See that strip of stars splashed across the night sky? That’s our home galaxy, the Milky Way. You can see it from Earth because we live on its very outskirts, far...
Black holes are dark, matter-devouring balls of gravity. Most of them are so far away that we don’t need to worry about them. But not this one. Meet Gaia BH1. This...
Back in 1846, whaling was one of the most booming industries in the whole world. It was the fifth largest sector in the United States economy, raking in a cool...
When it comes to the question of which planet humanity could one day call home, the obvious choice might seem to be Mars. But surprisingly, Venus might actually be a...
It’s been 100 Earth years since you settled on Mars. You’ve been through pain, loneliness and a lot of hard work. And now Mars is the new promised land everyone...
[dx_custom_adunit mobile_id=”RTK_v1lP”] Not too far from Earth is a giant space rock that has silently played host to just twelve people in its entire...
A volcano is one of the most unforgiving natural phenomenons on Earth. If you were to fall into its magma-filled center, your body would quickly bubble up, and disappear...
What if instead of shining brightly for another 5 billion years, the only star in our Solar System turned into a dark and cold remnant? A black dwarf. How long...
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...
Black holes aren’t exactly a popular vacation destination. They feed on anything and everything that comes into their vicinity. They are dense, and unpredictably...
[dx_custom_adunit mobile_id=”RTK_v1lP”] There are sunsets on other planets even more spectacular than the ones on Earth. What if we could see not just one...
Have you ever felt a surge of adrenaline when you stomped on a bug? Well, imagine how this guy is about to feel. Call the army, heck, call your mom, because the end is...
The tallest man to ever walk the Earth was 2.72 m (8’9″) tall, and he quickly became an international sensation. So can you imagine what life would be like...
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...
With Earth’s geopolitical tensions on the rise, the possibility of a global conflict is becoming more than just a distant threat. But in the modern era, a future world...
What if we weren’t the dominant species on this planet? What if we had to compete with every other species on Earth? We are outnumbered. We are surrounded. And our...
In 2010 an astronaut on the ISS observed a bizarre phenomenon. When he glanced out the window, he saw the Moon looked flattened when it appeared in the thickest part of...
Spanning more than 66 million years, the Cenozoic Era shaped the world we live in today. From the rise of mammals to the emergence of modern humans, this era tells a...
Legend has it that somewhere beyond Neptune and Pluto, there is a ninth planet, with a mass that is five times greater than Earth’s. Planet Nine, also known by its...
Sulfur hexafluoride, now that’s a mouthful. It sure is! It’s more commonly known as SF6 or deep voice gas because, well, it makes your voice deeper! But...
