More than 55 million years ago, a giant predator ruled the swamps of ancient South America. Titanoboa was the largest snake ever discovered, reaching lengths of around...
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...
Mount Hua, China This hike leads to the South Peak of Huashan, one of the Five Great Mountains of China. Its summit stands at about 2,155 m (7,100 ft), and the infamous...
For more than four decades, scientists believed it was gone forever. No sightings. No evidence. No surviving populations. An entire species appeared to have vanished...
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...
Humanity has only just begun to scratch the surface of its potential, yet some scientific theories suggest we could one day evolve into something almost unrecognizable...
The Moon’s surface is covered in ancient scars, from asteroid impacts to long extinct volcanic activity. From a distance it looks quiet and empty, but beneath that dusty...
You are sitting in a small boat in the middle of a quiet lake, fishing line stretched into the water. Everything feels calm. Then something changes. The air shifts. Your...
Do you get a little nervous before a flight? If you do, you’re not alone. Between 33% and 40% of people feel some form of anxiety when they board a plane. While a giant...
Picture getting into your car and setting off on a journey that circles the entire planet without ever leaving a single highway. It sounds like science fiction, but what...
635 light-years from where you are sitting, way out in outer space, lies a planet. The first planet to be discovered inside the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. Its...
You know that feeling when you try to do a good thing and then accidentally scorch the entire planet? Yeah, the future can be terrifying. Lasers. Artificial intelligence...
This blue, marble-like planet looks just like Earth. But only five seconds on this hostile death-orb would kill you. Welcome to HD 189733b. This planet is enormous. Even...
Sharks are the oceans’ primary predators. Eating every fish in their path. But what if you ended up in a pool full of them, and you were the prey? What would...
At first glance, it looks like something straight out of a horror movie. Pale, translucent, and equipped with eerie glowing eyes, the ghost shark is one of the strangest...
Ladders have been part of human life for thousands of years. Ancient cave paintings dating back around 10,000 years even show people using ladders to reach higher places...
The world often looks to powerful nations to stop conflicts, negotiate peace, and restore stability. But when it comes to a major war involving Iran, China’s role may...
Swipe Down for Full Video Story We’ve thrown a lot of disasters at Earth over the years: from asteroids and aliens, to the Sun’s death. But hey, the Universe is a...
Point a light at it and the light does not come back. Almost none of it, anyway. The skin of this fish absorbs up to 99.5 percent of everything that touches it, which...
It’s the terrorizing stuff of an anxiety-riddled movie plot. A house break-in can be very traumatic, and leave you feeling vulnerable. It can even threaten your...
