Activity for Henry Taylor‭

Type	On...	Excerpt	Status	Date
Question	—	What species will benefit most from humanity's having been here? Assuming that as a species, we do ourselves in, not through war but through environmental neglect and overpopulation, what species will benefit most from the effect we have had on the planet during our brief time at the top of the food chain? I am writing a short story about an alien world where the... (more)	—	over 4 years ago
Question	—	Killing a star safely A messenger from the stars just arrived in peace but has brought horrible news. A vast swarm of planet devouring phototropic insects are approaching from deep space and our only hope is to obscure or snuff out our sun until they pass by. The messenger provided a copy of the galactic encyclopedia whi... (more)	—	over 5 years ago
Question	—	What is the best unit of measure for the time portion of a non-earth-bound light"year"? The question, Reference to Earth in Intergalactic Universe illuminates the shortcomings of the term "light-year", which defines a distance by mixing the universally constant speed of light in a vacuum with our far less universally recognizable measure of time known as a "year". So my question is... ... (more)	—	almost 7 years ago
Question	—	Are planetary orbits absolutely necessary? One of my more brilliant characters is taking a terraforming class and at one point, early in the story, she has to leave the action to take an exam. The question presented in that scene is listed below, and by authorial coincidence, she wil encounter such a solar system during a deep space survey. ... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Can a disease be airborne but not be contagious by other means? Building on Josh King's answer to this question concerning the feasibility of a disease which dies with its host, can a disease be contagious by airborne means while not being contagious by fluid exchange or touch? I'm trying to define an apocalypse virus story, but I keep running into scenarios whe... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	Is a plague that is only contagious from a living host feasible? How believable is a touch or fluid vectored bacteria which is so dependent on its host that the remains of a terminated victim become non-contageous within minutes of the host's death? I'm postulating an infector which consumes its host so quickly that infected blood samples contain no living infect... (more)	—	over 8 years ago
Question	—	How close could we be to a stealth planetarysystem? Start with a powerful space-faring civilization. They are Kardashev Type II, having harnessed the total energy output of their sun. To do this, they have encapsulated their star with a tight-fitting Dyson Sphere which is totally dedicated to energy capture. None of their star's light or radiation pe... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Question	—	What is a Dyson Sphere around a planet called? Imagine that we start expanding the International Space Station until it becomes a ring encircling the whole Earth. Then we started widening the ring until it met at both poles, forming an orbital eggshell around the entire planet. Ignoring all the problems, like that it's starving the planet's surf... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Question	—	Launching a Generation Ship The human race has colonized the solar system with permanent settlements on all of the inner planets and outposts beyond. Vast space stations pepper the voids between orbits and massive mining/refining facilities stand vigil along the frontier. Interplanetary travel is routine and 25 Billion prospe... (more)	—	almost 9 years ago
Question	—	How big a black hole is needed for this story? The story begins in classic disaster film style. A small rogue black hole is approaching our Solar System. It isn't going to get close enough to destroy everything, but it will agitate our Sun, causing horrific solar flares as it reaches perihelion. Those flares are going to bake the Earth's surface... (more)	—	over 9 years ago
Answer	—	A: How can a spaceship unknowingly interfere with tides on a planet? I can think of two uses for gravity generation aboard a spacecraft. The first is environmental, keeping crew and components from floating around while the ship is outside of a planet's gravity well. The second is locomotion, some form of space/time warping device. The environmental system would pr... (more)	—	about 10 years ago