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.
The discovery of the first-ever asteroid to arrive from interstellar space is full of lessons for us all. On October 19th, astronomers discovered an objectunlike any other we’d seen before: a […]
There are plenty of questions we don’t know the answer to. With quantum gravity, they might be solved! This article is written by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized […]
For the first time, I genuinely enjoyed the new series. There’s been one question that’s bothered me in every episode since Star Trek: Discovery began: why would anyone want to be […]
With a journey of 130 million light years, both signals should move at the speed of light. So why did one get here first? On August 17, after a journey taking […]
If you think we know it all, you’ll never be ready for the next big breakthrough. When you’re taught the scientific method, you think of a neat procedure you can […]
If a former Nazi realized its importance nearly 50 years ago, perhaps we all can, too. Around the country and around the world, there is no shortage of human suffering. Poverty, […]
Don’t believe in dark matter or dark energy? Your view of the Universe just got a lot more difficult. If you ask an astrophysicist what’s the greatest puzzle in the […]
There’s no science in this episode of science fiction… but there’s a lot of suspicious happenings that no one’s noticing. Following up on the best episode of the season, thus […]
Do we need quantum gravity? We sure do… and here’s how we’re trying to get there! Our current best theories describing the Universe, general relativity for gravity, quantum field theory for […]
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 […]