What If?

The Earth already spins on a slight tilt, causing the seasons. But if it spun horizontally, extreme winters and summers could doom life as we know it.

During the Cold War, the US government launched a 1.4 megaton bomb into space. Starfish Prime, as the test was called, was the highest-altitude nuclear test in history. But what would happen if we tried the same experiment with a 50 megaton bomb, like the record-setting Tsar Bomba?

California is located in a hot-zone of fault lines that can rupture without warning. One of these faults, the San Andreas, is overdue for a high magnitude earthquake commonly referred to as "The Big One." Here's what experts say could happen when it hits the West Coast.

While the sight from the International Space Station is a beautiful one, jumping off of it isn't the best idea. Barring a super-suit like Iron Man's, it will be a deadly journey for any astronaut who tries to take the fast way home.

If Earth stopped rotating, it would be a disaster. But what if Earth started rotating backwards? It might not be as catastrophic as you think. Deserts would turn into forests, and hurricanes would be less prevalent. But that's just the beginning.

The planet would be sent into chaos if all the ice melted overnight, but what would that look like? There would be mass flooding from sea level rise, severe weather changes, and deadly chemical release. Scientists say we need to stop the planet from rising in temperature by just 1-degree Celcius, or this could happen sooner than we think.

In theory, you could build a roller coaster as tall as the tallest building in the world today, the Burj Khalifa. But just because you can build it doesn't mean you should, especially if you want to keep your riders safe. After all, wind resistance, flying pieces of debris, intense g-forces, and even bird strikes could black-out, injure, or even kill the passengers.

If you want to dig to China, you'd actually need to start your journey in Chile or Argentina - not the US. And you'd need a super-powered drill to get through impenetrable iron, molten alloy, and rock found in Earth's three primary layers: the crust, mantle, and core. Good luck!