What The If?

Our listener, and Super Duper IFFer, Daniel asks What The IF neighbors had tanks? Imagine the block parties? No, imagine the block battles! What happens in an ecosystem when evolution spirals out of control? How fit is FIT when survival is at stake? Gaby and Matt share lessons from Darwin and we imagine how having annoying neighbors might eventual fuel the colonization of the solar system! 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? 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

In honor of the announcement that NASA has chosen SPACE-X to build the Artemis lunar lander... and also in honor of Philip’s receiving his second shot of the Pfizer vaccine, we present this encore presentation! (Shh, what I really mean is that this shot has knocked me out good and I’ve got VAX HANGOVER and am stuck in bed until it passes. Don’t get me wrong, PRAISE SCIENCE for the vax! And... enjoy this super fun, very popular episode! — PS)

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It's Opposite Apollo Day! 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 send the first mission to EARTH?

This lunacy gives rise, as with all our IFs, to an amazing about of information about the REAL Apollo mission, and the science, engineering and chutzpah it took to do it. The only thing that could have been harder would have been if we... lived on the Moon and had to send a Moon-person to the Earth and, as Moon-Kennedy proclaimed, "return them safely to the... MOON!"

If you wanna visit the Earth, if you want to get off it again, how you gonna do it? OMG, you gotta bring your own Saturn V with you, so good luck with that. Landing on the Earth is hard!

It's one of our most crunchy and delicious meals of Sci and Fi yet. Check it out.

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NANCY ATKINSON is a science journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She has been with Universe Today since 2004, and also writes for Ad Astra.

Her new book on the Apollo program is titled “EIGHT YEARS TO THE MOON: The History of the Apollo Missions” and shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who helped make the Apollo program so successful. The book comes out just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, the first to land on the Moon. You can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/162414490X/

Her first book “INCREDIBLE STORIES FROM SPACE: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond. Caltech astronomer Mike Brown called the book “delightful” and Alan Stern, Principal Investigator of the New Horizons said “Incredible Stories From Space was a “great read.” See more reviews and purchase the book at Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. “Incredible Stories From Space” was published by Page Street Publishing, a subsidiary of Macmillan.

Nancy was the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast from 2009-2014 (now SSERVI), was part of the production team for Astronomy Cast from 2008-2015, and worked with the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast where she was project manager from 2009-2011. She also has articles published on Wired.com, Space.com, NASA’s Astrobiology Magazine, Space Times Magazine, and several newspapers in the Midwest.

In 2010, Nancy was awarded the New Horizons Traveling Fellowship by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs.

Website: https://www.nancyatkinson.com

Twitter: @Nancy_A

Instagram: @nancyatkinson_ut

Facebook: nancy.atkinson4

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EINSTEIN'S WAR by our very own MATT STANLEY is on sale now! The Washington Post says "Stanley is a storyteller par excellence." A starred review recipient from KIRKUS, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY, and BOOKLIST. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/60811…81524745417

Thanks & Keep On IFFin'!

-- Philip & Matt

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

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

(Producer's note: What the if... you uploaded the wrong episode? Haha well today I found out. Nonetheless that previous episode was a great one, but here's the new one. Enjoy, and keep on Iffin'! -- Philip)

Today's show was inspired by our listener and Super IFFer Charlie who wrote in from Knoxville, Tennessee and asked: "I thought how weird it would be if humans never had language to communicate and relied on basic sounds, grunts, and maybe even hand claps. So I was thinking: What the If Humans never developed language and relied solely on instincts and sounds like most animals? Would we create shelter? Would we clothe ourselves? Would we pass down information to our children? Would we ever advance as a civilization?"

So we tried it... for science! Take a listen, and join in!

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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? 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

A NOTE ABOUT THIS SPECIAL REBROADCAST:

In commemoration of the one year anniversary of the start of the pandemic, and in honor of our amazing new Co-IFFer, super host Gaby Paniccia, we proudly present Gaby’s debut appearance on the show.

One year ago this week… it was a scary time, with so much uncertainty, and with science as our only hope of grasping what was happening. Matt had seen a livestream in which Gaby was explaining COVID-19 and all that might happen, and her gift for science communication was so evident that we asked her to come on the show and help us deal with this sudden REAL LIFE IF in which we were living.

