Recent content by drcathyc

Hi! I'm a science fiction writer and need to know if a body would decay in a microbe-free environment. I have a killer running loose on a space station (far future). He kills and leaves a body in a secluded area. After a couple months, would the body have decayed? To what extent? Thanks for the...

thanks so much. That's exactly what I was looking for.

I am a science fiction writer and got to thinking about how we determine if a being is male or female. Of course, I understand our biology of eggs and sperm, but just what makes a cell either an egg or sperm?

Okay, it's a space opera with a team of Special Forces guys. They're investigating this space station and are sneaking aboard. They're going to use a maintenance hatch. The working title is "Orders". When (notice the confidence!) it get's published, I'll be sure to post a message to this...

Thanks, Lurch. I think this will give me what I need to make sense and give the reader a sense of being there. I do like your idea for increasing the drama, but probably won't use it here. Perhaps another story.

Okay, I understand about having him go for the poles, but that isn't how I've set this up. I would assume that it would be better for him to attach to the station close in. Would that be the best idea given an approach from the side? How would he experience the centrifugal force? I'm assuming...

Okay, I'll have to deal with that. Now,what will he experience when the grapple attaches to the side of the spinning space station?

The station is spinning around it's longitudinal axis. The grapple used does have a line, so could be attached away from the station, the character essentially reeling himself to the station. Hollywood is less demanding on getting the science right than are good, major publishers! Cathy

Hi all, I'm a science fiction writer working on a scene in which a character in EVA, approaching a cylindrical, spinning space station. He fires a grapple and attaches to the side of the station. What would he experience? Is this so unrealistic that no editor would ever buy the story...

Thanks for the help here. I was pretty certain the other person was wrong in what she said (in regard to a story I had written), but I wanted to make sure.

[SOLVED] explosives in a vacuum Someone recently told me that explosives wouldn't work in a hard vacuum, that oxygen is required. Is this true? I know fire requires oxygen, but wouldn't there be some chemical reactions that don't require oxygen that can cause an explosive release of energy...

Thanks for the suggestions and reminders. I have started in several cases with the environments and worked from there. One species evolved on a rather colder world than ours. So they are on the average only about 1.5 meters tall. They have a lot of subcutaneous fat. Watching the series "Planet...

I hope you're not asking this because you are anorexic.

Thanks. In addition to being a psychologist, I'm a science fiction writer and in developing "alien" species, I need to have a good understanding of the adaptive benefits of various biological features. If anyone knows of a good reference, please let me know. I really do appreciate it.

I've noticed that most animals have irises that fill the entire eye,but humans do not. Does anyone have an explanation for this? Does our sclera provide us something unique? What's the adaptive function one way or the other? This question has been bugging me for weeks. Thanks