What The If?
by Philip Shane & Matt Stanley
Make Science Fiction. Learn Real Science!Welcome to our weekly Science and Science Fiction podcast where we learn amazing things by playing a fantastic game: We make a change to the Universe and then, using only real science, we follow the mind bending ramifications as they ripple outward — wherever they lead! Our brilliant guests are some of the world’s greatest science fiction writers, scientists & science communicators. Strap on your seat belt and let’s leap into a journey to answer the most fascinating question in the Universe… What The IF?
Episodes
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POWER From PEOPLE??? Bow To Our MATRIX Overlords!
We answered the ringing telephone in The Matrix and on the line was the great filmmaker, game designer, and composer Robyn Miller with a sizzling good IF! Robyn asks "If you were an evil robot overlord and you wanted to use people as your power source... how'd ya do it? Can people be used as...
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MEGASTRUCTURES! With Journalist & Science Fiction Author MATT WILLIAMS
SCIENCE JOURNALIST and SCIENCE FICTION AUTHOR Matt Williams joins us and asks: What’s the absolute biggest thing you could build… in the entire Universe! Have Aliens beaten us to it? How big does our civilization need to be to outgrow even MEGASTRUCTURES and build even bigger? Can we build...
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Can We Open A PUB On MARS? w/the Author of ALCOHOL IN SPACE, Chris Carberry!
We're joined by Chris Carberry, the distinguished CEO of EXPLORE MARS and author of the awesome new book, ALCOHOL IN SPACE... Join us for a fun and fabulous Happy Hour on What The IF! * * * CHRIS CARBERRY is the CEO and co-founder of Explore Mars, Inc. a nonprofit space advocacy organization that...
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ALASTAIR REYNOLDS: Come Fly With Me... To MARS!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all our listeners around the WORLD! We’re celebrating with an encore presentation of one of our most popular episodes ever, with one of the greatest Science Fiction authors of all time, ALASTAIR REYNOLDS as our guest! PRE-ORDER his exciting upcoming novel, BONE SILENCE at your...
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LIGHTSABERS For Hands! It’s a STAR WARS If!
Our listener MIGUEL from South Africa wrote in and asked us, “What The IF… we replaced our HANDS with LIGHTSABERS?” This idea was so insane it sat on our list for a year and a half… as we SEARCHED OUR FEELINGS… waiting for the just the right moment to begin this wicked thought experiment.. We...
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Welcome to LAMARCK-issic Park! No Darwins Allowed!
What the if EVOLUTION were very DIFFERENT? Strap on your pith helmet, and lock the doors! OUR LISTENER Jon from Sweden wrote us and asked: What if Charlie “Eye of the Tiger” DARWIN was wrong and “Hoist Up The” Jean-B. LAMARCK was right? These two scholars had very different ideas about the birds...
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Planet NIBURU Crashes Into EARTH! With Astronomer BOB KING
Is there a DOOMSDAY PLANET named Nibiru heading our way? Nope! But what the IF there was? We challenge astronomer & astrophotographer Bob King to play out the RAM-ifications of this Earth SHATTERING scenario, from which we learn a WHOPPING amount of real science! BOB KING is the author of URBAN...
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LEAP Into a QUANTUM COMPUTER!
Do Electrons dream of having feet? WTIF you were an ELECTRON jogging through the hot circuits of a CLASSICAL COMPUTER and all of a sudden you lept into a QUANTUM COMPUTER? What does it look like inside the bizarre new machine? Why is it so COLD in here? What’s with all the signs posted everywhere...
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I Married A NEANDERTHAL - A SciFi Love Story
Science Fiction FILMMAKERS Carylanna Taylor & Jacob Okada bring us the IF of their new film, ANYA, a contemporary sci-fi love story about a couple whose determination to have a child leads them to a cutting-edge geneticist, an ancient outlier community hiding in plain sight in New York City, and...
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Spelunking Deep Inside A SOLID STATE Brain!
GOOGLE just announced that its' researchers have built a QUANTUM COMPUTER that has achieved... Quantum Supremacy. ACK!!! Do you feel like standing and cheering, or fleeing for your life? It's essential that we all learn how a quantum computer works, but... Most of us don't even understand how a...
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Waltz INSIDE A Classical COMPUTER!
GOOGLE just announced that its' researchers have built a QUANTUM COMPUTER that has achieved... Quantum Supremacy. ACK!!! Do you feel like standing and cheering, or fleeing for your life? It's essential that we all learn how a quantum computer works, but... Most of us don't even understand how a...
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The AZTECS Were Awesome SEISMOLOGISTS - with Robin George Andrews!
