What the IF... Big ol' NASA asked little ol' YOU for HELP? Could you do it? What would you do? This week: a special report from Philip after his two adventures volunteering on behalf of the famous American space agency. First, at the Kennedy Space Center where he was invited to participate in the #NASAsocial program, providing social media outreach by sharing his incredible experiences BEHIND THE SCENES of the SpaceX #CrewDragon Demo-1 mission. #NasaSocial #CrewDragon Then, in Washington, DC, pa...
Mar 19, 2019•47 min
Maya and Zoe are TWINS, and that's only the beginning of what makes them exceptionally qualified to take us to a planet where EVERYONE shares the same... FACE. Would this world be your personal Heaven... or Hell? It depends on how you look, and how everyone looks at you! From the vivid imagination of two very eloquent and insightful sisters... It just might just be the best planet ever created. Join us for a super duper, totally amazing IF, times TWO! Share your love of the show REVIEW: itunes.a...
Mar 11, 2019•58 min
LIZARDS are cold blooded creatures. What the IF... YOU were too? Don't miss An IF SUBSCRIBE: linktr.ee/whattheifshow Share your love of the show REVIEW: itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 Thanks and Keep On IFFin'! -- Philip & Matt
Feb 26, 2019•48 min
The amazing science educator and cetacean researcher, DR. VANESSA PIROTTA joins us again from Sydney, Australia and takes on the BIGGEST IF yet: What if WHALES decided to RETURN TO LAND? How would their bodies need to adapt? How would they communicate? What would they eat? Would they eat us? Could we ride them? And we also ponder the MYSTERY OF DOLPHIN HAPPINESS. Why so happy, dolphins? What's the secret? Or is it all a facade...? Let's follow Dr. Pirotta as she leads our expedition to the CETAC...
Feb 19, 2019•52 min
We celebrate the LUNAR NEW YEAR and VALENTINE'S DAY by learning all the ways Earth would be a real loser without it's heavenly partner... the MOON! Don't miss an IF! Subscribe: linktr.ee/whattheifshow Share your love of the IF! Drop us a review: itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1
Feb 12, 2019•44 min
The HAGFISH, little known, little respected... greatly feared... by sharks! Is the hagfish the Spiderman of the Sea? This little slimy fish can spit out a slimy blob that BLOWS UP REAL BIG. What the if... WE could defend ourselves like that? Imagine the sport! In celebration of the SUPER BOWL, we present a special episode: The SLIMER BOWL. Let the games begin! Don't miss an IF! Subscribe: linktr.ee/whattheifshow Share your love of the IF! Drop us a review: itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?m...
Feb 02, 2019•52 min
Special Guest ASTRONOMER Brian Keating returns, with an astounding IF! What The IF, Brian asks, there was MORE than one BIG BANG? WTiF another one is FLYING toward us NOW? OMG, bang bang bang, let's go...! Put on your space kevlar jackets and let's go surfing ALL the Big Bangs! Check out Brian Keating's best selling book, "LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE" on Amazon: www.amazon.com/Losing-Nobel-Priz…ook/dp/B07889Q65W Don't miss an IF! Subscribe: linktr.ee/whattheifshow Share your love of the IF! Drop us a...
Jan 28, 2019•50 min
The MYSTERY behind the EYES that watch over our cities. WATCH OUT, this IF will change the way you see pigeons, and yourself, trespassing human! Don't miss an IF! Subscribe: https://linktr.ee/whattheifshow Share your love of the IF! Drop us a review: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 THANKS and Keep On IFFin'! -- Philip & Matt
Jan 22, 2019•46 min
The amazing science educator and cetacean researcher, DR. VANESSA PIROTTA joins us from down under, in Sydney, Australia... But she guides us on a journey to the REAL down under... UNDER THE SEA! Come along with us as we SWAP OUR HUMAN BRAINS for the singing, smiling, super smart BRAINS OF WHALES and dolphins. HOW DOES IT FEEL to navigate all around the planet -- HOW do we do it? WHO are we SINGING to, and are we doing it well? WHY is there a little helicopter flying over our head... silly human...
