What The If?

Latest Episodes:

Don't SWEAT It! Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

Anne from Queens, a longtime listener and proud sticker-carrying Patreon supporter, inspired this week's episode by asking: what the if humans couldn't sweat? Discover a world where everyone walks around panting like dogs with their tongues hanging out, cities install massive water pipeline infrastructure for knee-deep living rooms, and portable misters become as essential as smartphones. From the science of why dogs can't sweat to the physics of evaporative cooling, explore how we'd adapt with everything from swamp coolers to giant handheld fans. Just remember: in this world, breaking a sweat is literally impossible! --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

BIG Telescopes! Jul 25, 2025

Show notes

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 Observatory's 21-foot camera that immediately spotted 2,000 asteroids, explore a world where astronomers drop telescopes throughout Earth's orbit to create a synthetic lens 200 million miles wide. Discover how gravitational lenses could let you see taxi cabs on distant planets, why you'd need to be a billion miles from the Sun to use it as a magnifying glass, and how synthetic aperture telescopes work like having two eyes but separated by the width of solar systems. From spotting individual continents on exoplanets to taking year-long exposure photographs of alien worlds, turns out the universe's ultimate camera might already be built into the fabric of space itself. Based on "Earth's Largest Camera Takes Three Billion Pixel Images of the Night Sky" by Jonathan Corum and Kenneth Chang, published in The New York Times on June 19, 2025: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/19/science/rubin-observatory-camera.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XU8.oT2z.kiE9AZtjeDDr&smid=url-share --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

DNA Goes BOLDLY Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

Apologies for the delay in posting episodes! Holiday and travel got the best of us. But we're back, baby! ---- WHAT THE IF we could trade genes like playing cards? Scientists have discovered that fungi possess "Starship elements" - massive genetic cassettes that jump between species carrying cargo genes for superpowers like heavy metal resistance. These DNA chunks got their Star Trek names because researchers kept seeing Vulcan hand signs in their data when one fungus had the element and another didn't. From Kirk sequences that captain the whole operation to the possibility of stealing radiation resistance from a handshake, explore a world where your genome becomes as swappable as your wardrobe. Discover why OSHA might regulate genetic exchanges, how you could wake up having lost your Kardashian-level beauty overnight, and why shaking hands with Keith Richards could grant immortality. Just don't accidentally trade away your radiation-proofing during a one-night stand. --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

The Case Of The MISSING Physics! Jun 28, 2025

Show notes

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 things with missing momentum, physicist Wolfgang Pauli faced a choice: abandon the fundamental law of conservation of energy or invent something completely invisible to save physics. His solution was the neutrino - a particle so tiny and elusive it took 40 years to actually detect one, but so essential that billions are zipping through your body right now. From billiard ball analogies with microscopic fleas to using these ghostly particles to peek inside the sun, discover how scientists sometimes have to imagine entire new pieces of the universe just to keep their theories from falling apart. Meanwhile, Antarctic balloons are detecting mysterious signals that might be doing the exact same thing all over again. Based on "Strange Signals Detected From Antarctic Ice Seem To Defy The Laws Of Physics" by Ashley Strickland, published on CNN.com https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/20/science/anomalous-signals-antarctica-neutrino-detectors

TOTAL PERSPECTIVE VORTEX Jun 20, 2025

Show notes

[Matt & Gaby are away this week, so please enjoy this Encore Presentation of one of our most popular episodes.] What The IF... you could see the TRUE SCALE of the Universe? We imagine entering the notorious torture device from he dastardly mind of the great Douglas Adams. Tune in to find out how it feels, and bring a BIG EGO and a hunger for fairy cake because this is a mind expanding adventure if you have a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny HUMAN MIND. Don't Panic! ---- Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! --- Want to support the show? Click a rating or add a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com Keep On IFFin', Philip, Matt & Gaby

Silent SUBMARINE Seas! Jun 13, 2025

Show notes

What if climate change made submarines completely undetectable? As ocean temperatures rise, thermal layers are disrupting sonar so dramatically that entire regions become acoustic dead zones where submarines can hide indefinitely. Watch civilization adapt when nuclear subs vanish into warm water pockets, jellyfish swarms clog warship engines, and whale songs get drowned out by thermal chaos. Welcome to a world where jellyfish defeat the entire nuclear navy without even trying. Based on "Submarines are Hard to Detect. Climate Change May Make It Even Harder" by Jacob Judah, published in The New York Times on June 12, 2025. Read it for free with this gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/climate/climate-change-submarines-sonar.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Ok8.ozn_.CJWn28rg1ezR&smid=url-share --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

BEFORE The Big BANG Jun 09, 2025

Show notes

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 looped right back to where you started - like a cosmic snake eating its own tail. Explore the mind-bending possibility that our entire universe repeats itself in endless cycles, where infinite copies of you exist scattered across millions of light years, all having this exact same conversation at different stages of cosmic evolution. Join cosmologist Niayesh Afshordi from the University of Waterloo and Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and science communicator Phil Halper, fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, as they dive into Roger Penrose's controversial time loops and the heated scientific battles between cosmologists who engage in academic warfare. Discover the wild world where the universe literally forgets what's big and what's small, why some scientists think this cyclical cosmos is the answer to everything, while others call it pure fantasy - and why both camps might be having religious wars instead of scientific debates. This episode is based on Afshordi and Halper's new book "Battle of the Big Bang: The New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins" from University of Chicago Press, which explores these cosmic battles and 25 different Big Bang models: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo244963115.html --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

