Every morning or every night. Before going out. Definitely after the big game. For most people, showering is routine. But for some, it’s religion. But if lots of showering makes you feel divine, your body might be the real miracle worker. The average human spends more than a year of […]
What if we told you that supernovas aren’t the brightest events in the Universe? Gamma-ray bursts are. They shine hundreds of times brighter and only last for several minutes at most. But even a second would be enough for them to mess up all complex life on the planet. Watch […]
You’ve seen it growing on your fruit, eating your leftovers, and maybe even hiding in your basement. Mold smells bad, it’s creepy-looking, and even if you don’t know much about it, you probably know enough to keep it as far away from your mouth as possible. But what would happen […]
Watch the discussion episode on this topic featuring world-renowned astrobiologist and President of METI (Messaging Extra-Terrestrial Life) Douglas Vakoch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fAgihenxcU Do you ever feel like you’re being watched? Not by a creepy stalker, but by aliens. Yup, it might be happening. Just like we watch animals at the zoo, aliens […]
Imagine an entire network of flying cars zooming around 2,000 meters (6,561 feet) above our congested city streets. Your morning commute would be a lot different up there: you could travel at higher speeds and you could reach almost any remote destination. But what kinds of laws would we have […]
Neutron stars are massive gravitational monsters, and orbiting one wouldn’t end up well for our planet. But what if we took just a spoonful of it and transported it to Earth? Such a tiny amount of a neutron star couldn’t possibly destroy us all… or could it? When a star […]
Did you know that a single snake bite can kill an adult elephant in just a few hours? And if you’re not careful, snake venom can kill you in only 15 minutes. But that’s from a venomous bite. What if the venom was already collected and you took a swim […]
Take some cosmic dust and gas, then add billions and billions of planets and a whole lot of stars to the mix. Spice it all up with a handful of gravity to hold things together, and you get a galaxy. Shaken, not stirred. Some of those ingredients would get clumped […]
Is surfing a tsunami even possible? And have people done this before? Thanks, Audible! Start listening with a 30-day trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals are free when you go to http://audible.com/whatif or text whatif to 500-500 The biggest wave that someone has surfed on was 24.4 […]
The Earth might not be here forever. A huge solar flare, an asteroid impact, or a local gamma-ray burst — anything could wipe us out for good. If we’re looking for someplace to escape to, there is one planet in our Solar System that is somewhat similar to Earth, though […]
