What The If?
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What The If?
Learn how to think like EINSTEIN! Every week we learn science running imaginative thought experiments. Our brilliant guests are some of the world’s greatest science fiction writers, scientists & science communicators. Leap into a journey to answer the most fascinating question in the universe: What...
Episodis Recents
432 episodis
CITIZEN Science!
Planetary geologist Kirby Runyon from the Planetary Science Institute needs volunteers to map ancient impact melt flows on the moon from their home co...
Walking on IO with Robin Andrews! (Encore)
We're taking a break this week while Philip recovers from the 'double-whammy' of flu and COVID boosters. (Science works, but sometimes it makes you na...
BIOLOGICAL New Year's Resolutions!
What the if your New Year's resolution became a biological compulsion you literally could not ignore? Imagine waking up on January 1st with the same u...
Time REVERSAL with Ian Durham!
What the if time suddenly started running backwards? Your breakfast un-eats itself, LEGO sets come pre-assembled, and you get younger every day. The d...
Santa's MEGA Fauna!
Listener Anne of Queens got us thinking about flying reindeer for the holidays. Imagine herds of 1,500-pound mammals migrating through your town like...
Green SUN Apocalypse!
What the if the Sun suddenly turned green? Your pizza now looks like charcoal because all red things go black. Stop signs become invisible. The sky sh...
Dr. Kiki Turns Us Into BIRDS!
Happy Thanksgiving! We're off this week for the holiday, so we're presenting an encore presentation of an episode that was originally broadcast on Sep...
Two BABIES, Two SPECIES!
Scientists just discovered ant queens that give birth to two completely different species - not twins, but actual separate species hatching from the s...
CHINA vs NASA
This week we're trading hypothetical fungi and exploding planets for something scarier: actual government budgets. But don't worry - watching America...
Mosquitoes Fall for FUNGI!
What the if mosquitoes were helpless against the sweet smell of their own doom? Scientists genetically engineered Metarhizium fungus to smell so irres...
FRANKENSTEIN
What the if Frankenstein was real and doctors actually tried stitching corpses together to create new people? Forget dramatic lightning strikes and br...
The BURPING Lake!
What the if all bodies of water on Earth were fizzy like soda? In the real world, Seneca Lake in New York produces mysterious underwater booms called...
Animals Train YOU!
Honey guide birds in Africa respond to culturally distinct human calls and lead hunters to beehives, where humans crack them open and birds feast on t...
AI Viruses
Scientists just used artificial intelligence to design the world's first AI-generated viruses capable of hunting down and killing drug-resistant strai...
MEMORY Maxed Out - with Nikolay Kukushkin!
What the if your brain literally ran out of storage space like a laptop refusing to save one more file? Neuroscientist Nikolay Kukushkin explains how...
Gravity Waves Go WIGGLE
What the if gravitational waves were big enough to see and feel? Instead of measuring distortions smaller than a proton, imagine watching your coffee...
Science ROCKS On MARS!
What the if you found a rock on Mars that might - emphasis on might - show signs of ancient life? NASA's Perseverance rover discovered intriguing leop...
VITALERIUM with Nicholas Casbarro!
Our guest this week is science fiction author Nicholas Casbarro, who brings us a universe-changing concept from his novel Vitalerium - a radioactive s...
Riding GRAVITY FORCE ONE with KIRBY RUNYON
D'oh! We had technical difficulties this week and so we are presenting this encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes.
It a...
SLOW Light Speed!
What the if the speed of light crawled along at walking speed instead of zipping around at 300,000 kilometers per second? Tracey McCallum from Ontario...
Alien PETS!
Matt & Gaby are on assignment this week, so we present an encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes. This one is super fun and comes fro...
Nuclear REACTORS on the Moon!
What the if there was a nuclear reactor on the moon? NASA wants to launch a 100-kilowatt nuclear reactor to the lunar surface before 2030, powerful en...
Don't SWEAT It!
Anne from Queens, a longtime listener and proud sticker-carrying Patreon supporter, inspired this week's episode by asking: what the if humans couldn'...
BIG Telescopes!
What the if we just kept making telescopes bigger and bigger until they're the size of entire planetary orbits? Starting with the new Vera Rubin Obser...
DNA Goes BOLDLY
Apologies for the delay in posting episodes! Holiday and travel got the best of us. But we're back, baby!
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WHAT THE IF...
The Case Of The MISSING Physics!
What the if we could go back to 1930 and experience the reluctant discovery of an entirely new kind of particle? When electrons started bouncing off t...
TOTAL PERSPECTIVE VORTEX
[Matt & Gaby are away this week, so please enjoy this Encore Presentation of one of our most popular episodes.]
What The IF... you could...
Silent SUBMARINE Seas!
What if climate change made submarines completely undetectable? As ocean temperatures rise, thermal layers are disrupting sonar so dramatically that e...
BEFORE The Big BANG
What if the universe was stuck in an eternal cosmic Groundhog Day? Picture traveling backwards through time past the Big Bang only to discover you've...
BADMINTON Bots Go Rogue!
What if teaching robots to play badminton was the beginning of the end? Scientists at ETH Zurich have successfully trained four-legged robots with mec...
Can You BREATHE Like A WHALE? With Vanessa Pirotta!
We're off this week for the Memorial Day Holiday in the US so we present here one of our most popular episodes, a classic IF from August 13, 2021 with...
DNA EDITING Goes Mainstream!
What if gene editing treatments become commonplace? Explore a world where a single DNA letter gets fixed with just three little shots, transforming de...
RESISTANCE Training EXTREME!
What if you could build up a resistance to absolutely anything through repeated exposure? Inspired by the real-life story of Tim Friede, who injected...
Human HATCHING Day!
What if humans and all mammals hatched from eggs? This episode explores a world where expectant parents carry decorated eggs to work, conference table...
SPACE Vacation On Earth!
Experience outer space without leaving Earth's atmosphere! Join planetary geologist and space lifestyle coach Kirby Runyon as he guides us through cos...
DIRE WOLVES Return!
Embark on a mind-bending thought experiment as our intrepid explorers dive deep into the annals of history, imagining how early humans might have unra...
Humanity On All FOURS!
What if humans never stood upright and remained quadrupeds? Our world would transform into a society where everything is built low to the ground. Imag...
PHYSICS Changes Its MIND!
What if the fundamental forces of nature could change with time? Step into a universe where gravity might send you floating to the ceiling one morning...
Microgravity MOVIE Making!
What if filmmakers took their cameras to space? Prepare for a world of zero-G cinematography! From weather-sealed cameras designed to handle unexpecte...
OLYMPICS Of The Solar System! (Encore)
Note from Philip: Matt and Gaby are both on assignment this week, so we proudly present an encore of one of our most popular episodes ever.