As our biggest planet, Jupiter’s immense presence helps to hold our solar system together. Its massive size and gravitational pull give it a dense atmosphere, a...
Flooding, devastation, and disease. What could all these awful things have in common? Rain. And lots of it. We’re not talking April showers here. So, imagine a...
We think of space as an icy void, where temperatures drop to hundreds of degrees below zero and astronauts need layers of thermal protection just to survive. But what if...
Rabies is one of the most terrifying diseases on Earth. A single bite from an infected animal can begin a deadly race against time. Once the virus reaches the brain...
Jupiter is old. Like 4.5 billion years old. It started as a swirling disk of gas and dust that formed into a pretty big planetary core. With time, Jupiter’s core...
You’d love to have that healthy, sun-kissed tan all year round. But too much sun and you could get a nasty sunburn or even skin cancer. Spray tanning sounds like a way...
Even if you weren’t 1.5 billion km (900 million mi) away from Earth, starting a community is extremely hard. Luckily for you, we’re here to help you work out the kinks...
Imagine drifting toward Saturn with nothing but a viewport between you and open space. At first, the planet seems almost peaceful, a soft golden globe wrapped in thin...
The Big One. Those three words make locals along the West Coast of North America shudder with fear. This area is plagued by earthquakes. But hey, at least they are ready...
People on Earth talk a lot about colonizing Mars. But What If it had already happened and the first humans had already settled down on the Red Planet?
The recipe for a star is shockingly simple. Take hydrogen, add mass, and wait for the crush of gravity to ignite the fire. Jupiter has the hydrogen. Jupiter has enormous...
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...
Sandworms are gross-looking little things. Maybe a little bit cute. I almost feel bad using them as bait. What if instead of us hunting them, they were able to hunt us...
The Sun produces more energy in a single second than humanity has used throughout its entire history. Every day, it releases an unimaginable amount of power, but most of...
Your body is shaking and you’re feeling nauseous. There’s a sharp pain in your chest, and with each passing moment, it gets harder and harder to breathe. And...
Out of all the planets in the Universe, Earth is clearly the best for life, right? Wrong. Earth may be great, but scientists have discovered a few worlds that could be...
There is a place in our Solar System where stepping outside without a suit kills you twice in the same instant. Your blood starts boiling while your skin starts freezing...
The peaceful sound of water flowing through a frozen landscape may seem harmless. But in the Arctic, that sound can represent something much more serious. It is a sign...
Billions of years from now, the Sun will enter the final stage of its life. It will swell into a massive red giant before eventually shrinking into a stellar remnant...
You’re driving your car on the highway, when you see something in the sky. Minutes later, you find yourself in a violent storm. Hail the size of a softball, and...
