What The If?

POOL Testing is here! So... WTF is Pool Testing? Gaby explains! Every week, Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

NOTE: This episode was recorded on March 6, 2020 What the If Earth was Teeny TINY? Would gravity crush us? --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

Glow in the dark CORONAVIRUS? Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines! More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng, and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

What the IF is HERD IMMUNITY? It’s coming! Gaby tells us what to do to make it so. Every week, Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

What The If our brains were SLOWER? Can you upgrade the CPU or perhaps install more RAM to avoid the spinning beach ball of death?! What the if you were practicing karate with Matt and your brain processed your punch slower than you actually moved? Our resident black belt historian of science Matt Stanley tells us about karate and the OODA LOOP! --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

How does IMAGINATION work? What The IF… you had NO imagination! Our guest TRACY GLEASON is a Developmental Psychologist studying relationships, real and imagined, with a focus on young children's imaginary companions. A professor of psychology at Wellesley College, Professor Gleason studies how young children understand their relationships with other people, and in particular, on the relationships that they have with imaginary companions. By examining how young children create imaginary relationships, she hopes to learn what they understand about real relationships. Professor Gleason teaches courses in developmental and introductory psychology. She also teaches research methods in developmental psychology, in which students conduct projects at the Wellesley College Child Study Center. At the advanced level, Professor Gleason teaches seminars on early relationships and social imagination (the ways in which we use our imaginations to help us regulate and understand our relationships). In her free time, Prof

Did Covid-19 come to your shores from one person, or many? Every week, Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

ONE Language For ALL? by Philip Shane, Matt Stanley, Gabrielle Paniccia

SMITHSONIAN Magazine published a very thought provoking article this week, urging caution against thinking we are on the same path as the 1918 PANDEMIC. Every week, Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

What The IF you were about to have a meeting with Aliens and you wanted to made a good FIRST IMPRESSION? Carl Sagan and his colleagues took up this very challenge when crafting the “messages in a bottle” that they attached to the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. (Spoiler: no bottles, but plaques and record suitable for playing by alien DJ’s!). The brilliant BLAKE LEWIN joins us to talk about his amazing experiences working with Sagan on creating a version of the Voyager record for us Earthlings, and his further adventures in producing the creation of the DVD for the Mars Phoenix lander. Wonderful, colorful stories of space archaeology in the making, and pro tips for all of us on how to make our own! — 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 feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. No idea is too small, or too big! --- Special thanks to Illia Zheng and Howard Zheng for their help with the show. --- Want to supp

New York reopens and the scientists are eager to get back to the lab! Gaby tells us how it feels for the city's scientists as they are getting ready to don higher grade protective gear and jump in deeper into the hunt for a vaccine. Every week, Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

WHERE was the virus born? Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA explores the science behind the headlines! More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

Our long time listener JOE ascends to SUPER IFFER status by submitting this week's fabulous IF! Joe asks, "What The If... EVOLUTION were speeded up?" What if you could see it happening in your own lifetime? What would you see? What would you feel? Could you SURVIVE what your children will become? Let's find out! --- Want to submit your own ideas for show topics? Send YOUR If to us! Email us at feedback@whattheif.com and let us know what's in your imagination. --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on whatever podcast app you’re enjoying, including Apple Podcasts! itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 Subscribe at WhatTheIF.com and never miss an episode! Keep On IFFin', Philip & Matt

Hair salons and swimming pools are the front lines of our duel with the Coronavirus. Find out how to survive with expert advice from Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA. More info at RockEDU: rockedu.rockefeller.edu and covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

A QUANTUM MIND MELD? The renowned historian of science DAVID KAISER joins us from MIT! A prolific science communicator and hilariously witty raconteur, his latest book is QUANTUM LEGACIES: Dispatches from an Uncertain World. David asks: “What The IF we could use Quantum Entanglement to CONNECT OUR BRAINS, all the way across the Universe?” It’s our most mind-blowing, mind-expanding, mind-ENTANGLING episode ever! ABOUT DAVID KAISER David Kaiser is Germeshausen Professor of the History of Science in MIT's Program in Science, Technology, and Society, Professor of Physics in MIT's Department of Physics, and also Associate Dean for Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC) in MIT's Schwarzman College of Computing. He completed an A.B. in physics at Dartmouth College and Ph.D.s in physics and the history of science at Harvard University. Kaiser's historical research focuses on the development of physics in the United States during the Cold War, looking at how the discipline has evolved at the inte

The animals of the world, especially the urban world, seem quite happy that all the humans are suddenly staying inside! Outside, it's a party and they're livin' it up... all the way down the food chain! Dr. Vanessa Pirotta joins us from Sydney, Australia (via Bostwana!) and helps us see today's world under human quarantine... through the eyes and ears and furry paws and flappy fins! Dr. Pirotta is a wildlife scientist and science communicator. Her zoological background has taken her around the world for wildlife research. Vanessa is also a passionate and experienced science communicator who loves making science accessible. Her keen interests cover topics of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math, also known as STEAM. Vanessa has represented Australia internationally as the national winner of a world-renowned science communication competition known as FameLab, placing second in the world. Vanessa’s efforts to communicate science has also seen her become a TEDx speaker, speak at the United Nations F

MASKS are everywhere in the NEWS this week, but NOT on everyone's faces! What The IF, people? What happens if you don't wear a mask? And what about your neighbor? And their neighbor, and...? Rockefeller University Virologist GABY PANICCIA gives us the low down on how to show up with your face mask on. Pro Tips, from a real pro. More info at RockEDU: https://rockedu.rockefeller.edu & https://covid-19-research.rockefeller.edu --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- 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 feedback@whattheif.com.

Is the virus floating IN THE AIR we breathe, riding particles of pollution like evil cowboys? Our expert Virologist from Rockefeller University, GABY PENICCIA helps us understand the scary Covid-19 news headlines. Science!

As difficult as the global LOCKDOWN has been, we're fortunate to have a lot of modern technology making it somewhat easier to adapt to a world of massive ISOLATION. But What The IF... We had the pandemic, but NO INTERNET? Aside from the ancient technology of SOAP and masks, the internet is the single greatest intervention being used to help civilization adapt to life under quarantine. ANDY IHNATKO, the brilliant technology journalist and beloved raconteur joins us (yay!) as we create an engrossing ALTERNATE HISTORY in which the PANDEMIC smacked the world… in the 1980’s! Andy Ihnatko is a tech writer for WGBH. He was The Chicago Sun-Times tech columnist for nearly twenty years and a Macworld columnist for more than two decades. Learn more about Andy! Ihnatko.com Twitter: @ihnatko Instagram: @ihnatko Flickr: andyi Boston Public Radio: WGBH.org MacBreak Weekly: twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly Material Podcast: relay.fm/material --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their hel

ATTACK OF THE KILLER 5G! How’s it going IFFers? We hope you’re keeping yourselves sane and busy in these crazy times. What with all the 5G antennas sending out COVID signals?!  Rockefeller University Virologist, GABY PANICCIA, our wonderful compatriot in all things viral, has returned to give us the details on this crazy conspiracy! Our very own Co-Host, Philip Shane, has even seen graffiti in Brooklyn saying “STOP 5G!” So, we want to know what the heck does 5G have to do with Coronaviruses? What The If…WE CRANK CALLED COVID?! Does 5G Cellular Technology even affect us? Is there even a remote relation between 5G and viruses? Swipe to unlock your cellular devices, make sure you’ve wiped them down with alcohol first, and hop on that cellular network because we’re about to transmit some info to you over the waves! --- Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show. --- Like the show? Share your love for the IF by dropping a review on Apple Podcasts! itunes.appl