What The If?

A City Inside A LAVA TUBE! by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

Picture a world where we all grow a suit of armor right out of our skin, so heavy that if we tried to swim, we'd sink like a rock! In this episode you'll learn how some ants turn the carbon dioxide in their nests into a stony coat of armor, and how a deep-sea snail covers its foot in scales full of iron. We even get into how some lobsters can live for more than a century. Suit u...

Happy Halloween! This week we're getting spooky and asking: what the if vampires were real, and scientists got to study them up close? You'll learn why our bodies slowly lose the knack for swapping old cells for fresh ones, and why a vampire would need a whole lot of bathroom breaks. And yes, we get into billionaires who take young men's blood, hoping to live forever. Grab your ...

Picture a world where you skip lunch, step outside, and let your skin soak up a meal from the sun. In this episode we explore that fanciful scenario. Along the way you'll learn how plants first got the power of photosynthesis. You'll also meet a tiny pond creature that pulled off the same trick, and sea slugs that steal the sunlight-catching parts of the plants they eat. Come on...

Listener Dan Floyd asks: what the if exercise were bad for you? Imagine a checkup where your doctor frowns at your step count. In this episode we explore that fanciful scenario, and along the way you'll learn some really cool science about things like how sloths evolved to survive by hiding instead of running, why humans may be natural long-distance walkers, and when exercising ...