You reach out to pet a horse when it suddenly snaps at your arm. Startled, you step back. The horse rears up. If it comes down on you, the injuries can be serious. One...
Prehistoric Australia was not the warm, sunlit continent we know today. Between roughly 126,000 and 12,000 years ago, during the late Pleistocene, it was a place where...
As thrill-seekers, we like to do a lot of extreme, gravity-defying stunts to push our limits. If base jumping or caving is your thing, how about taking a tumble all the...
Animal testing remains one of the most controversial parts of modern science. Every year, millions of animals are used in experiments designed to develop medicines, test...
It begins with a single speech. Newly inaugurated for a second term, Donald Trump steps in front of cameras at the White House and announces sweeping economic measures:...
MSN New, Humanity
4 Volunteers Went 10 Days Without Salt in the 1930s, and They Were Too Tired to Eat
In the 1930s, Dr. Robert McCance of Cambridge University’s Department of Experimental Medicine convinced four people to give up salt completely for ten days. He...
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 a scenario where the Moon, our constant companion in the night sky, begins a deadly trajectory toward Earth. The consequences would be catastrophic, reshaping...
Stars with a much larger mass than our Sun burn out after just a few million years; in a gigantic explosion known as a supernova. Moving at the speed of light, millions...
Have you ever been curious about Medieval life? Would you travel back in time if you could? Do you think you would enjoy it? How long would you last? Hear ye, hear ye...
Picture a food so despised that serving it too often was considered cruel. A food shoveled onto the plates of prisoners and servants because nobody else would touch it...
Millions of years ago, the Earth looked very different. A huge landmass, called Pangea, covered about a third of our planet. But about 175 million years ago, the Earth...
If the Earth had an edge, I hope it would look like this. The edge of a flat Earth. I know, I know, we’ve talked about it before. But there’s something...
Throughout human history, there have been rare moments when a single person stood between disaster and survival. These individuals were not superheroes or fictional...
Tired of living on an overpopulated Earth? Why not move to the O’Neill Cylinder? An artificial state-of-the-art space habitat where we can control everything...
Imagine waking up to headlines announcing that one of the largest mammals to ever roam the Americas has returned. After disappearing thousands of years ago, the giant...
This would be the journey of a lifetime, if you don’t mind riding through molten rock and crushing pressure. What would you see along the way? How long...
This metal can exist in all three states as a liquid, a vapor and a solid. And this toxic substance might be lurking inside you already. So what would happen if you...
What if there was another version of you? Somewhere out there in the Universe. A you that could be anything. Imagine a version of you where you’re the Batman. Or...
Is it a meteor shower? Space debris? No, it’s something much, much worse. Our nearest neighbor is a full Moon no more. The Moon exploded and splintered into...
