Questions tagged [survival]
For questions about the viability of life in certain conditions. For example, it could be used in questions asking about the possibility of life on a planet or other astronomical body.
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Would there be any mass extinction should the polarity of Earth magnetic field flips at 1 GHz? [closed]
If the polarity of our Earth magnetic field were to flip (oscillate) at around 1 GHz or 1 billion cycles per second, would it spell disaster to fauna and flora that depends on it for navigation like ...
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Will a knight in shining armor survive this zombie filled task?
When all the fuels are consumed, the bullets are all exhausted, it all comes down to melee weapons in terms of surviving a zombie horde. My question is, will a human in a knights armor be the key to ...
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What would be the best dog breed companion for a zombie apocalypse?
First, let's settle the background.
We're in a middle of a virus-induced zombie apocalypse. Infected people don't return from the dead, but have their brain capacities cut to a basic minimum and ...
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Can a person covered in mud survive an ordeal with fire breathing dragon?
In my upcoming novel, my protagonist decided to paint every part of his body in mud before engaging with the fire breathing dragon which dwells at the bottom of a dormant volcano. The flame from the ...
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Is life viable on a split Earth? [duplicate]
After tossing this question in my head for a while, I can't really come up with the best results.
The situation is someone or something has split the earth in half, through the core and has moved the ...
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Humans surviving on surface without Sun
Is it possible for humans to survive on the surface of the Earth, assuming the Sun was, for some reason, not emitting any light/heat/other radiation? Would whether the Sun was actually present affect ...
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What would a Special training school for Agents look like? [closed]
What would a Special training school for Agents look like?
It's a School where Agents have to be trained to survive in every weather condition, where they also learn how to survive in the Wilderness ...
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Reality Check: Is This Habitable Long Term for Humans
Planet: Xibalba (Mayan Hell)
Tidally locked planet around a red dwarf that is very active with solar flares being a daily danger.
The habitable zone around the planet is made up almost entirely of ...
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How would a society isolated by monster attacks get food?
So I've got a medieval fantasy world where humanity has been forced to live exclusively in fortified towns and city states because of attacks by monsters. These monsters are not kaiju level in size so ...
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In a post-apocalyptic world why would the survivors build bases instead of just using the abandoned buildings to live in? [closed]
I'm making a survival game and a question popped up on how would I "in-game-explain" to the player that they can't just board up an abandoned building and call it home, but instead they have to gather ...
user46295
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Is a 100% effective mass extinction possible without destroying the planet?
Say I want a 100% effective mass extinction to take place on a planet similar to Earth. It should kill everything, even bacteria.
It doesn't need to happen overnight. I'm perfectly fine with some ...
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What effects would regular ash fall have on an ecosystem? [closed]
I have a desert world with high tectonic and volcanic activity. To the point where an ashfall is not an uncommon weather pattern. The ash itself would be very fine fertile ash. The ash also has a ...
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What would human survivors eat in a post apocalyptic Nuclear winter?
Let's assume that:
the entire nuclear arsenal available on earth is launched and detonated, completely obliterating civilization but leaving a few humans and animals in very remote areas alive.
this ...
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How Could An Antarctic Society Import Everything They Need For An Average Lifestyle?
My question is such: in a modern town or city in antartica, what would people produce/sell in order to import the other things they do not have yet?
In this hypothetical city, people can get water ...
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Could a giant floating self-supporting city survive a thousand year voyage?
One of the main plots in my world is that a huge ship arrives in a strange group of isles. This ship a gigantic city that completely self-supports itself with farms, houses, gardens, parks, and even ...
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Can humans survive just by eating hairs and nails?
Can humans survive by eating only nails and hairs of their own?
As they grow they consume their own hair and nails. Hair includes even body hair. What is the maximum number days a human can survive ...
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Two countries have a five thousand mile desert between them. How can a city survive there?
In a world that I am building, there are two countries that both are fairly primitive and only have medieval methods of transportation. They have a huge meeting every 100 years. Other than that, they ...
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What would happen if all the machines on Earth were destroyed by an EMP? [closed]
If all machines on planet Earth were destroyed (possibly by an extremely powerful electromagnetic pulse from an alien civilization), how large of a percent of the human population would die out?
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If a civilization could plant only three crops, which ones would cover all nutritional needs?
For example, beans and rice cooperate to make a "complete" protein, providing all of the amino acids the body can't synthesize on its own -- in fact, most traditional dishes that combine legumes and ...
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What would be in a shuttle's survival kit for aliens trapped on a primitive planet?
The scenario: an alien crew has a shuttle landed on Earth in the 1980's. Their main ship is extremely damaged and beyond reach somewhere in the Milky Way. Their shuttle cannot escape Earth's ...
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How would you alert an alien crew that they are in imminent danger? [closed]
The setting: an alien crew has a shuttle landed on Earth in the 1980's. Their main ship is extremely damaged and beyond reach somewhere in the Milky Way. Their shuttle cannot escape Earth's atmosphere....
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How many people can can a self sufficient city, protected by a magical barrier, fit per square mile?
The city of Sanctury has been holding back the volcanic apocalypse for 174 years, and has grown to 60,000 people. The question is, if everything needed for life is grown within the city, how many ...
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Winter Is Coming...To Earth [closed]
Imagine a world that looks suspiciously like Earth. Summer turns to autumn, autumn turns to winter, and winter turns to more winter. The winter endures for several years before summer finally comes ...
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How small can a population be with regard to genetic diversity?
I'm working on creating a species that favours small families for a number of reasons, and have no interest in 'breeding as much as possible'. As a consequence, their population size is small. But how ...
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Environment suit design for ultra-cold temperatures
What would be the design of a near-future extreme-cold environment suit?