Ancient Science Secrets! DR. ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS returns with an incredible story of how modern day SEISMOLOGISTS are hunting through ancient AZTEC inscriptions, and the records of indigenous peoples around the world, to uncover a nearly FORGOTTEN HISTORY of the vibrating and violent EARTH! * *…
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Did VENUS Have VENUSIANS? w/Planetary Geologist KIRBY RUNYON!
This week's show is ripped from the headlines! A study by Michael Way and Anthony Del Genio of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies reveals that VENUS may have been habitable for it's first THREE billion years! For some unknown reason, 750 million years ago, a catastrophic amount of carbon...
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If NASA Won MEGAMILLION$$$ - with CASEY DREIER from The PLANETARY SOCIETY!
"No BUCKS, no Buck Rogers," says astronaut Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff." So we ask, what the if... NASA got hundreds of billions more, or even TRILLIONS of dollars more in funding? Imagine it happened today! Can we build a SPACE UTOPIA worthy of the most optimistic science fiction... or are...
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The COMET from Beyond!
COMET BORISOV just showed up in our solar system, only the second INTERSTELLAR OBJECT known to visit us! What is it, where does it come from, where's it going and will Earthlings be able to study it before it vanishes forever? What The IF you could RIDE the comet? That'd be a heck of a way to…
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All the TREES are GONE? With Kyle Crichton!
What The IF... All the TREES were GONE? Would we still have air to breathe? Water to drink? Well don't ponder those questions too long because there's an AVALANCHE coming your way! Our guest Kyle Crichton is a filmmaker and an experienced backcountry snowboarder and skier who's new documentary,...
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Let's CRISPR with Carl ZIMMER!
Would you CRISPR your baby? The great science journalist Carl Zimmer, award winning columnist for the New York Times and author of thirteen (!) books joins us to imagine the steep up sides and the slippery down sides of the revolutionary technique for modifying genes. Fix those typos in your DNA!...
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SEAN CARROLL: Phone Calls from MANY WORLDS!
As you read these words, copies of you are being created. Theoretical physicist SEAN CARROLL says the astonishing MANY WORLDS theory might be correct, and if it is… 5,000 times per second your reality is splitting into alternate universes. Like, a lot of em. But Sean says... Don't Panic! Sean is...
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111 - Is There GOLD In Them ASTEROIDS!
Listener Daniel asks: WTiF we could get rich from drilling for gold… in space? --- Please REVIEW our podcast! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 SUBSCRIBE (for free!) pod.link/1250517051 EINSTEIN'S WAR by our very own MATT STANLEY is on sale now! The Washington Post says "Stanley is…
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110 - Inter-Galactic MAILBAG!
Once again, our listener mail bag is exploding! Our fans, aka our #SuperIFFers discuss our most mind-blowing shows and share their own mind-bending IF's! What the IF... you could hang out with the smartest, funniest, science-y-ist audience in the galaxy? You can! Listen now and FEEL THE IF! ---...
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109 - CONQUER the SOLAR SYSTEM with Matt Williams!
Science journalist and Science Fiction author Matt Williams joins us and asks: What the IF humanity conquered the entire solar system, inhabiting every planet, moon, asteroid, nook, cranny and whatever else we could latch onto… and hang on? What in all the worlds would this society look like? How...
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108 - The HELIOPAUSE That Refreshes - with Kirby "NASA Man" Runyon!
What the IF you could travel to the very EDGE of the SOLAR SYSTEM... and beyond? What would you see when you looked BACKWARDS? What would happen when you encountered the river of energized particles swirling through our galaxy? We're joined by KIRBY "Nasa Man" RUNYON, one of the scientists at the...
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107 - Land A Man On The EARTH! - with Nancy Atkinson
It's Opposite Apollo Day! In honor of the 50th Anniversary of the first landing on the Moon, our special guest today is Nancy Atkinson from Universe Today! Her amazing new book is "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Mission." We ask: What The IF we lived on the Moon and had to…
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106 - What The MONKEY? Part 2 of Our TWIS Special!
Our TWIS Special, Part TWO! TWIS the IF? What The TWIS? You put your science in my what! It's a special, double stuffed, super combo show. Dr. Kiki invited us to bring the IF to her long-running public radio show and podcast, This Week In Science. In Part 1 we got some science up in the NEWS! Dr....
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105 - What The KIKI? Part 1 of Our TWIS Special!
Our TWIS Special, Part ONE! TWIS the IF? What The TWIS? You put your science in my what! It's a special, double stuffed, super combo show. Dr. Kiki invited us to bring the IF to her long-running public radio show and podcast, This Week In Science. Here in Part 1 we get some science up in the…
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104 - Walking on IO with Robin Andrews!
DR. ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS, science writer for The NY Times, National Geographic, Scientific American, and many more, joins us with an IF that'll keep you on your feet: What The IF we could walk on Jupiter's ultra volcanic moon, IO? Would you walk on a hot pizza? If so, you're ready for the trip!…
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103 - Alastair Reynolds!