Jan 15, 2019•55 min
A couple of weeks ago we explored PARALLEL UNIVERSES... and in *this* parallel universe we take up a similarly BRAIN BENDING a concept: the INFINITE probabilities that surround us in our INFINITE universe. Why should the guy with the goatee be the EVIL one? And what about PANTS... a necessary evil? In an INFINITE UNIVERSE surely there is one little place where people are less... judgmental. Also, did you see a brain lying (or FLYING) around here somewhere? LUDWIG BOLTZMANN says he lost his mind ...
Jan 07, 2019•39 min
Happy New Year, dear IFFers!!! A joyous episode greets you. Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Astronaut William Anders' society transforming photograph, "Earthrise," and basking in the glow of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic breakthrough towards bringing passengers into space... Philip wonders WTF is wrong with all these people on the plane who close their windowshades??? Meanwhile, on the skin of the Earth, the view of the skies is disappearing drastically, night after night. WTiF we could ...
Jan 01, 2019•45 min
Our listener & Super IFFer Jeff from Nashville asks What The IF there are parallel universes? Turns out... they might be exploding all around you! Should we fear the ones where we are wearing a beard? Good vs. Evil, Weird Science vs REAL SCIENCE. Strap on your parallel boots and let's go! SUBSCRIBE! linktr.ee/whattheifshow REVIEWS are greatly appreciated: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1
Dec 25, 2018•53 min
For our Christmas Special, our devoted listener Mitchell Scherr was inspired by the ARTHUR C. CLARKE short story "The Star," in which an ASTRONOMER ponders the source of the STAR OF BETHLEHEM. Was it a super nova? A meteor? A COMET, sent to a solar system which badly needed a tune up? ISAAC NEWTON had some very strong opinions on the matter, and he also has some seriously badass SINS to CONFESS. For realz! Enjoy this wonderful gift from Santa iCloud, directly to your ears, because you were very ...
Dec 18, 2018•51 min
Listener, and Super IFFer, Amira Youseff wrote in to the feedback@WhatTheIF.com hotline and asked: "How can I get MY FRIENDS to be interested in GLOBAL WARMING?" We discuss how IN THE WORLD you can talk about CLIMATE CHANGE at the party without causing everyone to yawn and abandon you. This week, how to SAVE THE PLANET while making friends and influencing people! This party is HEATING UP!
Dec 11, 2018•50 min
Today we take up another fabulous -- and dastardly -- suggestion from our audience! Super IFFER Mike Holland sent an email to our hungry feedback@whattheif.com mailbox and asked.... How did we come to know that CLIMATE CHANGE is really happening, and what it will do to our world? Scientists agree: our atmosphere is heating up and something wicked this way comes. But it wasn't always this way, predicting globally is a skill we've only recently developed... but how??? And WHO was the first scienti...
Dec 04, 2018•45 min
70 - Victory Over GRAVITY! by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia
Nov 27, 2018•51 min
69 - Dummies VS Gravity! by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia
Nov 20, 2018•42 min
IF we were Martians, looking at the Earth with our telescopes… would we know there’s LIFE there? If so, how would we know? Could we have watched humanity evolve? Would we see the humans coming to US? Run for the mons! It’s another fast & fascinating episode of What The IF?!!!
Nov 14, 2018•54 min
This week, the ground-breaking, sky-breaking, star-breaking, NASA telescope, Kepler, got arthritis and, creeeeaaaaaakkkk.... slipped into a well earned and well deserved retirement, now free to lounge about forever doing the backstroke and sipping martinis among the galaxies. But if you think THAT sounds like a PARTY (!) wait until you hear all the classes clinking and whips cracking and bottles popping that went on in the REAL HISTORY of KEPLER's namesake... and his crowd of rowdy astronomers. ...
Nov 07, 2018•52 min
When scientists discovered that our brain communicates with our body through electrical signals, they had a scientific and philosophical freak-out: if it took a not insignificant amount of TIME for our brain to process the world around us... then that information -- OUR SENSES -- were always TOO SLOW! What did this mean for our SENSE OF REALITY? And when we began exploring the solar system, our communication with our far flung human and robot astronauts was even more DELAYED. What The IF is goin...
Oct 31, 2018•29 min
Attack of the FRIENDLY Robots! Will Robots really CARE for us? Or will they be faking it? Do all our screens WANT to be TOUCHED? This wildly imaginative episode, one of our original fan favorites, will change the way you think about that screen you’re looking at RIGHT NOW. Click and enjoy!
Oct 26, 2018•34 min
Superstar Theoretical Physicist CLIFFORD JOHNSON, author of the incredible graphic novel, “THE DIALOGUES: Conversations About The Nature Of The Universe” joins us for a very special show. He asks us to imagine… WTiF our entire solar system drifted TOO CLOSE (!!!) to a BLACK HOLE? What would it be like to be on Earth when it crosses the EVENT HORIZON? Would half the planet disappear? Would time stop? Would we find ourselves in a place where NOTHING IS AS WE KNOW IT? Better bring a flashlight on t...
Oct 18, 2018•1 hr 15 min
On Feb 22, 2017, astronomers announced four additional exoplanets around TRAPPIST-1, bringing it's total number of EXOPLANETS to seven. SIX of those (!) could possibly reside in the HABITABLE ZONE of that mysterious star.... so naturally we'd really like to SEE these planets! In this remastered broadcast of one of our most popular episodes -- Philip & Matt explore the magic and maybe-ness of NASA's "artistic impressions" and imagine what we'd REALLY see through the WINDOW of our space ships....
Oct 08, 2018•31 min
What the IF... We could get scientific evidence of GHOSTS? Trick or Treat, once again we dive into the crazy realm of the PARANORMAL... as we learn REAL science!
Oct 03, 2018•43 min
Philip & Matt were honored to be invited onto the hilarious and super smart NonSequitur Show. The hosts of this popular YouTube channel invited us to play What This IF with one of their favorite topics, the wacked and weird ideas behind a FLAT EARTH. We say “YES, AND…” to this insane idea and grab it by the corners and take it for a spin, learning the REAL SCIENCE that flummoxes the crackpots. We bust up the Flat Earth club, and have a hoot doin’ it!
Sep 23, 2018•1 hr 43 min
60 - See The RADIO WAVES All Around YOU! The Science & Wonder Of Electromagnetic Fields by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia
Sep 17, 2018•47 min
Our journey continues... to the CENTER of the SUN!
Sep 09, 2018•47 min
DR. KIKI SANFORD, host of the incredible, long-running science podcast, THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE (TWiS.org), joins us for our most amazing, astounding, iff-iest episode yet! What The IF... WE WERE BIRDS? We learn all about bird behavior, in particular, Dr. Kiki's favorite birds, the tiny, adorable, musical, KILLER BIRDS, the shrikes. Yikes! What's it like to THINK like a bird, and to BE a bird? Tons of fun, and loads of knowledge dropped (onto spikes!) in this episode. Flap your wings and join us fo...
Sep 05, 2018•53 min
NASA just launched the Parker Solar Probe, flying toward the Sun to get closer than anything we've EVER sent before. WTiF we could have James Cameron build us our very own super duper solar submarine! Shower yourself with suntan lotion and let's go!
Aug 28, 2018•40 min
WTiF we survive EXTREME GLOBAL WARMING by living inside nice, chilly AIR CONDITIONED DOMES? But the heating up of our planet won't stop! The BBQ is just getting started, join us!
Aug 20, 2018•52 min
