All Questions
233
questions
3
votes
3
answers
215
views
Can an organism have body structure materials that crumble upon being injured?
I'm working on building a species of wild animal, and I have several criteria in mind, and I'm looking for any glaring issues I may have missed that makes such a creature entirely infeasible ...
- 4,143
6
votes
2
answers
277
views
How do I justify the evolution of merpeople within a few million years?
I'm creating a sort of fantasy world that I'm still trying to keep scientifically accurate (it's more alternate history than anything since I'm having it take place in our world with a few points of ...
- 647
3
votes
1
answer
106
views
Cobalt chemosynthesis?
I want to create a world where everything revolves around cobalt and I was wondering if there are autotrophs that receive energy due to chemosynthesis involving cobalt compounds, is it possible?
- 41
4
votes
1
answer
163
views
Giant realistic Prototaxites like fungi in a hot climate
My planet is very similar to earth around 359 to 299 million years ago. years ago. It’s mostly covered in deserts, jungles, swamps, temperate forests, and their variants.
(The Carboniferous period)
...
- 1,260
6
votes
1
answer
189
views
(TW: Strangling) Would this character actually have any difficulty breathing?
((Alright, so! I don't even know if this is the right place to ask, but I hope to hear your thoughts. Sorry for the morbid topic and thanks in advance!))
In a comic I'll eventually draw, there's this ...
- 63
6
votes
3
answers
137
views
Solar-powered monster charging stations?
Lets assume we have a super advanced intelligent, possibly magical, Entity that wants to enroll Earth in a fun episode of monster invasion by making a bunch of demons and releasing them on Earth. The ...
- 8,485
19
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Are hydrocarbons viable foods for larger organisms?
There are some oil consuming bacteria which can break down hydrocarbons in the ocean. Since these tend to store a lot of energy, I was wondering whether it's possible for larger organisms to take ...
- 2,546
8
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Feasibility of life on a Flesh Planet?
The context is a spacefaring civilisation decides to dump its refuse and biomatter into space. Due to a technical error, the biomatter doesn't fall into the nearby star but instead finds a stable ...
- 187
5
votes
2
answers
270
views
Biological process that turns iron oxide into atomic iron
My human colony on Mars uses gentically modified archea/bacteria to turn dust collected from the surface of the planet into construction material and breathable oxygen. Technicalities of the ...
- 339
3
votes
1
answer
97
views
Can a solar powered biological stationary giant snake exist?
The Moon Jungle is known for its enormous trees with dense vegetation and fauna. However, there is a path where no tree or bush ever dares to block the way of day or moonlight. In this path stands ...
- 463
3
votes
3
answers
303
views
How would a plant like entity use animals?
The land is covered in structures of green coloring. Some look like igloos and some have veins pulsating and moving slowly with membranes which seem to almost be breathing the way lungs do. Some of ...
- 435
7
votes
4
answers
295
views
growing and farming metals
Is there any biological or environmental factor stopping animals or plants to be farmed for their metal absorbing qualities? Consider we are also counting creatures created through selective breeding, ...
- 435
5
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How could a living biological sword survive a spaceship crash and then isolation for millennia?
A sword with a blade made of metal, or the least, it looks metallic, shiny and clean. A sword as old or probably older than our civilization, it has writings on the blade, never seen before, never ...
- 435
3
votes
3
answers
266
views
How would changing pregnancy time affect a female human's metabolism?
If humans were altered so that pregnancy lasted only 3 months, what other biological challenges would this cause? Obviously it would have be at substantial increase in calorie intake to support the ...
- 20.2k
4
votes
2
answers
844
views
Would less gravity allow for larger flying creatures (like dragons)
From my superficial understanding of physics, it seems that large flying creatures like your typical Western dragon wouldn't be possible on Earth, specifically because they would always be too heavy.
...
- 149
4
votes
1
answer
347
views
Evolution of ossicones like structures to tentacle or trunk like limbs
A time ago I made a similar question which is this and some time after other similar which is this. So I can consider this new question an improvement or continuation of what I wanted to achieve with ...
- 2,625
6
votes
4
answers
727
views
Cryo-Pods For Unaltered Humans
OK, faster than light isn't possible & a merely significant fraction of it can begin to stretch the bounds of reasonable reality as that fraction increases // so a less unreal way to allow us our ...