BADMINTON Bots Go Rogue! May 30, 2025

Show notes

What if teaching robots to play badminton was the beginning of the end? Scientists at ETH Zurich have successfully trained four-legged robots with mechanical arms to track shuttlecocks, navigate courts, and execute precise strikes against human players. But once these robots master the art of intercepting flying objects, what's next? Watch civilization unravel as badminton-playing robots evolve from harmless sporting partners to grenade-deflecting military units, eventually leading to wandering herds of sentient apartment buildings roaming the Great Plains while playing eternal badminton matches. From robotic sous chefs who season your cast iron wrong to buildings having midlife crises after the humans disappear, discover why teaching robots sports coordination might be humanity's final folly. Bonus: learn why nobody can fold a fitted sheet except Philip. Based on "Learning coordinated badminton skills for legged manipulators" by Yuntao Ma, Andrei Cramariuc, Farbod Farshidian, and Marco Hutter, published in Science Robotics on 28 May 2025 at https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.adu3922 --- Find out more about Gaby's science fiction short story! Here are the links for the anthology. The physical copy can be ordered here : https://www.neonhemlock.com/books/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention The ebook can be ordered here: https://www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/luminescent-machinations-queer-tales-of-monumental-invention

Can You BREATHE Like A WHALE? With Vanessa Pirotta! May 26, 2025

Show notes

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 the incomparable marine biologist from Australia, Dr. Vanessa Pirotta. Take a deep breath and enjoy this deep dive! ---- WHALES spend their entire lives inside a medium, water, in which they can’t actually breathe. So throughout the day, and the night, they have to swim to the surface to take a breath of that sweet, sweet ocean air… or they die! We humans, and other land lubber mammals like us, are spoiled, just inhale, anytime you want, and… problem solved. But — What The IF humans had to breathe by dunking our head in water? The amazing Dr. Vanessa Pirotta joins us from Sydney, Australia to take us into the wet and wild thought experiment, so we can learn real science! Imagine living the life of the whale, turned on it’s head. What world would we have built if our bodies worked this way? It’s like what if we emerged from the oceans, as we believe life did, but never adapted to breathing outside the water like we used to. Humans with gills? Are we wearing helmets on our head that are filled with water? Do we fill our *buildings* with water? Water the IF! — Dr. Pirotta is a wildlife scientist and a gifted science communicator. Her zoological background has taken her around the world for wildlife research. Vanessa is also a passionate and experienced science communicator who loves making science accessible. Her keen interests cover topics of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, also known as STEAM. Vanessa has represented Australia internationally as the national winner of a world-renowned science communication competition known as FameLab, placing second in the world. Vanessa’s efforts to communicate science has also seen her become a TEDx speaker, speak at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and recognized as one of the top 100 Women of Influence judged by the Australian Financial Review. Learn more about Vanessa! Homepage: https://www.vanessapirotta.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/VanessaPirotta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drvanessapirotta/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrVanessaPirotta YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfIe3r09XA8BviNbVMtag2Q --- Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on whatever podcast app you’re enjoying, including Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com and never miss an episode! Keep On IFFin', Philip & Matt

DNA EDITING Goes Mainstream! May 16, 2025

Show notes

What if gene editing treatments become commonplace? Explore a world where a single DNA letter gets fixed with just three little shots, transforming deadly genetic disorders into manageable conditions. Babies born unable to clear toxic ammonia from their bodies now thrive after a simple genetic correction. Future treatments could target everything from sickle cell anemia to cystic fibrosis with similar precision. Imagine celebrating your bar mitzvah with a shot that cures your ancestral lactose intolerance, or future space travelers editing their genes for better bone density in zero-G. Just one microscopic change – like fixing a computer program's typo – can mean the difference between a short, painful existence and a normal, healthy life. Based on "Baby is Healed with World's First Personalized Gene Editing Treatment" by Gina Colada, published in the New York Times on May 16, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/health/gene-editing-personalized-rare-disorders.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Hk8.SpxN.mMIhoAeQ8hXv&smid=url-share—— Philip will be holding a 90-minute virtual workshop "Introduction to AI for Creative People" with Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area on May 17th. Anyone can join, register at: https://womeninfilmsanfranciscobayarea.wildapricot.org/event-6160839 —— Check out our membership rewards! Visit us at Patreon.com/Whattheif Got an IF of your own? Want to have us consider your idea for a show topic? Send YOUR IF to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com Check out Gaby’s new sci-fi short story in The Map Of Lost Places! https://www.apexbookcompany.com/products/the-map-of-lost-placesKeep On IFFin',Philip, Matt & Gaby

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected