Questions tagged [biology]
For questions about living things. Does not exclude aliens, but additional information is usually necessary (consider using "xenobiology" instead).
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The science behind an invisible wall of pain
In this concept, a person is confined by a precisely-defined invisible barrier that causes extreme pain when any part of them crosses it. It affects only them, thus the source of the pain must be ...
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How to survive a helicopter crash using alien biotechnology?
In the near-future, in a war between aliens and humans, the aliens hatch a plan to seemingly assassinate a human leader (on Earth), but make it look like it was done by other humans. They have it ...
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Can two species from the same genus but with a different sex determination system interbreed and have fertile (or at least sub-fertile) offspring?
In my futuristic world, there are two coelacanth species that are the daughter species from the famous West Indian Ocean coelacanth. One has the XY sex determination system (like humans, iguanas, ...
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Is it possible for a plant to form a biological "greenhouse" to protect its delicate flowers using some sort of clear, insular material?
In my world, I have a type of plant with a two-stage life cycle. The first stage grows into a structure that functions like a greenhouse that allows in most of the Sun's light but insulates against ...
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Could alkaline digestive system work?
So a human digestive system is generally acidic, especially at the stomach part, when it goes down to even 1.5 pH. Similar things must be happening in other mammals and to an extent, probably in all ...
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What would flora and fauna look in a world with a denser atmosphere? [closed]
Update - Ok to be more specific how would a denser atmosphere affect the terrestrial vegetation in this planet? For starters in Earth we can very broadly say we have 4 types vegetation
Grasses - ...
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How would be society's reactions if scientistis created an hermaphrodite man capable of giving birth? [closed]
If genetic engineered and/or bioengineering was used to create a man with true hermaphroditism( he would also have male gender identity) who could get pregnant on his own by self fertilization or ...
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Feline rider's position: reclining, seated or Prone?
I'm looking at the idea of a large feline as a rideable mount, and I'm running into a question about the rider's posture when riding. Would it be best to have the rider mounted Prone, like on a modern ...
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What parts of the human brain can a truth serum modify to prevent lying?
As I mentioned in a previous question, I am writing an alternate history story with many different countries by the time 2023 rolls around. Vitruvia is one such country that runs many experiments and ...
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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 ...
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Can a device that causes memory loss be created with near-modern technology?
I am creating an alternate history world that leads to modern Earth having many different nations & cultures than it has in real life. One country is big on funding many extreme experiments to ...
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Using our current understanding of science, is it possible for biologically plausible animals to be resistant to our current military weapons?
More of a theoretical idea but the implications can help with a lot of worlds and ideas.
A no is as welcome as a yes. The most detailed answer is the best as usual.
In many stories set in other worlds ...
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How would future humans be able to evolve large heads? [duplicate]
In my story there are future humans that managed to build a time machine and for research purposes decided to travel back in time to change past events from taking place. These future humans have a ...
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How would future humans be able to evolve large heads? [closed]
In my story there are future humans that managed to build a time machine and for research purposes and decided to travel back in time to change past events from taking place. These future humans have ...
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Does spraying oxytocin in the face of a ferocious dragon pacify it?
Instead of a pepper spray I like to adopt a more friendly approach towards hostile animal such as a fridge sized dragon, with an aerosol spray containing oxytocin of course. I think this chemical can ...
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What Could You Learn From Someone Else's Persperation and Exhalation Using Nanites and Smart Sensors?
Several sources suggest that "smart dust" could be used to make observations about someone's health and the environment around you.
Here are some sources that suggest you could make ...
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How bullet resistant would a person be who is 80 times more durable than a regular human?
The tensile, shear and compressive strength of all their tissues, including bone, skin, muscle, etc., is multiplied by a factor of 80. They are also very buff and so have a large body volume.
How ...
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What would different groups of dinosaurs be called if they still lived with humans? [closed]
In my world, dinosaurs live along with humans, so I'm wondering what groups of dinosaurs would be called. I was wanting something unique, but still specific. A pack of velociraptors doesn't sound the ...
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Could a cyborg catch a bullet?
Let's assume you have access to some pretty crazy tech but that you still have to obey the basic rules of biology. If you build your cyborg so that the only remaining squishy bits are the brain and ...
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Can human geniuses be cloned with modern technology?
In my story, there is a private institution called the GenoVate Initiative. The GenoVate Initiative wants to preserve the most exceptional individuals in the human gene pool. People who have ...
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How large does a dragon have to be for a hunter to enter its stomach through its throat?
In a world inhabited by primitive hunter-gatherer humans and dragons, one of the most respected trial by fires is to hunt a dragon by jumping through their mouth and killing it from inside the stomach....
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How long would it take an isolated population to develop into its own ethnicity?
Okay, so I had this idea that there is a group of refugees (a majority of them civilian families) taking cover from an invading force, vanishing into a mountainous region that serves as a natural ...
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Medieval Europe without animals [closed]
I'm working on a setting that in some ways looks like medieval Europe without domestic, or in general agriculturally significant, animals, and I'm trying to figure out what the implications would be.
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How could my organism lose most of its water?
I'm writing a short hard-science story about an organism that loses most of its water much like tardigrades before entering dormancy but this organism is the size of a cat, how could I explain this ...
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Is there any plausible way that my fictional island could be inhabited by animals from African and Indonesian origins?
Okay, now this question is a bit random.
But, I'm planning for a possible book project about a 2019 expedition to an undiscovered island. The island is near the northern tip of the Ninetyeast Ridge ...
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What kind of physique would a Voswuinian Mastiff need to fight a Voswuinian Liguar in the way described?