It’s fascinating to hear what the view was like as we first confronted the new state of the planet at the dawn of the pandemic. Nearly a year later, Gaby would find herself joining the experimental trials for the Pfizer vaccine, and we are all enjoying the incredible benefits of the hard, hard work of scientists like Gaby today as we get shots in our arms!

Of course, the pandemic continues even today, and the virus is still running amok, and our knowledge about it continues to grow. All the science Gaby teaches us in this episode remains fantastically easy to understand, revelatory, and empowering, as she helps us understand what is going on INSIDE THE VIRUS.

Strap in, goggles on, and lets RIDE… back to the future… March 25, 2020!

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RIDE INSIDE THE VIRUS

We hope you're saying safe, practicing good social distancing and hopefully not hoarding all the toilet paper!

This week, we've got another Coronavirus-related WHAT THE IF for some self isolation edutainment: What The IF… We could go inside a VIRUS?!

GABY PANICCIA, a graduate student in Molecular Virology at the world famous Rockefeller University, uses her imagination to shrink us all down to nanometer scale and she takes us on a FANTASIC VOYAGE! We swim into cells to see how a coronavirus works, up front and all too personal! How big are those spikes really?

So put on your innerspace suits, and get ready for a ride of a lifetime!

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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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? 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

A note about this special rebroadcast:

Philip & Matt, always known for their keen eye for FASHION (just go with me on this…) found themselves fifty-three weeks ago observing that the newly minted PANDEMIC was going to change the way we comb our hair… and everything about WHAT WE WEAR!

Listen to our innocence as we pondered whether this LOCKDOWN might last a few… WEEKS? Maybe a few months? A precious cultural artifact, fizzing with naïveté.

We were a little bit NOSTRODOMUS, and a little bit Rock ‘N Roll. This was a fun episode when we made it, and looking back, it’s quite interesting to see how we felt when we were only ankle deep in the pool, and we hadn’t really yet seen the doodie floating there. Join us for this very special look back at when we were trying so hard to look FORWARD.

We now take you back to the future… as the day dawns…

March 17, 2020…

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Hazmat FASHION! Life Under QUARANTINE

We hope this episode finds you and your loved ones well, no matter where in the world you are. Here in New York, we recorded this new episode just as they shut down our city. First they came for the sports arenas, then they came for the bars and pubs, and then the coffee shops… but we will persevere.

PEOPLE OF EARTH, WE SALUTE YOU. And since we’re all stuck at home, we figured it was no reason to stop educating and entertaining and imagining a utopian world where fashion never dies!

This week, we present a special WHAT THE IF for these very strange times: What The IF... we were ISOLATED all of the time! Can you imagine a world where nobody could be with anybody? Just the grammar of that thought alone is terrifying.

So put on your sexiest N-95 mask and your hazmat suit made of out the finest Corinthian mat… and let’s do this!

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Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Keep On IFFin',

Philip & Matt,

WhatTheIF.com

Our listener, and Super IFFer Supreme, Bill from Virginia asks:

“WTIF we saw the return of the mysterious "Sleeping Sickness" that followed the 1918 pandemic?”

Wake the IF! Join us as we imagine an outbreak in NEW YORK of this enigmatic pathogen that makes you very, very, very, very, sleepy. Sleepiness attacks THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS! What could possibly go wrong?

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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? 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

Today's IF was sent to us by our awesome listener and Super IFFer Ruud Smit!

Ruud asks us: "What the if our eyes could only see neutrinos?"

Join Philip, Matt and Gaby on this incredible adventure into a world where creatures have eyes that are MILES, KILOMETERS, even KILOMILES long! What in the world (and on WHAT world?) would it be like to have NEUTRINO VISION?

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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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Special thanks to Illia Zheng and Howard Zheng for their help with the show.

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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

Terraforming via MOLE?

Join documentary filmmaker Philip Shane, NYU Historian of Science Matthew Stanley, and Rockefeller University virologist Gaby Paniccia as we take a fantastic journey to learn the magical wonders of biology... up close... and in living AUDIO color!

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Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1

Have you subscribed? Grab one (always free!) at pod.link/1250517051 and never miss an episode!

Comments, questions, and more are welcome! Visit WhatTheIF.com/contact or email us at [email protected].