Every Wednesday, we’re asking a what-if question – how would our world be different if something were changed? Today’s question is from QSFer Julie Garrett: What if the Earth didn’t have an axial tilt? Share your serious scientific analyses, your off-color jokes, and random thoughts on the topic on our FB and MeWe Groups: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Every Wednesday, we’re asking a what-if question – how would our world be different if something were changed? Today’s question is from QSFer Jeff Baker: What if the sea level rose 100 feet in a short period of time? Share your serious scientific analyses, your off-color jokes, and random thoughts on the topic on our FB and MeWe Groups: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Every Wednesday, we’re asking a what-if question – how would our world be different if something were changed? Today’s question is from QSFer SI Clarke: What if alien sex and/or gender look nothing like we’ve come to expect on Earth? How would that affect human-alien interactions? How we see ourselves? Share your serious scientific analyses, your off-color jokes, and random thoughts on the topic on our FB and MeWe Groups: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Every Wednesday, we’re asking a what-if question – how would our world be different if something were changed? Today’s question is from QSFer Julie Garrett: What if something killed off all the grass species in the world? Share your serious scientific analyses, your off-color jokes, and random thoughts on the topic on our FB and MeWe Groups: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Time for a new feature here on QSF. What If Wednesday. From Janet Gershen-Siegel: Let’s explore how things might be different if… What if 14 was suddenly the upper limit for human aging? Ground rules: Accept the premise. No griping that “it couldn’t happen” Share your thoughts on how it would change the world/society. Respond (kindly) to the thoughts of others FB Chat: http://bit.ly/1MvPABVMeWe ChatWhat: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
Earth — the blue marble — is our spherical home. But what if Earth were flat? After all, some people truly believe in this retrograde idea. How would everyday life function? Would it function at all? We explore how much of an oddball, or “oddslice” Earth would be if it were flat and whether there are any advantages to living on a strange disk with the sun and moon rotating overhead like a cosmic carousel. Say goodbye to gravity (at least as we know it) On spherical Earth, gravity tugs equally on objects no matter where in the world they … Read more
Earth is steadily spinning like a top, even if we can’t see, touch, hear or feel it. So, what would happen if Earth were to abruptly stop rotating? If the spinning were to stop, the angular momentum of every object on Earthwould rip the surface apart, resulting in a really, really bad day. “This is just a thought experiment,” said James Zimbelman, senior geologist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. “There is no natural force that would stop the Earth from spinning. That is part of why the planet has been spinning since it formed, … Read more
In the 2003 Jim Carrey movie “Bruce Almighty,” Carrey’s character suddenly acquires God-like powers, and uses those powers to lasso the full moon and pull it closer to Earth to woo his beloved. Later in the movie, background shots show TV news reports about massive, unprecedented flooding around the world. While the film is obviously fantastical, it does raise a question: What would happen if the moon were twice as close to Earth than it is today? In fact, the flooding scenario from the movie isn’t far from what might actually happen if the moon were suddenly much closer to … Read more
Earth is the only planet traveling within its nearly circular orbit around the sun. But what if Earth shared its orbit with another planet? One of the most unusual ways in which two planets might “co-orbit,” or share the same zone around their star, are so-called horseshoe orbits. Instead of both worlds moving in a circle around a star, each would move along the edge of their own somewhat horseshoe-shaped track, with these crescents facing each other like two halves of a broken ring. “I think horseshoe orbits are among the most exciting configurations for other Earths,” astrophysicist Sean Raymond … Read more