Before I start, I want to say that this is not a repeat of my previous question. It’s merely a continuation of the topic, with updates to the nature of both fictional animals involved, with a more ...
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How much weight could a sauropod carry or pull?
I can find many sources for mass, but none saying how much any sauropod could carry or pull. Is there a formula for this stuff? Does anyone have a general idea? I want like a range that they could ...
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What are some evolutionary bugs in the human genome that could be ironed out by a god that is essentially intelligent evolution? [closed]
In my setting, humanity's gods are real and benevolent, but not omnipotent. They did not create the human species, but rather showed up early in its evolutionary history (equivalent of 300 kya in our ...
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Are brain augmentations capable of interfering with orgasm?
Implants and/or augmentations in human brain are widely shown in fiction: improving and/or enhancing certain functions of the brain by artificial means can have nearly endless possibilities.
All of ...
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How are custom organs controlled by the brain?
In various sci fi settings you'll often see soldiers that have been modified beyond their baseline human level. Sometimes they are genetically grown this way, but other times they're modified as ...
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Animals with fur that fluoresces under UV, and a star with high UV levels--how dramatic is the affect, and how badly would it mess up camouflage?
I am considering the possibility of giving the creatures on my planet fur with UV-florescent pigments as an extra defense against the high levels of UV radiation from their star, an F3.5V
This planet ...
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Could Aluminum-Based Placoderm-like Tooth Structure Break a Human Skull?
I have a monster in mind, but a major part of its introduction to the story is that I want to have it bite a human soldier's skull clean off. Its teeth are similar in structure to a Placoderm's, but ...
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Family planning for octopus?
I'm trying to layout a scientifically correct evolution path for the octopus to develop intelligence on the post-human Earth. I'd like to know if it's possible for an octopus mom to choose, or use ...
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How to modify the human eye to see into the ultraviolet and infrared bands?
If I'm writing a sci-fi story and I wanted to include humans with modified eyesight that see into the ultraviolet and infrared bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, what would I have to change about ...
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Would a genetically-inserted “memory” be present in all neurons? Or just specific neurons?
So a hypothetical concept I’ve been playing with lately involves the “RNA memory transfer/storage” hypothesis, recently notably demonstrated in slugs a few years back which made a few headlines. The ...
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Could a planet 2 times the mass of earth have floating organisms in its skies
Can a planet 2 times the mass of earth have floating animals in its skys? I watched the netflix documentary series ailen world's and one of the exoplanets atlas was high gravity but was very dense so ...
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What pressures would force most life to possess external stomachs, and how would they avoid losing moisture on an Arid planet?
The zoology of my setting takes place on a mostly dry planet - it's certainly got rainfall, seas, and wetlands in certain ecoregions, and life exists there mostly, but some things still live in more ...
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Anatomically Correct Sea Serpents
This is a submission for the Anatomically Correct Series.
Sea serpents appear in various mythologies. Mesopotamians have Tiamat, Greeks have Hydras,Jews have Leviathan, the Norse have Jormungandr....
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Possible reactions for Artillery Plants?
I am looking for a chemical reaction which can generate a lot of Gas in a short period of time, on the order of seconds, to build up pressure and allow a plant to propel a seed like projectile.
The ...
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How large could a tree theoretically become if its trunk and branches were (heavily) pneumatized?
This question is in relation to speculative biology/evolution: A genre of science fiction and hypothetical branch of science which seeks to explore "what if" questions about life using ...
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Precocial offspring in an obligate carnivore + ambush predator species
So, for an obligate carnivore + ambush predator species, what could necessitate their babies being born precocial?
IRL, big cats' babies are fairly altricial, but I need a reason for them to be the ...
CommunityBot
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How plausible might planimals be, and what would they be like?
This question is in relation to speculative biology/evolution: A genre of science fiction and hypothetical branch of science which seeks to explore "what if" questions about life using ...
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Explosive Plant/Chemotrophs [duplicate]
I'm looking for an autotroph that produces an explosive compound for either reproductive or defensive purposes that an intellegent alien could harvest and domesticate for the purposes of producing ...
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Anatomically Correct Pegasus
This is part of the Anatomically Correct Series. I've been wondering how an anatomically correct pegasus could evolve.
Pegasus characteristics
They are pretty obvious, but just in case:
Horse size ...
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What tissue / organ is most vulnerable to an attack from nanites? [closed]
What tissue / organ is the most vulnerable to an attack by nanites?
Assume the nanites are very primitive -- something would could conceptualize today.
Assume the nanites can communicate via the ...
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Can 'prions' help me avoid a genetic engineering temporal paradox?
On the world of Ruquelis, the horrific practise of cannibalism stands on three legs, however, this question is concerned only with Leg #1: Genetics.
In How to have 'easy' sexual morphs in ...
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How would burn-proof people react to enflamed alcohol?
The Ardeites are a group of humans who are wholly immune to being injured by heat and flame. Furthermore, they cannot feel pain. All other features (including instinctive reactions to extreme ...
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How big would a dog like the one described need to be to survive an attack by the big cat I’ve described?
The Voswuinian Mastiff has a similar build to the English Mastiff. It was bred to protect livestock from predators such as the Voswuinian Liguar. The Liguar has the overall build and musculature of a ...
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Will my Hydra sink into the bog?
Hydras in my world are much like a brontosaurus in form, but has three heads. Much like a hippo, hydras have incredibly dense bones, and sink rapidly in water. Hydras are almost exclusively swamp ...
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How do human girls who are sterilised at age 9 develop as they mature?
On the world of Ruquelis, there are three genders, men, women, and lilim who are a female sex, with wings and clawed feet. Because of the genetics of this situation, lilim are less fertile and can ...
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