In order for Jupiter to crash into the Sun, something truly extraordinary would need to happen. Its orbit would need to be drastically altered by a gravitational...
Imagine a time of scientific and mathematical innovation, magic, and fertile land irrigated by the great Nile River. Ancient Egypt was a successful and intelligent...
You wake up in January 2027. Nothing feels wrong. No alerts. No breaking news screaming at you. Just another year starting like all the others. But underneath the...
Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: Discover how losing thousands of satellites could instantly shut down GPS, internet, banking systems, and...
Food is scarce. Money is worthless. Riots are everywhere. The world is in chaos. This isn’t our past. It’s our future. Humans and bees have a bit of a love...
Objects seemingly move by themselves, reflections are missing when you pass by mirrors. But don’t worry, this isn’t a horror story. It’s just the future. And...
It’s been 100 Earth years since you settled on Mars. You’ve been through pain, loneliness and a lot of hard work. And now Mars is the new promised land everyone...
If you got into a spaceship, and traveled long enough and fast enough, could you eventually loop back to where you started? Assuming you don’t accidentally collide...
Asteroids are rocky leftovers from the early formation of our planetary neighborhood. And of the over one million that we know of, most orbit the Sun in the asteroid...
There is a reason people say you should never travel alone in the Amazon rainforest. As you go deeper into the jungle, the feeling of being watched becomes impossible to...
What if everyone on the planet said "no" to their gas-powered cars right now? And not just cars - gas dryers, water heaters, gas stoves, lawn mowers... What if we...
Most caves are dark, quiet places filled with rock formations and underground tunnels. But hidden beneath the jungles of Vietnam is a cave so enormous that it contains...
Trees have been standing silently beside us for thousands of years. They have witnessed changing climates, the rise and fall of civilizations, and countless generations...
Mars is usually a safe 225 million kilometers away from Earth, but what if the red planet went off course and headed straight toward us? This nightmare scenario would...
Everyone has a moment they wish they could erase. Maybe it was an embarrassing decision, a missed opportunity, or a life changing mistake. The idea of turning back time...
No more vast, barren deserts. Because we are going to turn them all into lush, green farmlands. How would we go about bringing new life to hot deserts? How much would...
What if you found out that you had a long-lost relative? And what if that long-lost relative was from a different planet in our galaxy? And what if this faraway planet...
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...
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...
Over the past century, astronomers have speculated about the existence of a mysterious 9th planet lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system. Although we’ve...