- 9,673
4
votes
2
answers
777
views
Stimulant which kills the user in the absence of strenuous physical activity
I recently had an idea for a sci-fi story about death's row inmates (possibly war criminals) being subjected to an experimental stimulant which greatly increases their strength and agility, but will ...
- 677
12
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Boom of the Thunderbird
Could wings and feathers be capable of creating a sonic boom like whips do?
The thunder bird of native American myths was a large raptor that was often accompanied by bad weather and the sound of ...
- 1,250
11
votes
1
answer
620
views
Evolution of sexual parasitism in a species with small and intelligent females but large and "brute" males?
So, I had this idea about a sapient alien specie paritally based on the reproduction of the schistosoma
A flat worm specie in which the male is notorious bigger than the female, and this have a ...
- 2,625
11
votes
2
answers
3k
views
What would make a plant's leaves razor-sharp?
Imagine a field of plants that when walked through cuts human skin. Unlike a Stinging Nettle, the leaves would have to have razor-like edges, without the trichome hairs. The leaf edges should cause a ...
- 1,583
5
votes
1
answer
321
views
Are Aeroplankton a feasible food source?
On an Earth-like planet, you would assume oceanic plankton and terrestrial microorganisms would exist. But, could there be plankton in the sky? While there are certainly nutrients floating through the ...
- 1,583
2
votes
2
answers
207
views
What kind of atmosphere is needed for large floating organisms?
Assume you have an identical Earth-clone planet, what kind of atmosphere is required to have floating organisms? What I define as a large floating organism is something about the size of a bat, but ...
- 1,583
2
votes
2
answers
204
views
Can we live off hydrothermal vents?
I'm sketching a story about a rogue Earth (that is, Earth got flung out of the solar system) and how humanity could survive. One of the main problems is food. Hydroponic farms with grow lights are one ...
- 142k
0
votes
3
answers
385
views
How would a "flaming collar" work in an animal and how could it be useful? [closed]
This a concept which personally I see with a lot of visual style and epic to describe, to be implemented for a creature in a fictional world. Probably you can call this "burning head" or &...
- 2,625
8
votes
3
answers
346
views
Drop dead disease
Diseases kill people by messing up with some mechanism that is necessary for life. This generally means that they have a progression - for respiratory diseases, you will have difficulty breathing for ...
- 142k
5
votes
2
answers
143
views
Using Cellular DNA Reader to Counter Radiation Damage
I have a space based setting and would like to develop a mechanism that counters radiation damage.
Here is my idea:
The setting 100 years from now. A cellular organelle is developed similar to the ...
- 2,441
10
votes
3
answers
236
views
Increasing Speed of Neural Transmission by Embedding Material in Myelin Sheaths
I am building a science fiction world 100+ in the future with various human augmetics. One of the things I would like to do is speed up human thought. My preferred mechanism for embedding this ...
- 2,441
8
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How much can I expand human color perception by adding new photoreceptors?
Normally, the human retina contains four types of light-sensitive receptors (opsins): three types of cones and one type of rods. Receptors contain proteins-chromoproteins - iodopsin in rods, ...
- 1,519
3
votes
2
answers
174
views
Decomposers produce acid and depend on (liquid) water to perform their function. Is this world coherent?
About my idea:
The decomposers of this world perform the degradation by producing and diluting acid in liquid water molecules.
In this world, most decomposers are present in the seas and oceans. ...
user80071
5
votes
4
answers
161
views
Can facial Nerve damage cause all facial functions to shut down (temporarily)?
So I'm writing a character that cut his face very deep making a big x mark on his face at some point in the past to scare off a couple of thugs.
He survived the ordeal, but now it so happens that ...
- 1,051
3
votes
6
answers
2k
views
Can a person use plants instead of blood, and what would the consequences of this be? [duplicate]
I have been brainstorming an idea for a kind of human-plant symbiosis, in which a plant has either evolved or been modified to photosynthesize with heat instead of light. This plant may have evolved ...
- 39
44
votes
9
answers
7k
views
How realistic is a genetic memory?
Many pieces of popculture (like assassins creed or the aboleths in dungeons and dragons) use the concept of a genetic memory. How realistic is this concept?
In particular, I am interested in ...
- 1,089
6
votes
5
answers
838
views
Is it plausible for a world without fossil fuels to have developed naturally?
So the idea of worlds like this has been brought up a few times, about how human technology would have developed without fossil fuels, but the question I have is whether it is plausible for a world ...
- 5,165
8
votes
2
answers
315
views
Is it possible to create a new hybrid species of the homo genus that can produce offspring?
I have read about hybrid speciation: "speciation where hybridization between two different species leads to a new species, reproductively isolated from the parent species". I wanted to know ...
user75574
3
votes
2
answers
409
views
How could an animal evolve with carbon nanotubes?
Is it biologically feasible for an animal to evolve in a way that allows the body to produce carbon nanotubes? How could this happen? What advantages would it give?
- 1,334
2
votes
1
answer
101
views
What if our body could postpone exertion?
Generally, whenever you do physical activities, your body pays with physical energy, and your body experiences exertion. So, if say I ran 100 metres, I would lose some energy and my muscles and organs ...
- 1,051
3
votes
2
answers
159
views
Giant superpredatory pike?
In my world, there is a species of pike, like a muskellunge, but it grows to massive proportions. They are 9 to 18 ft and weight 235-1,900 lb, with a maximum size of 26 ft and 3 tons. They live in ...
- 1,334
8
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Anatomically Correct Egyptian God/dess
Ancient Egypt is famous for its plethora of gods and goddesses, many of whom have the head of an animal.
image source
I'm looking for a real-life inspiration for the physical shape of these gods ...
- 15.8k
7
votes
2
answers
256
views
Could my chameleon dragon exist?
chameleon dragon are closely related to Parson's chameleon and some basic characteristics of them include:
being ambush predators
use active camouflage (similar to cuttlefish and some octopuses)
are ...
- 6,895
2
votes
1
answer
214
views
Could my leviathans exist?
Leviathans are closely related to hydrophis spiralis. Some characteristics of these leviathans include:
continuing to grow until they die and are able to grow almost as large as a blue whale
are warm ...
- 6,895
4
votes
7
answers
1k
views
anatomy or musculature to achieve full rotate jaw?
you know a jaw or mouth where the jaw full of teeth fully rotate like a drill or gear to shred their food or prey, usually show often in worm type of monster (my question is not necessary to be worm ...
- 8,897
-1
votes
5
answers
772
views
biologically or anatomically is there a problem with this type of double mouth or jaws?
i am not talking about xenomorph or moray eel type of jaws or multiple mouth or lower jaw inside the mouth.
but this type of mouth/jaws or i called it double chin jaws where the chin also work as ...
- 8,897
4
votes
2
answers
505
views
Proportions of a giant humanoid?
In a humanoid mammal, say 15-20 feet tall, how would the brain, heart, reproductive organs, facial feature and other attributes scale up? In very large mammals, the brain seems to be comparatively ...
- 1,334
2
votes
1
answer
452
views
Does this magic system seem sufficiently hard-rational?
The world I'm making is primarily sci-fi with a few elements of hard fantasy (the fantasy is mostly aesthetic). The magic system I've come up with so far consists of these premises:
1) Everything in ...
- 133
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Feasibility of six inch space-faring aliens
I’ve recently been playing a alien game with various alien species. After playing for a bit, I wondered whether or not a 6-inch tall intelligent race could exist.
I can already see some major ...
- 2,514
5
votes
2
answers
430
views
What will the abdominal muscles of non-primate humanoids look like?
After looking at concept art of various humanoid creatures portrayed in science fiction I noticed many artists tend to make the abdominal muscles of their creatures/aliens look similar to those ...
user72048
4
votes
2
answers
627
views
Could triangular DNA exist?
This is sort of a follow up on my question Could a "multicellular" virus exist? in which part of the consensus was that viruses simply can't hold enough DNA. In theory, could DNA form in a ...
- 2,305
11
votes
6
answers
2k
views
is it possible for creature to have loose jaw like snake but also has enough bite strength to bit off big chunk like most predator or human do?
I want to create a glutton creature that can open its mouth wider than the prey item like snakes do, but also can bite through that big hard object and even chew it; this creature doesn't swallow prey ...
- 8,897
6
votes
1
answer
271
views
Could my fungus exist naturally?
My fungus starts out as an extremely small spore, this small spore will bury and implant itself near the spinal cord and cerebellum, and will then secrete an enzyme that hijacks and later puts it in ...
- 2,514