Is it a meteor shower? Space debris? No, it’s something much, much worse. Our nearest neighbor is a full Moon no more. The Moon exploded and splintered into...
What if we found the way to drain all the Earth’s oceans through some mysterious portal at the bottom of the Mariana Trench? How long would it take? Years...
What would happen if you flew into a wormhole? Would you ever hear back? Where would you end up? Back in time?Another galaxy? Here’s what would happen if a...
What are the ingredients for an industrial revolution? It’s simple! Take some new energy sources, add a dash of cutting-edge communications technology, and...
Welcome to the longest staring contest of your life. You’re about to go seven days without blinking. What device would keep your eyes forced open? How long would it take...
What if, instead of Trump or Biden becoming the next U.S. President, there was a third-party candidate? And that candidate was Elon Musk? What if Elon Musk became the...
We all know that growing up can come with its aches and pains. But at a certain point, our genes flip the switch, and our bodies stop growing. I know, I know, it’s...
Venus is the second planet from the Sun and our nearest neighbor. At its closest approach, Venus is mere 40 million km (25 million mi) away from us. After just four...
For Todd Orr, an outdoorsman, what started off as a calm morning hike in the Montana mountains soon turned into a struggle for his life; he never anticipated that the...
Something strange is happening beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, and scientists are paying close attention. The Gulf Stream, one of the most important ocean...
So, you think you’re pretty good on that bike, huh? How fast can you go? Have you ever done any cool jumps? We took it upon ourselves to give your bike a bit of an...
Something is happening beneath Antarctica that most people never think about. Under a sheet of ice larger than Europe sits a hidden landscape of mountains, valleys, and...
With so many amazing things happening in the world today, what could possibly go wrong? Well… A giant asteroid is barrelling on a collision course with Earth, and...
You’re swimming in the sea when you feel a long creature brush by you underwater. Suddenly, there’s a sharp pain in your arm. Whatever that thing was, it...
Picture a sewing needle. Small enough to lose in the carpet, light enough that you barely feel it resting in your hand, and completely harmless in every ordinary sense...
You hear a powerful explosion. The cabin fills with smoke, passengers begin to panic, and the aircraft starts losing altitude. The fuel supply is running low, and the...
Deep beneath the ocean surface, where sunlight disappears and strange creatures rule the darkness, a creature exists that looks like something from a legend. Its...
We visit a lot of planets here on WHAT IF, but K2-141b is the most extreme one yet. Are you ready to jump on board this one-way space shuttle? If you’d rather stay...
You’re lost in the jungle without any other humans around. You need to find a new family. Or your new family could find you. What would it be like to be raised by...
About 65 million years ago, a mass extinction event occurred, wiping out more than 75% of all species on Earth. There have only been 5 mass extinctions in our...
