All Questions
138
questions
24
votes
5
answers
7k
views
Could plants develop intelligence?
I know the idea seems a bit far fetched but it's something I believe is common is science fiction and fantasy stories. I remember the talking trees of Zelda: Ocarina of time and of course, Tolkien's ...
- 16.8k
23
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can you naturally grow houses?
I'm Worldbuilding, and in my world, people can grow houses from seeds. My world is not a Fantasy one. Could this theoretically work, and if so, how?
(Images by Finnian MacManus)
To start the growth ...
- 249
20
votes
17
answers
6k
views
How can plants reliably intentionally poison those that eat their fruit?
For sake of metaphor, I want to include a plant that bears fruit that is poisonous, with the intent that when an animal eats it, it will walk away and die within a few hours, such that their corpse ...
- 386
20
votes
11
answers
4k
views
Plants to ravage tanks with
In my previous question, it was quite well established that tanks were basically superior to walkers in every way.
So, lets even the playing field. I've been contemplating several ways of doing so, ...
- 5,966
19
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Are plastic plants plausible?
Edit: some answerers seem to be slightly misunderstanding the nature of the premise. Remember that the concept here is this; In the Precambrian of Earth, bacteria evolve to extract the abundant ...
- 14.9k
19
votes
5
answers
7k
views
What is the limiting factor for a plant's growth?
This question is about big trees that can contain an entire city.
So generally speaking:
What limits a plant's size, anything from a tree to a flowering plant?
What environment needs to exist for ...
- 3,144
18
votes
7
answers
3k
views
What challenges must oceanic plant life overcome in order to create a mat on top of the ocean?
The ocean of my very earth-like planet is covered in its entirety by vegetation, forming a kind of carpet on top of the water's surface. This free-floating halophyte is a superorganism formed by ...
- 10.7k
16
votes
9
answers
3k
views
Why do the plants glow?
On this planet, volcanoes are constantly spewing ash, polluting the already dense atmosphere and darkening the world. In addition, the star which this planet orbits is dimmer, resulting in a very dark ...
- 1,397
16
votes
8
answers
9k
views
How large would a tree need to be to provide oxygen for 100 people?
The idea is that a population of beings have a superior claim over others for the privilege of oxygenated air in a city/large settlement.
I wanted to make this work that the other residents in the ...
- 177
16
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What effect would a radical gravity change have on plants and fungus?
In relation to this question, what would plants do if they were taken from their environment to another gravity level, in particular zero g.
For example would the daisy manage to grow higher ...
- 3,144
15
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Where do mushroom forests thrive?
Lichen are a symbiotic organism that involves algae or cyanobacteria living inside a fungus. The algae produce energy through photosynthesis, while the fungus protect the algae from the environment ...
- 85.6k
14
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Could a fungus fuse itself to a living creature and how could the creature pass this on?
Behold, a crocodile. The only thing that they have to worry about is hunger when they cannot catch a meal, and camouflage that is better than the eyes of their prey. What if a species of mushroom ...
- 418
14
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How big should a terrarium be to be self-sustained?
I read some time ago about terraria (singular: terrarium), which are basically small ecosystems of plants, isolated from the outside world (they get just energy from outside, not water or oxygen). The ...
- 953
13
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Why would mushroom-like flora prefer to use a calcium carbonate skeleton instead of a chitin one?
I want to create a world for my colonists that's bleak and unwelcoming as well as alien and strange.
So to that end I wanted to make mushroom-like fungi the major flora on the planet. I've read Where ...
- 2,462
13
votes
6
answers
1k
views
How could a large spherical plant heat air inside to fly?
In another question, Are flying plants possible?, a point was raised that because of the square-cube law, a large, hollow, spherical plant could fly by having the air inside be a little bit hotter ...
- 2,193