Best selling author ALASTAIR REYNOLDS is our guest! He's Philip's favorite author on the planet and one of the world's most popular Science Fiction writers. Al brings a whopper of an IF, loosely inspired by one of his newest stories, "Different Seas" which he wrote for the new prophetic…
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102 - WTiF Apollo Never Stopped? Encore Presenation With FRASER CAIN!
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of APOLLO 11, we're featuring an encore of our episode with FRASER CAIN -- veteran space journalist and publisher of UNIVERSE TODAY! Fraser asks: WTiF we NEVER STOPPED going to the MOON? Imagine! By now we would have already spent FIFTY YEARS traveling to, and...
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101 - Planet of POISON!
Pollution run AMOK! Imagine if no one -- no one at all -- tried to stop the poisoning of our land, water and air? Our listener Daniel asks: What The IF the Environmental Protection Agency were never, ever, ever created? What would America look like, smell like, and taste like? Our most pungent IF...
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100 - Paul McAULEY Shrinks The SUN!
The incredible Science Fiction author PAUL McAULEY joins us to celebrate episode 100! With a preview of the science behind his upcoming novel, WAR OF THE MAPS, Paul asks: What The IF we could save the Earth from the inevitable death of the Sun? It's gonna be a lotta work! First we've gotta MOVE…
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99 - Living INSIDE The Big BANG
Listener Bob from Virginia asks what it would be …
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98 - OWN Your Own BRAIN
Listener Jon from Sweden ascends to the rank of S…
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97 - Spacetime GOGGLES
100 years ago, the British Astronomer Arthur Eddi…
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96 - How To Cook With A Star Trek REPLICATOR
A brand new, super fun and mostly delicious episo…
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95 - ASTROLOGY??? Heaven Help Us!
Astrology is super complicated and totally crazy.…
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94 - MEAT Vs. The WORLD
What the IF everyone in the world STOPPED eating …
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93 - EINSTEIN'S WAR - Part Two - With Author MATT STANLEY
Matt has an amazing new book! Here in part two of…
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92 - EINSTEIN'S WAR - Part One - With Author MATT STANLEY
Matt has an amazing new book! We dive into Professor Stanley's incredible story about how, while living through hunger, freezing and fear, the unknown and unheard of Professor Albert Einstein became... EINSTEIN. What The IF, we ask: World War I never, ever happened? Would Einstein have solved his...
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91 - Standing TALL On A Dwarf PLANET - Visit PLUTO With Kirby Runyon!
KIRBY RUNYON, science team affiliate on the NEW H…
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90 - VOLCANOES Like To Party - With Volcanologist Karen Holmberg!
Archaeologist and self-described Volcano Fetishist Dr. Karen Holmberg LOVES Volcanos… so we make her dream come true: What The IF you could invite ALL THE VOLCANOES in the world to a COCKTAIL PARTY! Dr. Holmberg takes us around to meet all her favorite exploding mountains, and the people who live...
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89 - Fraser Cain - WTiF Apollo Never Stopped!
We're super honored to be joined this week by an …
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88 - Sci - Fi Author, DAN MOREN - "What The IF ENCRYPTION Runs Amok?"
We're honored to be joined this week by the aweso…
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87 - Galactic MAILBAG!
Our cup of listener mail overfloweth! This week: …
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86 - The Science Of NOTHING - Ness!
Our listener, the awesome Super IFFer Bill Prokop…
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85 - WTiF NASA Asked YOU For Help? - #NASAsocial At KSC & The Planetary Society's DAY OF ACTION
What the IF... Big ol' NASA asked little ol' YOU …
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84 - Planet Of The Identical TWINS!
Maya and Zoe are TWINS, and that's only the begin…
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83 - COLD Blooded People
LIZARDS are cold blooded creatures. What the IF..…
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82 - CETACEAN INVASION! WTiF Whales Take Back The Land?
The amazing science educator and cetacean researc…
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81 - Love Thy MOON
We celebrate the LUNAR NEW YEAR and VALENTINE'S D…
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80 - HAGFISH - Champion Of The SLIMER BOWL!
The HAGFISH, little known, little respected... gr…
About this show
Make Science Fiction. Learn Real Science!Welcome to our weekly Science and Science Fiction podcast where we learn amazing things by playing a fantastic game: We make a change to the Universe and then, using only real science, we follow the mind bending ramifications as they ripple outward — wherever they lead! Our brilliant guests are some of the world’s greatest science fiction writers, scientists & science communicators. Strap on your seat belt and let’s leap into a journey to answer the most fascinating question in the Universe… What The IF?
Hosted by
Philip Shane & Matt Stanley