Questions tagged [biology]
For questions about living things. Does not exclude aliens, but additional information is usually necessary (consider using "xenobiology" instead).
4,319 questions
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What physical changes to the mouth would cause problems with articulation?
I’m sorry if this is not worded well, this is my first time asking a question.
The (human) character I’m asking about has elongated canines similar to that of classic vampire teeth. It’s important to ...
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What can be improved? [closed]
🧪 EXPERIMENT "Ψ-LIFE"
Creating an Alternative Biosphere Without Carbon, Oxygen, or Water
A Thought Experiment on Emergent Biology in an Anaerobic Ammonia Environment
Observation Author: ...
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Could Coconut Octopuses sustain themselves off of baiting?
In a project I've been working on for a while, sapient Octopuses evolve in the waters of Australia and proceed to affect human history. The way that these sapient octopuses come about is via an ...
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What is a realistic size and population for a predator that eats humans?
I'm trying to build a species that's exclusively carnivorous, and its favored prey is humans. The species is a solitary mammalian ambush predator, probably with a build similar to a big cat such as a ...
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Is this alternative quadrupedal limb arrangement (two side limbs, one forelimb, and one hindlimb) evolutionarily plausible?
Four extremities below the body are the fewest needed to maintain a rectangular platform on any surface while still being decently stable. When they are arranged at the corners of the body like table ...
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If the sun were to be replaced with an equivalent mass neutron star, how long would it take for deep-sea life to be affected?
I'm assuming that total energy input onto the Earth would remain the same, so temperature fluctuations shouldn't be extremely relevant here. I think having the neutron star at 1 solar mass would do ...
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How large could a sea slug-like kaiju be, and what changes might its biology require?
I’m trying to create a creature called the harbor king which is very biologically similar to the sea swallow and nudibranches like it, yet is quite sizable. This is mostly borne of me really liking ...
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Could life on my planet use hydrocarbons and tholins as the base of the food chain instead of plants?
On Earth the basis of nearly all multicellular life in the biosphere is photosynthesis where light is captured and converted into chemical energy. Said energy is then used by other organisms.
However ...
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How would the size of animal life be affected by lower surface tension?
I'm trying to design a world where life uses ammonia as a solvent instead of water.
During my research I discovered that ammonia has surface tension that is only about a third as strong as water.
This ...
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How to maximize the bandwidth when transferring data from humans with perfect control over their body
Let's suppose that there is an entity, that can't be distinguished from ordinary humans, but it has a perfect control over its body.
It might be an alien android, sent to spy on humanity, that has ...
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Waterproofing the saddle of a spinosaurus
My Napoleonic-era fictional world has many kinds of dinosaurs still living, including the Spinosaurus. This is my favourite dinosaur and hence shall be given to the protagonist (and I wholeheartedly ...
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Can I/how do I make it so the people of my world evolved to withstand toxic pollution BUT still be harmed/get sick from over exposure?
In the story I'm trying to write the kingdom runs on steam power but instead of just water I want them to add a fictional chemical that will work better for their purposes (because in this world water ...
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Is there a feasible way to depict a sex transformation as subtle and painless? [closed]
I’m exploring a story where certain humans can change sex naturally within minutes, from apparently fully male to apparently fully female and vice-versa, with complete alteration of primary and ...
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How can I biologically justify a species not being able to do magic easily? [closed]
I'm revisiting an old world I had built for a TTRPG campaign, and I got the urge to mechanically, biologically, chemically and scientifically justify all the things I've placed in the world. One of ...
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Formulae/explanation for length of time for spaghettification to kill given tidal force size/speed/etc
I want to use spaghettification, i.e. tidal forces as form of torture in my world. Assuming in-world I have the tech to pull this off, I need to know the set of parameters that govern the act of ...
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