We get it. Science and engineering aren’t always the most exciting studies. And the questions on your test probably aren’t the most compelling to solve.
Well, that might be because all the fun questions are over on Randall Munroe’s YouTube channel, xkcd’s What If?
If the name of that channel sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen Munroe’s book, What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. And, honestly, that book title explains the purpose of the whole channel. (The channel’s scenarios are taken and animated straight from the book).
“What if you funneled Niagara Falls through a straw?”
“What if the Earth rotated 90 degrees?”
“Could you make an umbrella out of lasers?”
I’ve personally never thought about those questions before. But they’re certainly intriguing. And Munroe’s going to figure out the (theoretical) answer to all of them, no matter how absurd they may get.
Munroe’s videos are true educational entertainment, using a variety of sciences to provide the best answer he can to silly questions. Through the often-impossible scenarios and in-depth explanations of strange hypotheticals, viewers will learn about scientific topics and the universe’s physical, chemical, functional limits.
As for the entertainment side, xkcd’s What If? provides jokes, stick-figure drawings and improvised sound effects to make the videos quite funny.
A video dealing with the world’s money supply depicts a stick figure summoning cash via a pentagram drawn on the ground. A question centers on where the biblical Magi would have ended up had they followed a different astronomical object.
Munroe works out how long (some) humans could theoretically survive if we were only allowed to cannibalize each other.
Munroe’s xkcd’s What If? is educational and charming, using science to theorize on the questions very few people have asked but many will want to know the answers to when they hear them. And with a fun animation style and limited content issues, xkcd’s What If? will (hypothetically) find itself a home in many family living rooms.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
