Gravity, in the literal sense, keeps everyone (and everything) on Earth grounded. It acts as the anchor that prevents objects from floating skyward. For humans...
Spiders are prolific. There are 45,000 species of spiders that we currently know of, and scientists estimate that there are twice that amount we haven’t discovered...
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...
Imagine an ultimate road trip across the globe. On a highway along the equator. Wait, there is no highway along the equator… yet. So how about we build one? What...
Are you religious? If you are, a huge part of your life is probably shaped by your beliefs and religious community. If you’re not, you might stare with bewilderment at...
What would it actually be like if every particle in your body converted into a dark matter particle? And how long could you last in that state? Everything that we can...
40 km (25 mi) off the coast of Brazil lies an island so dangerous it’s illegal to visit. But rules don’t apply to you. You’re a thrill-seeking...
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...
On average, over 8000 people die each year in the U.S. because they can’t get an organ transplant. What if we could actually rebuild our failing organs? That...
How many sea animals would face extinction? Could the corals rebuild themselves from scratch? How would this massive die-off affect humanity? Corals are not rocks. They...
In the center of our Solar System, there is a ticking bomb. And when it explodes, it will end all life on Earth. That ticking bomb is our Sun. Like all the stars in the...
In the western Pacific, the Mariana Trench isn’t the most popular travel spot. It’s frigid and bone-crushingly deep, not something you pick for your vacation...
Imagine this a black hole, one of the universe’s most extreme objects, is hurtling straight toward Earth. Rather than waiting to be swallowed, humanity decides to fight...
Jupiter is a massive, terrifying planet. Despite being studied for centuries and even visited by nine space probes in the last 50 years, the undisputed king of the Solar...
Scientists theorize that many millions of years ago, Mars had rings, just like Saturn. And it looks like the red planet could be due for a new set of rings in the future...
Every year, around 140 million babies are born worldwide. And if we continue at this pace, 50 years from now the global population will reach 10.5 billion people. The...
Don’t Miss the Full Video Story Below Something enormous is on its way to our cosmic neighborhood. The Milky Way, along with our closest major neighbor the Andromeda...
39 light years from Earth, the TRAPPIST 1 system hides one of the most extraordinary planetary families ever discovered. Around a faint red dwarf star, seven Earth sized...
You and your family wake up to an emergency broadcast: “The United States is now in a state of emergency. Riots erupt, statues are torn down, and the government...
A dark, mysterious object has appeared at the outer edges of our Solar System. It looks like the remnants of a dying star. But it behaves like a black hole. Your mission...
