What The If?

Happy New Year, fellow IF-ers!!! We taped a bunch of shows at the end of the year, so we're starting out 2022 with a bang: we're posting a brand new WTIF episode every day this week! 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

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

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 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. --- 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 -------- Please REVIEW our show: 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 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

47 - The Early Bird Gets The WORMHOLE by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

In a bizarre thought experiment ripped from a headline in Scientific American, we explore a world where humans have developed a genetic mutation similar to some Labrador retrievers that causes constant hunger. This leads us down a hilarious path of imagining cities with celery slurry piped to every home, space missions needing to carry vast tanks of liquified celery, and foosball becoming the new national pastime in a low-energy society. Join us as we follow this delightfully absurd scenario to its conclusion and have some laughs about our least favorite vegetable.