Obviously, we can't just pack our stuff and move there today. But what if we terraformed it - reshaped it into an Earth's image?
The Top 100
What If Scenarios
Watch the top 100 what if videos from the book
Eight legs, eight eyes, sharp fangs, and bullet-proof webs. They’re hairy, they’re scary, and now, they’re human-sized. As many as 427 million people...
See that strip of stars splashed across the night sky? That’s our home galaxy, the Milky Way. You can see it from Earth because we live on its very outskirts, far...
This is the world 200 million years ago. No cell phones, electricity or even other humans. Would you be able to survive in this new world? Could you get yourself a pet...
Have you ever been curious about Medieval life? Would you travel back in time if you could? Do you think you would enjoy it? How long would you last? Hear ye, hear ye...
Unlike Earth, which is orbiting the Sun, there are billions of rogue planets roaming the Milky Way not bound to any host star. One of them has been spotted on the edge...
Some say life is a roller coaster. What if it was more like this? We don't notice the earth spinning now, so what would life be like if it spun a little faster? Would we...
What advice would you give your younger self if you could travel back in time?
What do saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths and the dodo all have in common? They’re all extinct, and some theorize humans played a large part in this. What if...
You just fell into a pool with this thing. What is this? How would falling in here affect your health? And could you actually survive this? This is a spent nuclear fuel...
What if all the oceans disappeared from the Earth’s surface? What would a world with no high seas look like? What would happen to all the creatures that...
Scroll down to watch our video. You can do anything! Paint a masterpiece in a minute, learn every language in an hour, build a multi-billion dollar company overnight...
Every morning or every night. Before going out. Definitely after the big game. For most people, showering is routine. But for some, it’s religion. But if lots of...
We can build really big things in space. Okay, not that big – yet. But we’ve packed the Earth’s lower orbit with about 5,000 satellites – some...
“Below the thunders of the upper deep, Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, his ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth” That’s right. It’s...
On our hypothetical journey, we’ve already tested out living on a flat Earth, a cubical Earth, even a hollow Earth. What do you say we try to survive on an Earth...
How big is the Sun compared to the Earth? Imagine you were able to shrink the Sun to the size of a basketball. At that point, the Earth would be reduced to the...
About 50 billion rogue planets are roaming the Milky Way with no host star to hold on to, some of them three times bigger than the Earth. They don’t give off any...
What if there are other universes, just like ours? With an infinite number of Earths? With uncountable versions of you? And what if we don’t have to look too far...
Every year, about half a dozen hurricanes reach the United States. With effects ranging from heavy winds and some flooding to the complete decimation of communities...
How long could this sleepless “forever” last? Could you even be productive without recharging every night? When would your friends start telling you to get...
For whatever reason, you are the last human on Earth. So what do you do? Eat like a king? Move into Buckingham Palace? Drive fast? Blow things up? Be naked all the time...
Our lungs might be fine in that short a time frame, but the rest of the planet? Not so much.
The Earth is under attack! And rather than just completely obliterating us, our attackers have decided to simply cut our planet in half. Is this an act of mercy, or the...
How do you distinguish between past, present, and future? Is there really an order to time? Does it only move forward? Does it move in any direction at all? Stop...
Human beings have existed for 300,000 years and have managed to live in many unstable environments. We’ve survived ice ages, devastating pandemics and world wars...
Scroll down to watch the video. We’re talking about a fish that’s much, much smaller than a great white shark, but that’s got a bite about two times...
If Earth had rings like Saturn our sunsets would be an incredible spectacle. It isn't farfetched as the Earth did have rings a very long time ago, the result of a...
[dx_custom_adunit mobile_id=”RTK_v1lP”] Since its formation, the Earth has been revolving west to east on its axis. If one day our planet started rotating in...
[dx_custom_adunit mobile_id=”RTK_v1lP”] Where do you go to quench your thirst? The kitchen sink? The local bar? The mineral rich springs of Bergamo, Italy...
If you ever find yourself falling into a volcano, there are a couple of things you should know. First off, when you reach the bottom, the magma’s not going to...
That star at the center of our Solar System, that superhot ball of plasma that gives us heat and energy, and amazing complexions… well, it’s a ticking time...
So, what exactly is hot ice? Well, it’s simple. It’s made by boiling baking soda, vinegar, and a little bit of water. From that, you get sodium acetate...
In an effort to fight climate change, the Sahara Desert could be going green… literally. Plans are being made to terraform the entire Sahara desert; changing it...
Have you ever heard of Medusa? The snake-haired greek monster who turns people to stone with a single glance? Well, she might just be a myth, but there is an area so...
Located in the United States, one of the world’s largest volcanoes is gearing up to explode. It’s known as the Yellowstone Volcano, and it’s not just...
Some 5 billion years from now, the Sun will expand and become a red giant. And the Earth might be just in the way… If humans were still around then, would we leave...
In six hours, you, your government, and 124 million other people across 14 states will be tested by the greatest disaster to ever hit the U.S. East Coast. A great wave...
Trees are falling, eco-systems are collapsing, and our infrastructure is crumbling. Crops are failing, and water is scarce. Earth is becoming a dead planet. On the plus...
Millions of years ago, the megalodon shark was one of the scariest creatures to ever lurk in our seas. And even before that, the mosasaurs reigned supreme, terrorizing...
It’s dawn, it’s dark, and you don’t what kind of weather is waiting for you outside your tent. It doesn’t matter anyway. In rain, hail, sleet...
What if the Moon suddenly began getting closer to Earth? To the point where it was on a collision course with our planet? Would the Earth survive the crash?
