Skyscrapers that once pierced the night sky now stand as monoliths of darkness. Streets that buzzed with life are frozen in eerie silence. Cars stall in mid-traffic...
In the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator, there’s a growing, “floating island” of trash that’s twice the size of Texas, and three times the...
What does wealth look like to you? Is it a hundred dollars? A thousand dollars? A million dollars? We can always go higher. But how much is too much? In today’s...
[dx_custom_adunit mobile_id=”RTK_v1lP”] Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse. Unlike in the movie, you don’t have to say it three times to make it...
Today on What If, we’re taking Jupiter’s deadly gases and unleashing them on Earth. Where could you be safe from these toxic winds? How would you breathe...
Before we take the plunge, we could better take a look at what Lake Natron is made of. Much like the Dead Sea, this lake in Tanzania doesn’t run off into any...
It was an image that defined an era of space exploration. In 1969, an estimated 600 million people watched from their living rooms as Apollo 11’s Eagle lander...
With every rocket we launch into the Earth’s orbit, we’re trapping ourselves on our own planet. Wait, how could sending rockets into space put an end to...
Children of the night, what music they make. That’s right, we’re talking about the nocturnal flying mammals, bats. Besides being a source of Halloween inspiration, the...
Imagine a time of scientific and mathematical innovation, magic, and fertile land irrigated by the great Nile River. Ancient Egypt was a successful and intelligent...
When you think of dinosaurs, images of giant, scaly reptiles like the Tyrannosaurus Rex probably come to mind. Movies, textbooks, and popular culture have shaped our...
If Earth had rings like Saturn our sunsets would be an incredible spectacle. It isn't farfetched as the Earth did have rings a very long time ago, the result of a...
You’d better mind your waste because it’s not piling up in landfills anymore. Today, we’re going to dump it all straight into the oceans. How much trash would that...
What if humanity could no longer live on Earth? Perhaps a catastrophic event forced us to find a new home among the stars. Mars often comes to mind as a close option but...
Most caves are dark, quiet places filled with rock formations and underground tunnels. But hidden beneath the jungles of Vietnam is a cave so enormous that it contains...
Everything you’ve ever stood on, every rock, every continent, every grain of sand, may have been manufactured in a single cosmic trap hiding behind the biggest...
Ever feel like the Earth is just too small? Well, let’s make it bigger. Much, much bigger. Welcome to a new Earth that is just as big as Jupiter. In what ways would the...
The Earth is under attack! And rather than just completely obliterating us, our attackers have decided to simply cut our planet in half. Is this an act of mercy, or the...
A knock comes at your door in the middle of the night. Your neighbors are gathered outside. Someone points a finger and makes an accusation that will change your life...
What if a single decision shattered the world’s most powerful alliance overnight? Built on real-world data and analyzed through AI, this explores a worst-case chain...
