Ethan Siegel
A theoretical astrophysicist and science writer, host of popular podcast “Starts with a Bang!”
Ethan Siegel is a Ph.D. astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has won numerous awards for science writing since 2008 for his blog, including the award for best science blog by the Institute of Physics. His two books "Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive" and "Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe" are available for purchase at Amazon. Follow him on Twitter @startswithabang.
Is the multiverse real? It’s one of the hottest questions in all of theoretical physics. We invited two astrophysicists to join the debate.
The natural wonders of Mauritius include the spectacular sight of an underwater waterfall. Here’s the science of how it works.
Out of all the galaxies we know, only a few little ones are missing dark matter. At last, we finally understand why.
The odds are slim, but the consequences would be devastating. Here’s what would happen, plus how to avoid it.
Move over, IC 1101. You may be impressively large, but you never stood a chance against the largest known galaxy: Alcyoneus.
If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at even higher energies, something even greater happens?
Once science operations begin for James Webb, we’ll never look at the Universe the same way again. Here’s what everyone should know.
Lake Baikal holds nearly one-fourth of Earth’s fresh surface water and is the most scientifically interesting lake on our planet.
With 1550 distinct type Ia supernovae measured across ~10 billion years of cosmic time, the Pantheon+ data set reveals our Universe.
Until recently, we were only able to view Venus’s surface with radar or by landing on the planet. It was believed that Venus’s surface was entirely obscured by clouds; NASA’s Parker Solar Probe proved otherwise.
Yes, the Universe is expanding, but you might wonder, “How fast is it expanding?”
65 million years ago, an asteroid strike caused the 5th great mass extinction. Could we save Earth, today, from a similar event?
Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity’s energy needs.
As viewed by the MeerKAT telescope, this radio view of the Milky Way blows away every other way we’ve ever seen our home galaxy.
There really might be extraterrestrials out there, attempting to make contact. Here’s how science, not fiction, is attempting to find them.
With launch costs dropping and enormous numbers of new satellites filling the sky, can’t we just do it all from space?
There are ~400 billion stars in the Milky Way, and ~2 trillion galaxies in the visible Universe. But what if we aren’t typical?
Travel half the distance to your destination, and there’s always another half to go. Despite Zeno’s Paradox, you always arrive right on time.
The Universe is supposed to be the same everywhere and in all directions. So what’s that giant “cold spot” doing out there?
Just 12 million light-years away, the galaxies Messier 81 and 82 offer a nearby preview of the Milky Way-Andromeda merger.
Is the Universe finite or infinite? Does it go on forever or loop back on itself? Here’s what would happen if you traveled forever.
The inside of every black hole leads to the birth of a new Universe. Could our Universe have arisen from one?
There are an estimated two trillion galaxies within the observable Universe. Most are already unreachable, and the situation only gets worse.
Hubble’s deepest views of space revealed fewer than 10% of the Universe’s galaxies. James Webb will change that forever.
In terms of the planets we’ve discovered, super-Earths are by far the most common. What does that mean for the Universe?
If you want to understand what the Universe is, how it began, evolved, and will eventually end, astrophysics is the only way to go.
At a fundamental level, nobody knows whether gravity is truly quantum in nature. A novel experiment strongly hints that it is.
In 1990, we only knew of the ones in our Solar System. Today, we know of thousands, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
We frequently say it’s 2.725 K: from the light left over all the way from the Big Bang. But that’s not all that’s in the Universe.
Even though no human has stepped foot on the Moon’s surface in 50 years, the evidence of our presence there remains unambiguous.