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.
Very sure. Here’s how we know. You’ve no doubt heard that the Universe itself has been around for 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, and that scientists are extremely confident […]
Each discovery we make seems to raise even more questions. It’s a wonderful example of how science never ends. On August 17th, both the light and the gravitational wave signals from […]
All sorts of futuristic technologies have come true. So why are astronauts all still weightless? Put a human being up in space, away from the gravitational bonds of the surface […]
Okay, so everyone who wanted to order an autographed copy (or N autographed copies) of my new book, Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive, here’s […]
And if we don’t prepare to catch it now, it’ll be too late. Since 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has been redefining how we view our Universe. From hundreds of miles […]
The first detections were incredible. But now the real fun — and the real science — truly begins. On August 17, the signals from two merging neutron stars reached Earth after a journey of 130 […]
For the first time, we’ve seen neutron stars merge. At last, the gravitational and electromagnetic sky are one. “It’s becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory […]
At long last, we’re getting a confrontation with ethics, with science, and with human frailty, not just the Federation at war. “You are… six years old. You are weak and helpless! […]
Either possibility offers a tremendous existence, but philosophically, there’s so much more to think about. “If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, […]
From the most beautiful to the most impactful, some of these are so powerful it’s breathtaking. “Truth in science, however, is never final, and what is accepted as a fact […]
If you thought all we could see is all that’s out there, prepare to rethink everything you knew. “It’s hard to build models of inflation that don’t lead to a multiverse. […]
If you don’t learn this one lesson, you’ll not only never be good at science, you’ll never learn anything new. “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong […]
Finding a warm-hot intergalactic plasma is amazing! But we still need dark matter just as much as ever. “There are stars leaving the Milky Way, and immense gas clouds falling […]
IFLS might be fun for the armchair enthusiast, but couldn’t you have at least consulted an expert? “You were always a good officer. Until you weren’t.”–Saru, from Star Trek: Discovery With […]
It’s discovered thousands. But how many more are out there? “How vast those Orbs must be, and how inconsiderable this Earth, the Theatre upon which all our mighty Designs, all our […]
If your favorite theory made the list, you might want to consider a new favorite to bet on. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great […]
One of cosmic inflation’s cofounders came out against it, calling it not even science. But it is… and so much more. “There’s no obvious reason to assume that the very same […]
It’s a fascinating idea, but how does it fare as a scientific theory? “Something is happening here and this is going to have an impact.” –Robert Dijkgraaf, on Verlinde’s work The […]
Why the 2017 Nobel Prize isn’t the end, but the start, of something really, really big. “Wormholes are a gravitational phenomena. Or imaginary gravitational phenomena, as the case may be.” –Jonathan […]
A well-deserved award for the discovery over a century in the making. “Well, I walked into Building 20 and looked in at the various little labs. There was a bunch of […]
It isn’t just the morality that’s dubious in the newest iteration of Star Trek. “If I die trying but I’m inadequate to the task to make a course change in the […]
Why not just put your detectors in place of a giant mirror? “Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera.” –Yousuf […]
Even though we’ve never seen them, here’s what we already know. “Suddenly whole new programs open up, things you can do that you could never do before. It’d be great scientifically, […]
One of inflation’s cofounders has turned his back on the idea. But practically no one else is following him. Is he right? This article was written by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is […]
Three eyes are so much better than two. Here’s why. “Einstein’s gravitational theory, which is said to be the greatest single achievement of theoretical physics, resulted in beautiful relations connecting gravitational […]
It isn’t the rapture or some crazy prophesy, but science, that tells us when and how the end will come. “The surface of the Earth is the shore of the cosmic […]
Welcome to Star Trek: Discovery. From science to ethics and more, how does the new series’ debut stack up? “If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a […]
How three factors come together to unfreeze the ice, and unlock the potential for extraterrestrial life. “Day after day, day after day,We stuck, nor breath nor motion;As idle as a […]
A new podcast tells the incredible tale of the next great leap into the Universe “And so far as I’m concerned, I’m not going to run a program that’s just a […]
From what it’s expanding into to whether things are moving faster-than-light, this clears up some of our greatest misconceptions. “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders […]