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1500 questions
38
votes
18 answers
How to tell a clone apart?
In the year 2116 C.E. scientist can easily make multiple clones of a human, I was thinking maybe the doctor can make some markings on the clone body however what happens if the doctor forget to tag. Answer with the most reliable method of…
user6760
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38
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8 answers
Garlic and Silver — What's the Big Deal?
In popular mythology, wearing a garlic wreath is a good defense against vampires. Silver kills werewolves.
But why? How could garlic, a spice whose only offense is plain stink, deter an attractive man with a seriously unhealthy diet, as opposed to…
JohnWDailey
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38
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12 answers
What makes trading cities rich?
(We're talking about a pre-industrial society here)
Obviously there are many cities in important positions for trade, either because they control an important strait (Danish Sound, Bosphorus), an Isthmus (Panama, Suez) or are in good places for…
Krateng
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38
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10 answers
How will survivors of a global plague find each other?
I'm considering the following scenario: Over the course of a couple of weeks, a global plague wipes out 99.999% of humanity, leaving just 75,000 people alive. These people are spread out evenly; in every regional and social group, only one in…
abcde
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38
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18 answers
Benefits of or reasons why a species would have only one eye?
Traditionally, a Cyclops has one eye, as well as some other aliens in fiction.
My question is simple: Would there be any situations, Earth-like or otherwise, where a creature would benefit from having only one eye?
As far as I know, creatures with…
Xandar The Zenon
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38
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11 answers
A language made of silence
Currently, most, if not, all human languages use sound to communicate. What if, language A, a language much like English in terms of its global dominance and widespread use, on a planet much like ours, used silence instead of sound to communicate.…
fi12
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38
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13 answers
Could a creature evolve a biological "bulletproof vest"?
A variety of Earth species have hard, more or less rigid shells covering parts of or their entire bodies as a defense against predators. These work to a varying degree depending on the specific predator's hunting style, but they don't really present…
user
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38
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12 answers
What is the next dominant species?
If humans didn't exist, what species would populate the earth? Would an animal gain human-like intelligence if humans weren't here? What animal would gain dominance?
CrazySlayaNinjaBear
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38
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12 answers
Creating a realistic world map - Countries Borders
This Query is part of the Worldbuilding Resources Article.
From previous questions, I made a nice mass of land, which was enriched up until the drawing of precise coastlines.
But all that nice lands looks a bit empty. In my world, I want to make…
clem steredenn
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38
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15 answers
Can one rig a revolver to guarantee that the only bullet in Russian Roulette is in the last chamber?
We've got this criminal who likes to interrogate people via Russian Roulette.
While his captive watches, he empties an unremarkable-looking 6-chamber revolver, re-inserts a single bullet, spins the cylinder and slams it closed, then points it at the…
Tom
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38
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19 answers
Can it ever be safe for individuals to be able to own spaceships?
A spaceship is a very expensive thing to own and maintain. But what's more, this is a spaceship that can sustain high-g burns for long stretches of time, like in The Expanse verse. So this means that if it accelerates in one direction at about a…
Darth Biomech
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27 answers
How to stop soldiers from selling their equipment?
Assume there is a resource that allows for rapid regeneration of body parts and termination (magical deletion) of foreign objects in the body upon usage. Let's say it is scarce enough that you can't give it to everyone, so it's still valuable. The…
Thaspin
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38
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8 answers
What would happen to a star if most of its energy were reflected back at it?
For simplicity, lets use our Sun as the star.
Next, a dyson sphere is built around it (completely enclosed solid sphere, not a dyson swarm or network, etc.). Handwave how it's built, it's not relevant to the question.
Not sure if the diameter of…
Harthag
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17 answers
How can I liquefy my enemies?
There is a surprisingly diverse range of handheld weapons for use in combat, beyond the typical gun-related firearms. I'm looking for a cooler way to destroy enemies, and though flamethrowers are interesting, I'd like to not incinerate people, but…
HDE 226868
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38
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14 answers
Safely preserving a manuscript for 700 years
The problem: My time travelling hero has travelled from the present, back to 14th century France (think 100 years war) to retrieve the mcguffin, a manuscript. He cannot take any physical objects back (or forwards) with him through time and so in…
DrMcCleod
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