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.
From a “faint smudge” to the most intricate objects in our galaxy, we’ve come an incredibly long way. “From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances … to […]
It used to be billions and billions, but now it’s in the trillions! “There are in fact 100 billion galaxies, each of which contain something like a 100 billion stars. […]
Might Armageddon come not from an asteroid or a comet, but by something completely unseen altogether? “Honestly, if you’re given the choice between Armageddon or tea, you don’t say ‘what […]
How many galaxies are there in the observable Universe? For the first time, we don’t just have a ‘lower limit’ — we have an answer. “Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that […]
Scientists still don’t know, but the answer could hold the key to the expanding, accelerating Universe. “Scratch a cynic and you’ll find a disappointed idealist.” –Jon F. Merz When you […]
The past is gone, the future not yet here, only the present is now. But why does it always flow the way it does for us? “Thus is our treaty written; […]
Einstein’s first great revolution happened way back in 1905. It still puzzles many amateurs and professionals alike even today. “Each ray of light moves in the coordinate system ‘at rest’ with […]
The ‘compact galaxy groups’ of the Universe won’t be around for long! “They most likely form as subsystems within looser associations and evolve by gravitational processes. Strong galaxy interactions result and […]
If we can’t even witness the birth of our Solar System and planet, how can we claim to see the birth of the Universe? “There have to be moments when […]
Before the Big Bang… after the Big Freeze… will everything look the same? “What is wild cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or copied. It is. Unmistakeable, unforgettable, unshamable, elemental as […]
Not faster than 299,792,458 m/s, but faster than light moves through anything other than vacuum! “You are both fools. You cannot see thoughts, or angels. One is an abstract, the other […]
We might have been spared the worst of Hurricane Matthew, but the underlying science is informative at any time! “She didn’t even know what she’d do when she got back to […]
If you were betting on LIGO, you bet wrong. Just like everybody else. “‘Topology is destiny,’ he said, and put the drawers on. One leg at a time.” –Neal Stephenson One […]
The dark horsehead nebula isn’t dark at all, but only if you look at the invisible forms of light. “If you are fearful, a horse will back off. If you are […]
If the waste we have is so hazardous, and we have the capability, why don’t we hurl it all into the Sun? “There will be peace when the people of the […]
We see them change in wavelength, energy and in their electric and magnetic fields over time. So how do they experience it? “Everyone has his dream; I would like to […]
A correlation between normal matter and the observed rotation suggests that maybe dark matter isn’t a certainty, after all. “Nothing in the standard cosmological model predicts this, and it is almost […]
The same way a forgotten woman astronomer — Annie Jump Cannon — first did over 100 years ago! “Teaching man his relatively small sphere in the creation, it also encourages him by its lessons of […]
Want to ‘make America great again’? Not without science, you won’t. “Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson hated each other so much. But that hate that they had for each other did […]
As great as Hubble is, it can only see a narrow range of light, which means it can only see a sliver of the Universe. Want more? “We conducted the first […]
In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre showed how warp drive could be made real within General Relativity. What does that imply? “Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new […]
There are strict scientific standards a new ‘claimed discovery’ needs to meet. Has cold fusion gotten there? “Between cold fusion and respectable science there is virtually no communication at all. …because the […]
And can we even agree on the definition of ‘nothingness’? “Alone, I often fall down into nothingness. I must push my foot stealthily lest I should fall off the edge […]
The darkness we see from Earth can never be 100% dark. “All I want is blackness. Blackness and silence.” –Sylvia Plath If you take a look at the night sky […]
Looking into the great, dark unknown was a mystery for thousands of years. No longer! “Science cannot tell theology how to construct a doctrine of creation, but you can’t construct a […]
https://players.brightcove.net/2097119709001/4kXWOFbfYx_default/index.html?videoId=5131037086001 It’s the 10th anniversary of dark matter’s most compelling proof. “It may be that ultimately the search for dark matter will turn out to be the most expensive and […]
For thousands upon thousands of years, we didn’t know whether the other stars in the Universe were even like our Sun, much less whether they had planets around them like […]
What’s the difference between “point-like” and what we can actually state? “When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of […]
Rather than life arising on Earth, did it already exist in space prior to our planet’s formation? “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it […]
Dark energy tells us what the Universe is doing right now, and it’s disconcerting. But its fate has some incredible possibilities. “Even if I stumble on to the absolute truth […]