put them to us-... I mean, why don't we just give them something to do that will benefit everyone? A couple researchers w...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: What would convince people to solve disputes with a deadly card game?
Money - a very macabre version of streaming You could for example make a live television show that sends every duel happening across the world. Think about it like Twitch where you can watch people who have the equipment to film their gaming experiences and watch how they fight against others. Thi...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: What would the most peculiar characteristics of a "time fly" be?
Time flies are attracted to temporal paradoxes. The name implies a small fly, but in reality they are brutal, quite big and carnivorous. Ever wondered why there are no time-travellers around? Guess who ate them. Whenever some genius invents some form of time-travel these little critters find out a...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: Anatomically correct Penanggalan / Manananggal
The problem is that a simple head won't fly - it needs some wings. And that is exactly where those "entrails" come into play. The "entrails" are really a form of wings that allows your creature to fly. Basically you will have some sort of very-large vampire bat, whose wings are strangely arranged a...
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over 6 years ago
Answer A: Why can't spaceships go underwater?
Spaceships are not supposed to withstand a lot of external pressure Have a look at our sister site Space.SE and the question Do spacecraft have similar structural integrity requirements as submarines? for some information about this problem. Here are a few quotes relevant to this question that come ...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Methane Dragons
Your dragons are vegetarians and have a lot of different stomachs - just like cattle To cite from the Wikipedia article on cattle (emphasis mine): Gut flora in cattle include methanogens that produce methane as a byproduct of enteric fermentation, which cattle belch out. The same volume of atmos...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Reality Check: Are these Honey Mouths and Thorn Shredders realistic?
It's called cleaning symbiosis This is definitely a viable idea. To give you some information from the linked Wikipedia article: Cleaning symbiosis in our nature Cleaning symbiosis is a mutually beneficial association between individuals of two species, where one (the cleaner) removes and eats...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Could my creature's camouflage work?
No, this would not work The problem is the angle at which other creatures, such as your astronauts, are looking at the creature. The far closer lights from the predator would appear to change their position far too fast for stars that are very, very far away when moving around in the vicinity of the...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Hominids Re-Evolving Tails?
Mutation Starting from our current evolutionary state the first step is a sudden mutation to have some form of tail again. This one can be very small and doesn't need to have any real effect. Sexual selection Afterwards people start to like it. It's unusual and therefore normally an evolutionary ...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Under what conditions would humanoids evolve eyes in the backs of their heads?
You need to constantly threaten those humanoids from the back - for example big silent owls and manual tasks that require a lot of time The eyes need to provide an advantage for these humanoids, so there needs to be something they excel at because of their eyes at the back. The first thing that come...
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almost 7 years ago
Question Would the diet of a human have to adapt if he suddenly had a ~1 metre long foxtail?
If I genetically modified a human to have a foxtail of roughly 1 metre length through the use of handwaved genetical engineering - would this have an effect on his diet? Of course an additional appendage means that the human would have to eat a bit more to power for example the muscles that are need...
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almost 7 years ago
Answer A: Why would two humanoid species be physically unable to touch each other?
Magnets For some reason your aliens developed a strong magnetic field that they are constantly emitting. Your humanoids use this to attract prey, either by forcing them directly through the magnetic field influencing the prey's body or by for example foiling their orientation. The prey tries to wa...
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about 7 years ago
Answer A: What could make a species evolve downward facing ears?
Sexual Selection Downward facing ears can be a problem. Thinking about Beagles long floppy ears can mean that there is not enough air circulation and the ears can get infected. If something makes an animal more prone to dying, but the individual still manages to survive then it must be pretty good i...
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about 7 years ago
Answer A: Why does the Conjoined Alliance of Space Travellers keep producing red uniforms?
They want people to strive for a better position and sort the weaklings out By making the lower ranks wear red they incentivise people to get better. After all everyone knows that Redshirts die more often than others. If you are a Redshirt you are seen as expendable and you don't want to be expendab...
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about 7 years ago
Question How much muscle mass would be needed for a genetically modified human to move his ~1 metre long foxtail?
I would like to genetically modify a human being in one concrete case like I did in other parts of my little series of How would it affect a human to suddenly... This time I would like to add a pretty long foxtail and get a feeling for how much muscle mass would be needed to make the modified human a...
(more)
about 7 years ago
Answer A: Earthborn Inferiority
Earthborn people are of lesser value because they were born on a planet that's almost depleted its resources leading to less genetic modifications They may be similar to Starborn people, but their only chance to make sure that their bloodline will thrive is by getting away from their old, basically ...
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about 7 years ago
Answer A: Why might it be desirable to engineer aquatic humans?
For science - just to see whether we can really do it or not Making an air filled habitat for normal humans is boring. That would probably work if your technology is on a level like the one you described. But engineering a new race of humans that could live underwater without the need for such a spe...
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over 7 years ago
Question Anatomically Correct Nachtkrapp
The Nachtkrapp is a german version of the bogeyman or in a more general term a kind of bugbear. Nacht is the german word for night and Krapp is used in southern germany and austria as a word for raven. There are many different versions of this tale. Most of the time it was used to make children go to...
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over 7 years ago
Question How could chocolate bunnies evolve?
I love chocolate. Today, when I was making myself a cup of hot chocolate, I was thinking about Easter and about all the chocolate I am going to eat. And at some point I was wondering: How awesome would it be to have real chocolate bunnies! Of course a block of chocolate would not be able to hop ar...
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over 7 years ago
Question How could cats evolve toxic claws?
This cat looks like a normal Maine Coon to the unsuspecting victim. Except for one little detail: Red claws that inject a neurotoxin into the victim onpon scratching it. What would be the most appropriate way a cat could evolve toxic claws? I am looking for ways to explain why this cat evolved the...
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over 7 years ago
Question Using only molecules found in humans: How close can I get to creating a wolf?
There are many theories about how teleportation could work (warning: tvtropes). One of them is that the body is completely disassembled on a molecular level and reassembled at the target destination. This leads to ethical problems like "Am I still me, even after I got completely disassembled and the ...
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: What is the botanic equivalent of the digestive system
It could be similar to the existing carnivorous plants that we already have on our planet. This way the plantimal could try to lure its food into its mouth and then slowly digest it. All you need is a pouch of some kind a and enzymes which can be produced via symbiotic bacteria or directly by the p...
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: Anthro Animals to Scale
I cannot find anything usable for a good comparison of a wolf and a hare the size of a human. The closest thing regarding the bite is this article about the bite force quotient, which might help you get an idea of how strong your wolf might be if he was human sized. Regarding fighting: hares can be...
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: What would it take for a continent to be covered in cyclical darkness?
You could have massive volcanic eruptions and regularly create a temporary volcanic winter
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: What advantage would a species gain from birthing a child larger than itself?
If multiple of your creatures can work on the same "child" they could be faster at "giving birth". This could come in handy when you think about different seasons. Normally there is a certain time for animals to become pregnant, so that they and their offspring can survive the pregnancy and the first...
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: Difficulties of transforming from mermaid to human and vice versa?
Maybe for the "joining of legs"-part you could use a mechanism similar to velcro, which was inspired by burs, so that they are hold together. Then you could let the mermaid control if the mechanism ties the legs together and therefore act like some sort of fin or allows them to be used as separate le...
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almost 8 years ago
Answer A: How would pixie to human two way communication work?
Maybe the Pixies could write on a piece of paper. For them it would be a big painting and for humans it would be a tiny note, but we would be able to read it. This kind of communication might take a while and it might not always be easy to understand the Pixies, as five-year-olds might struggle to ...
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almost 8 years ago