Consider a protective suit that is not a space suit because it doesn’t need to augment the pressure felt by the body. It does,...
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How to calculate the probability of survival of a young civilization
In a fictional world a young civilization is struggling for survival.
Round about a century ago, it broke up with the core-society that was just beginning to establish itself on an inhospitable ...
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Is segregation inevitable in my unorthodox prison world? [closed]
I came up with this idea of creating this world, where the worst of the worst of a fantastic non-magical world are sent to this prison "realm" which keeps expanding chamber by chamber.
The story ...
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How to delay the technological development of my sapients, that have transhumans capabilities in a harsh world?
General Backstory:
Humans have advanced enough that they are capable of simulating, entire solar systems that have sapiens life. Earth was destroyed not long after the singularity, because of some ...
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Could natural armor plating protect a creature from radiation?
I was wondering if a creature could use natural armor plating to protect itself from radiation. For some numbers, I would like the creature to survive normally very lethal radiation, 30 Grays, for up ...
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Is there a way for a creature from earth to survive the vacuum of space for ten minutes?
I was wondering if there was a way for a creature to survive the vacuum of space for ten minutes with only a tank of oxygen and a mask to breathe the oxygen with. The creature comes from an Earth-like ...
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How to check for atmosphere behind a door on a damaged spacecraft
First, yes I was inspired by this question: "How do you check if a room behind a door aboard a spaceship has an atmosphere/pressure?"
I wanted to take the scenario further, instead of asking how the ...
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A Completely Self-Sufficient Generation Ship? [closed]
Is it possible for there to be a generation ship that was completely self-sufficient? An airtight vessel that used plants to create food and oxygen, and reused everything with a tight hold on ...
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How can humanity prepare after predicting the dissapearance of the sun? [closed]
Somehow, in 2018 humanity discovers that the sun will vanish in exactly a hundred years time. This event will not cause damage to the various objects of the solar system, the sun will simply implode ...
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Why are escape pods used instead of transporters whenever an alarm sounds to abandon the ship?
An interstellar spaceship carrying a thousand personnel was attacked by a group of space pirates while crossing the nebula. The nearest habitable planet is several light-hours away.
Help will only ...
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Diet for nomadic people climbing a metal structure?
I'm searching for a source of nutrients for a nomadic tribe that climbs a seemingly endless metal tower. They have been climbing for generations and are too high up to see any ground below. The ...
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Surviving on a planet with an eccentric orbit
I have this planet that's 1.8 times the size of Earth on an eccentric orbit around a star that's 0.2 times the size of the sun. Its apses often change due to the influence of a neighboring gas giant.
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Pressure suit design that would allow a low pressure-adapted being to survive on Earth?
I have read questions such as these two about aliens adapted to environments with high atmospheric pressure experiencing negative effects when exposed to Earth's comparatively low atmospheric pressure....
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How long could a race, making recourse of eugenics, survive while trying to keep "pure"
They not only traditionally dispose of most females for believing males are more valuable workers/warriors, but also of any offspring which doesn't look the right way after the first couple of months (...
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Can hydroponics and aquaponics replace traditional agriculture on the village level where soil is eroded?
I'm working on a post-apocalyptic desert scenario in the near future where people live in small, loosely connected communities that trade with each other on a small scale and might have agreements ...
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How long can a typical god last on Earth without using power? [closed]
A god is being voluntarily banished to the mortal realm a.k.a the miserable world of the living, location of your choice. Supernatural powers are forbidden, meaning to say the statistics or luck as ...
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How heavy is a black bear hide and is it feasible to wear? [closed]
One of my characters is stranded in a forest with almost all of of her belongings, and she must travel the 40 kilometers (~25 miles) on foot to reach her destination. She leaves most of her things ...
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Moving stealthily in a hostile enviroment
I'm in the middle of sketching out a new story, settled on a post-apocalyptic version of our present. The main feature of this environment would be blind, mindless, aggressive and contagious versions ...
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Where would wind blow away the smoke from a giant fire?
In a "mountains and valleys" type area, there is a very large fire (say, an acre or two) that generates a lot of smoke. Where would the wind be strong enough and constant enough in this type of ...
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Would medieval fortifications be effective in a zombie apocalyptic world?
Living in Budapest I see almost everyday the Budapest Castle. Being into zombies I often wonder how useful could be a castle of this kind in a world where zombies taken over.
Most, if not all, the ...
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Could 3000 magically controlled insects kill roughly 1000 knights? [closed]
Would a mage with the ability to control roughly 3000 insects at once be able to kill roughly a 1000 knights charging at him with the intention to kill him?
If so, which insects would be suited to do ...
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Would concrete foundations and driveways be useful to a post-catastrophe survival group?
I had some interesting thoughts while walking my dog this morning.
Let's assume there has been some catastrophic event that leaves the world habitable, but kills off a large amount of people (99% of ...
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What would a life be like if humans had to keep moving around a constant path, at a constant rate around the planet? [duplicate]
I have an idea for my world, which involves a population of 200K to 500K people moving around the world all the time, in order to escape a climatic/geographical condition that chases them. There is a ...
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Minimum land to support six person [closed]
What is the minimum land (island) required to support 6 adults (3 male and 3 female) and enough animals for them.
The island is in the middle of ocean.
They have good understanding of health and ...
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How to live underground for 1000 years?
How could humans survive underground for centuries?
People have built multiple underground facilities around the world to prepare for a catastrophe. Just to be careful they overcalculated their ...
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Would humankind be today's dominant species, if all animals turned twice as big 2000 years ago?
Okay, I just asked a question, in which mother nature transformed all animals (or brain containing living beings, if that fits better for you) into a being twice as big in order for them to kill of ...
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