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.
How looking at a single, distant galaxy cluster can show us the invisible mass filling our space like nothing else. “We find them smaller and fainter, in constantly increasing numbers, and […]
Even with the greatest telescopes imaginable, there are billions of light years with nothing recognizable by today’s standards. “Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really a theory […]
It hasn’t happened yet in the entire Universe, not even once. “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey […]
If you have a choice between “known astrophysical objects” and “new physics,” bet on the known. “Two recent studies by teams in the U.S. and the Netherlands have shown that the […]
A live-blog event happened a week ago, but you can catch the entire thing anew here, right now! “We have never observed infinity in nature. Whenever you have infinities in […]
Even if you have a problem with the messenger, you still need to heed the message. “Whether humans are responsible for the bulk of climate change is going to be left […]
We’ve discovered some behemoths, but one outclasses them all. “There is always a heavy demand for fresh mediocrity. In every generation the least cultivated taste has the largest appetite.” –Paul Gauguin […]
The most elusive naked-eye planet is downright impossible to view for billions of us on Earth. “I long ago abandoned the notion of a life without storms, or a world without […]
Forwards? Absolutely. Backwards? Perhaps. Becoming your own grandpa? Only if you’re Philip J. Fry… “One of the great things about music is that it has the capability of time travel — you smell […]
With off-the-shelf materials and a little dry ice, you can discover particles that wouldn’t exist unless relativity were real. “The experiments that we will do with the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] […]
No, you are most definitely not entitled to your own facts. In fact, you’re required to disclose what evidence would change your mind! “You must remember, my dear lady, the most […]
From inhospitable volcanoes to life so unique we discovered evolution there, the Galapagos is an incredible scientific story. “I was always amused when overtaking one of these great monsters [a […]
You might think Jupiter is large, but you’ll be surprised at what happens if you try and make it larger! “A few centuries ago, the pioneer navigators learnt the size and […]
Is time travel possible? Of course it’s inevitable in some sense, as we always move through the Universe at the “boring” rate of one second per second. But what about […]
You might think that it should be all black, but then how would we see it? “It is conceptually interesting, if not astrophysically very important, to calculate the precise apparent shape […]
Sometimes, designing a careful experiment and measuring absolutely no effect can be the most important result of all. “It appears, from all that precedes, reasonably certain that if there be any […]
Wanting there to be something beyond the standard model may be influencing what we actually investigate. “In recent years several new particles have been discovered which are currently assumed to […]
It’s tempting to add the spins of the quarks together, but that’s not what the experiments agree with! “We must regard it rather as an accident that the Earth (and presumably […]
How humanity discovered where our elements come from. This article was written by physicist Paul Halpern of the University of the Sciences in Pennsylvania. Paul is author of the new book […]
Did you go to one of the 600+ science marches across the globe? Here’s why the cause matters. “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on […]
Was it really a low-entropy state? And what does that mean for the second law of thermodynamics? “Entropy shakes its angry fist at you for being clever enough to organize […]
If it weren’t just the three space and one time dimensions, what would be different? “There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a […]
And if you’re experiencing it consistently, you just might be doing it wrong all along. “I do have a blurred memory of sitting on the stairs and trying over and over […]
When we think about a long-term solution to our energy needs, none of today’s options are this good. “I would like nuclear fusion to become a practical power source. It would […]
There’s really something new there, even if physicists forget. “Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.” –Ludwig Borne In 1998, two teams of scientists announced a shocking […]
From 13.4 billion years ago, the current record-holder is unlikely to fall anytime soon. Why? A combination of science… and luck. “We’ve taken a major step back in time, beyond what […]
There’s a smallest scale and a shortest time at which physics makes any sense. What sets that limit? “There is a limit on how much information you can keep bottled up.” –Dick […]
You lose whether you use protons or electrons in your collider, for different reasons. Could the unstable muon solve both problems? “It does not matter how slowly you go as […]
Alpha Centauri A and B are just 4.37 light years away. Do they have planets around them? And possibly life? We just might find out! “Resources exist to be consumed. And […]
Its 18 large, segmented golden mirrors aren’t even the whole story. But how much gold is really in there? “Hey, if our eyes could access the infrared part of the light […]