What The If?

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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

Gaby read an article in the Atlantic called "The Never-Aging Ants With a Terrible Secret: A parasite gives its hosts the appearance of youth, and an unmatched social power in the colony" by Katherine J. Wu and asks what if humans could experience this bizarre, better that your average parasitic experience?

So Matt volunteers to become Queen for a day... or a decade... until he's eaten by a Polar Bear. Ya never know what the IF will bring, and this week, it's a doozy, so grab your golden crown and prepare to live large in your social group when you get the tapeworm that makes you royal!

Here's the Atlantic article: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/ant-tapeworm/618919/

And here's the original scientific paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8131941/

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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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

(Producer's note: Kudos to our listener Gary from Atlanta who discovered a tech glitch in the previous upload of this episode. This is a fixed version. Thanks Gary, you are a super IFFer and super listener! -- Cheers, Philip)

Build A Better Virus Trap?

What the IF we could eradicate ALL VIRUSES from the planet? How would we do it? Can we create super NANO BOTS to protect us? Would you want nano bots inside you? (Philip says, “yes, please!”)

A special episode in which we imagine a wonderful future, where the Queen of England gets well soon, and has a super awesome bejeweled box she can stay in, surrounded by Beefeaters wearing HAZMAT suits, and of course their silly hats. Imagine!

Gaby guides us on a tour-de-force of sci and sci-fi towards a hopeful future where disease is relegated to past, forever. Also, Matt gets chased by Llamas…. What the… Yep! So suit up, strap in, and give a listen.

Gaby’s Sci-Fi Story!

Gaby’s newest sci-fi horror story, “Hotel Ygg” has just been published on Grim & Gilded. It’s a wicked short story where “Hotel California” (sing along if you know the words) meets “There Will Come Soft Rains”. Enjoy it now at https://www.grimandgilded.com/gm-paniccia

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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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

---

Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

Build A Better Virus Trap?

What the IF we could eradicate ALL VIRUSES from the planet? How would we do it? Can we create super NANO BOTS to protect us? Would you want nano bots inside you? (Philip says, “yes, please!”)

A special episode in which we imagine a wonderful future, where the Queen of England gets well soon, and has a super awesome bejeweled box she can stay in, surrounded by Beefeaters wearing HAZMAT suits, and of course their silly hats. Imagine!

Gaby guides us on a tour-de-force of sci and sci-fi towards a hopeful future where disease is relegated to past, forever. Also, Matt gets chased by Llamas…. What the… Yep! So suit up, strap in, and give a listen.

Gaby’s Sci-Fi Story!

Gaby’s newest sci-fi horror story, “Hotel Ygg” has just been published on Grim & Gilded. It’s a wicked short story where “Hotel California” (sing along if you know the words) meets “There Will Come Soft Rains”. Enjoy it now at https://www.grimandgilded.com/gm-paniccia

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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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

---

Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

Don’t miss an episode! Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com

Enjoy the show and keep on IFFin'!

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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

The Solar System is in your hands! Careful, don't drop it, but do keep it warm... by exploring it!

The awesome DAY OF ACTION, led by The Planetary Society is coming up in less than a month, on March 8th, 2022 -- and you can still sign up!

In honor of this awesome annual event, we're rebroadcasting this super fun show we did with CASEY DREIER of The Planetary Society which brings to life just how important, and how rewarding an experience each individual can have by getting involved, even with the simplest of means, in their own country's space program. Check it out.

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Want to support the show and get fabulous IF merch? Visit our dazzling new Patreon page at patreon.com/whattheif and see all our great rewards for new members.

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NASA just announced a new mission to VENUS... how'd that happen? Did you know that you can play a role in exploring space? Yep. With a simple phone call you can keep space missions alive, and growing, and exploring! WHO YA GONNA CALL?

The hardest working man in planetary politicking is here to show us how: CASEY DREIER, The Planetary Society's Senior Space Policy Advisor and Chief Advocate.

A lot of people don't know that ROCKETS are PEOPLE powered, and you play a role in lighting the fuse, should you choose to do so. Your passion, when conveyed to your government representatives, is an essential ingredient in getting our craft to land on other worlds.

Casey shows us how easy it is, and how important. Democracy to the solar system, you can help! Give a listen, and tell us your ideas for citizen participation in the greatest endeavor citizens have ever taken.

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Learn more about The PLANETARY SOCIETY and how you can join them on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC for their annual DAY OF ACTION at Planetary.org

Follow The Planetary Society and Casey on Twitter: @ExplorePlanets and @CaseyDreier

Casey provides monthly reports about NASA in his monthly updates on the Planetary Radio podcast. Featuring The Planetary Society's Chief Advocate, Casey Dreier, the Space Policy Edition podcast features unique insights by the world's leading experts in space policy and history to explain how space exploration actually happens. Check it out: https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/space-policy-edition

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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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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In addition to our Patreon page (patreon.com/whattheif) you can help the show by adding 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

Patreon Update: We have another Patreon member, Don from Pennsylvania who has joined at the $10/month “Clockwork Universe” Tier where he receives the monthly newsletter and a logo sticker. Welcome, Don!

Join Don and all our other Patreon supporters, check out our page now at Patreon.com/Whattheif and see all our great rewards for new members.

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And from the Mailbag: Devoted listener Beckett ascends to Super IFFer status as the question he emailed in to us becomes the IF of the week!

Brandon writes, "I’ve been devouring the back catalogue as quickly as I can! I even had a dream about time travellers who were called iffers 🤣🤣

Anyway, my idea was that you could do a show:

What the if there were no fossil fuels??"

Start your engines, folks, this one races along as Matt and Gaby race to power the world before it all runs out!

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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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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Want to support the show?

Check out our membership rewards at Patreon.com/Whattheif

And you can review the show 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

Welcome to our newest Patreon member, KEN! You, too, can support the show and get awesome rewards by joining us at Patreon.com/WhatTheIf -- see you there!

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Join Matt for a virtual class, with live Q&A! Experience his lecture, "Albert Einstein: The Man Behind the Math" on January 28, 2022 at One Day University. Check it out now: https://www.onedayu.com/videos/albert-einstein-the-man-behind-the-math-2/

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This week's IF comes from Joshua who asks: "Ever heard of the Mandela Effect? Basically, it's described as the idea that several various incidents in history have been switched around so that people collectively remember them happening incorrectly. In a sense, this theory believes that parallel universes are to blame for this collective memory loss. Now, what I really want to know is: forgetting the plausibility of this theory for a second, what if our history really DID overlap with a parallel universe's, and what would that look like?"

Here's some brief examples:

https://www.provolibrary.com/blog/1005-are-the-berenstain-bears-part-of-an-interdimensional-conspiracy

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a7664693/mandela-effect-examples

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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 [email protected] 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

Join The Non-Opposition Party! Our long time listener Nigel of Portsmouth, UK ascends to Super IFFer status by having his question chosen as the topic of this week’s show:

What the IF… Our ancestors had never evolved opposable thumbs?

Want to support the show?

Visit our exciting new Patreon page and check our all the fabulous rewards: Patreon.com/WhatTheIf

Attend Matt’s fabulous online lecture, “Albert Einstein: The Man Behind the Math”. January 18, 2022 at 4 PM Eastern. Learn more on the event page at One Day University: https://www.onedayu.com/videos/albert-einstein-the-man-behind-the-math-2/

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 [email protected] and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big!

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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