One minute, you’re setting up a new space station orbiting Jupiter. The next, you’re plunging right into the middle of a giant, red cyclone of death. What...
Space tourism is much closer than you may think. The International Space Station will soon retire from its successful run through low Earth orbit. But humanity’s...
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...
Today on What If, we’re going to build the highest bridge on planet Earth. Welcome to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the “Roof of the World.”It’s home to the world’s...
We might not be alone in the Universe. Scientists from all over the world have their eyes and ears wide open trying to detect signals of life beyond our planet. But...
Things are getting hotter and hotter here on Earth, and global warming has everyone panicking. But let us try a wild idea: what if we took every drop of Earth’s water...
The icy moon of Jupiter. A world so frigid that its surface temperatures would instantly turn you into an astronaut popsicle. Its atmosphere is almost non existent, and...
A huge gas giant suddenly appears in the sky. You look up in wonder. It’s beautiful. The second Saturn replaces our Moon in its orbit, Earth would just as suddenly...
Right now, wherever you are, you are spinning with our planet at hundreds of meters per second. But what if our planet started hitting the brakes until our world didn’t...
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...
It’s about to get Old Testament here. What if the creepiest, crawliest, most catastrophic member of the Plagues of Egypt made an unexpected housecall? And decided your...
In a matter of days, a nearby volcano will erupt, spewing debris and lava, and decimating your city. You know that fighting fire with fire usually makes things worse...
How cool would it be to see a real life T-Rex? If only that one fatal asteroid never hit Earth.
The Sun’s core is shrinking. But as its core shrinks, the Sun itself grows larger. And it will continue to grow, until one day, it engulfs the Earth. How long can you...
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...
Welcome to Jurassic World. In real life. Let’s bring back some of the most dangerous creatures to ever roam the Earth. What could go wrong? Right? How would we be able...
In 1044, the Chinese invented gunpowder. And we’ve been getting into trouble ever since. Fireworks are cool, nuclear warfare is not. And nuking the moon...
If you traveled 10,000 years into the future, what would planet Earth look like? Would most of its surface be covered in volcanoes? Or would it be frozen in ice? What if...
Imagine for a moment that Earth suddenly shrank to the size of the Moon, while the Moon expanded to the size of Earth. How would life on our planet change? Could humans...
What if Jupiter’s 79 moons weren’t gravitationally bound to Jupiter? What if they became rogue objects orbiting on their own paths around the Sun? Would they still be...
