What The If? Podcast
1) CITIZEN Science -- with Kirby Runyon!
Planetary geologist Kirby Runyon from the Planetary Science Institute needs volunteers to map ancient impact melt flows on the moon from their home computers. What the if this went mainstream? Imagine...Show More
2) 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 nap!) However, we couldn't let January 7th pass unn...Show More
3) 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 unstoppable urge that drives salmon to swim upstrea...Show More
4) 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 dead have unfunerals, your room cleans itself, and ...Show More
5) 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 Canada geese. Suddenly those goose droppings don't...Show More
6) 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 shifts from cheerful blue to permanent dusk. And pla...Show More
7) 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 September 5, 2018, and remains one of our all-time au...Show More
8) 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 same mother. But what the if every animal on Earth ...Show More
9) 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 accidentally hand the space race to China is just ...Show More
10) 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 irresistibly delicious that mosquitoes can't help but f...Show More