Look out. There’s an object hurtling toward Earth at the speed of light! And no, it’s not a comet or an asteroid. Yep. It’s a marshmallow. How could a marshmallow ever...
Could there be an even better planet for us than Earth? Scientists are searching for a superhabitable world that wouldn’t just rival Earth, but be a place where life...
With so many varieties in our skin tones, hair colors, and features, the human race is a marvel of evolution. But what if we all decided to preserve our family traits...
THE BEGINNING – 4.5 BILLION YEARS AGO On Mars, this period is known as the Pre-Noachian era. Mars has just formed from dust and gas in the protoplanetary disk...
Get your bone flute and gather around the fire. Today on What If, we’re taking you back to the time of woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats. That’s right...
China invading the U.S. is something that could turn the world on its head. Could the U.S. mobilize in time to respond? Would this be the start of World War III? The...
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...
Mars has long captured the imagination as humanity’s potential next home. The red planet looks inviting from a distance, but the reality is far from hospitable. Even a...
Two billion years ago, Earth was a strange and hostile place. It was an era marked by dramatic climate shifts, dangerous changes in the atmosphere, and the birth of...
Our Solar System is plunging into chaos. Better hang on tight. The planets are getting knocked out of orbit. What could kickstart this epic chain of events? How would...
Falling into a black hole may sound like something from a science fiction movie, but it is a very real phenomenon studied by physicists for decades. Black holes are...
Mountains. They’re born, they grow, they age and erode. And after a very, very long life, they turn to dust. What if all mountains collapsed at once? What are the...
What if one side of the Earth always faced the Sun, while the other side was forever shrouded in darkness? Just how hot would it be on the bright side? And how cold...
Are you looking for a change of scenery? Are you tired of boring old Earth? How would you like a new home away from home? Really far away from home. Like outside our...
This is the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth. It stretches 11km (7 mi) down below sea level. But what if we made it even deeper? Get a giant drill because...
With the world’s population growing every year, we need to find ways to produce more food. So, if we could bring dinosaurs back from the dead, would you eat them...
If you could, would you live on the Moon? Not as one of the courageous early settlers, but as a citizen of a fully-functioning Moon city. What would they be built out of...
The last time the world witnessed a total solar eclipse was in 2017, and its presence delighted enthusiastic sky watchers. But what if, instead of a rare phenomena, a...
What if we told you that within the next 100 years, humans could merge with AI, control the weather, and even bring extinct species back to life? From space exploration...
It’s invisible, deadly and sucking up every bit of matter in its path. The most massive black hole in the known Universe is headed right toward Earth. What would you see...