Are we alone in the Universe? With more than 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe and at least 500 billion planets in the Milky Way alone, don’t you...
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...
How much do you know about black holes? What would happen if you fell into one? Say one day you were exploring space looking for a new planet for humans to inhabit, but...
Scroll to the bottom to watch our video. The Earth has been hurtling towards Jupiter for the past 242 days, and now it’s about to make impact. Now we’re so...
The world has approximately 7.7 billion people on it… until now. Half of the world’s population has been snapped out of existence. Instantly.If you happened...
Did you know that a single snake bite can kill an adult elephant in just a few hours? And if you’re not careful, snake venomc can kill you in only 15 minutes. But...
Human history has been full of battles and wars, some big and some small. But if World War 3 were to happen, it might be humanity’s biggest battle yet. Advanced...
After a long day, isn’t it nice to hop into a warm, relaxing bath? You can soak up some suds and spend an hour or so in there. Now, what about spending 167 hours...
Once a revolutionary invention, it's now filling up our oceans and killing thousands of whales, birds, turtles... Just how much plastic do we have around us?
Scroll down to watch the video. Imagine the Mediterranean Sea is disappearing! Old shipwrecks are rearing their ugly heads as the water drains around them, and...
Welcome to your new landfill: a giant ball of burning gas that we call the Sun. With surface temperatures of 5500°C (9,940°F), it could obliterate any type of trash we...
Back in 1846, whaling was one of the most booming industries in the whole world. It was the fifth largest sector in the United States economy, raking in a cool...
This is the most powerful object in the Universe. The biggest spinning magnet to ever exist. It’s the cosmic equivalent of a great white shark. But it...
Movies love quicksand. And why not? It’s exotic, it’s dramatic, and it’s highly exaggerated. Fun fact: it’s impossible to become fully submerged...
How long would it take for the world’s largest rainforest to burn down? If we don’t do anything to stop it, we’ll soon find out. The Amazon rainforest...
Would this be good or bad news?
Scroll to the bottom to watch the video. They’re not the biggest falls on Earth, not by a long shot. But they’re certainly among the most famous. Niagara...
In the time it would take you to order an extra larger everything pizza and have it delivered to your front door you could theoretically jump through that tunnel...
It’s one of the most dangerous and mysterious places on Earth. It’s home to dozens of sunken ships, plane crashes, and dead people. It’s known as the...
30,000 feet, 9,144 meters, 9 kilometers or 5.7 miles – so far, only one person has ever survived a free fall from that height. Would you be as lucky? On January...
Humans have explored the Moon, Mars, and of course, Earth. But what do we know about Jupiter? For the most part, this gas giant is a mystery. So what would happen if you...
Imagine living on the Moon. You’d have the best view of Earth, enjoy bouncing around in zero gravity and living your life as an astronaut explorer. Ah...
There’s something approaching from the distance that you can’t stop. It can completely destroy cities and kill tens of thousands of people. It looks like...
The Earth may not be our home forever. Eventually, we may have to leave. What if instead of finding a potentially habitable exoplanet light-years away, we stayed in our...
They’re the deadliest thing on Earth. They suck your blood and spread disease, killing nearly one million people each year. Are we talking about vampires? Lions...
How will you be treated? When would you be put on a ventilator? And how could you develop a severe course of COVID-19 despite being perfectly healthy?
If the Earth had an edge, I hope it would look like this. The edge of a flat Earth. I know, I know, we’ve talked about it before. But there’s something...
Imagine what it would be like if you could wake up in your New York City apartment at 7:00 a.m., and make it to your job in London, England by 9:30 in the morning. That...
Sharks are the oceans’ primary predators. Eating every fish in their path. But what if you ended up in a pool full of them, and you were the prey? What would...
If time travel is possible, why haven’t we met a single time traveler yet? And if we did meet one, how would we know they weren’t faking it? What would their...
You’ve seen politics and national borders change all the time, but have you ever witnessed a continent literally breaking apart? Well, it’s possible...
Life on Mars might be like this. You’d live in giant glass domes, and grow small portions of food inside. And if you happen to go outside, it would be in your big...
The Arctic might soon become completely ice-free. And when all of the ice is gone, the world won’t be the same. But what if I told you there was a way to prevent...
They’re the largest snakes on Earth, roaming the Amazon. They’ve eaten goats, deer, and even crocodiles. So what would happen if an anaconda tried to eat you...
You’ve seen it growing on your fruit, eating your leftovers, and maybe even hiding in your basement. This is mold. It smells bad, it’s creepy-looking, and...
Millions of years ago, the Earth looked very different. A huge landmass, called Pangea, covered about a third of our planet. But about 175 million years ago, the Earth...
What would happen if you dumped one of the world’s coldest liquids into the boiling, volatile mouth of a volcano? Would it freeze all of the lava inside? Could it...
For 20 years, Russian scientists and engineers drilled deeper and deeper, hoping to uncover whatever mysteries the hole may hold, earning it the ominous nickname of...
If you happened to wander into the Nevada desert and stumbled upon the secret U.S. military base, Area 51, you’d quickly be arrested, killed, or maybe even...
Watch the coronavirus animation short film above and learn how the virus works or read on below. SARS CoV-2 belongs to the family of coronaviruses, named for crownlike...
What would happen if you poured liquid nitrogen all over your car? Or used it to fight a fire? Or even tried to cool down with it on a hot day? Liquid nitrogen may look...
It’s as strong as battery acid and can melt steel. But it lives inside of us and helps digest our food. This is stomach acid. Is stomach acid dangerous? If...
Close calls with whales happen more often than you might expect. And although the people in these videos got away relatively unscathed, there’s no denying that...
