The Universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
Our mission: to answer, scientifically, the biggest questions of all.
- What is our Universe made of?
- How did it become the way it is today?
- Where did everything come from?
- What is the ultimate fate of the cosmos?
For countless generations, these were questions without resolutions. Now, for the first time in history, we have scientific answers. Starts With A Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, brings these stories — of what we know and how we know it — directly to you.
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Featured
Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity’s energy needs.
It’s a strange idea to consider: that a tiny building block of matter, the atomic nucleus, holds the greatest potential for energy release.
And yet, it’s true; while electron transitions in atoms or molecules typically release energy on the order of ~1 electron-Volt, nuclear transitions between different configurations release energies a million times as great, on the order of ~1 Mega-electron-Volt.
Popular
From before the Big Bang to the present day, the Universe goes through many eras. Dark energy heralds the final one.
A wild, compelling idea without a direct, practical test, the Multiverse is highly controversial. But its supporting pillars sure are stable.
The surface and atmosphere is colored by ferric oxides. Beneath a very thin layer, mere millimeters deep in places, it’s not red anymore.
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It’s unlike anything ever seen.
Just 13.8 billion years after the hot Big Bang, we can see 46.1 billion light-years away in all directions. Doesn’t that violate…something?
All Stories
Everyone in the Universe needs a break sometimes. They say that all work and no play make Jack a dull boy, and with very few exceptions, I’ve been working hard […]
There really should be life out there beyond Earth. Here’s how we’ll find it. There are three very different ways humanity is searching for alien life beyond Earth. We can directly […]
Many tests have reported an ‘anomalous thrust’ where there should be none. A researcher has finally shown where everyone else has messed up. One of the ultimate dreams of humans everywhere […]
Sedna could be the very first known object from the Inner Oort Cloud. But time is running out to create and launch a mission. In 2003, scientists discovered an object beyond […]
The legacy of what humanity’s greatest telescope has to teach us about the Universe continues to grow. Here in the Universe, in the Milky Way and beyond, new stars are birthed […]
And if their conclusions will be different from ours, how can we be certain we’ve got it right? One of the greatest dangers in all of science is jumping to false […]
Every professional organization of scientists has a code of ethics and/or conduct. Why not apply it to their journals? When it comes to exploring the Universe, many young people get […]
Even before we have the James Webb Space Telescope, a controversy over when the first stars formed is growing. As far back as our most powerful telescopes have ever looked, we’ve […]
If dark energy were stronger or weaker, everything would be pretty much the same. And that’s a puzzle. After the Big Bang, the Universe was full of matter and radiation. It […]
The ingredients for life are everywhere, but so far the only life we know of comes from Earth. Here’s how that might change. Ever since human beings first turned our eyes […]
One of the night sky’s most famous sights isn’t what it appears to be. Perhaps the most famous sight of a dying star is the Ring Nebula, known since 1779. The […]
Dark energy tells us that the Universe’s expansion is accelerating. Here’s what that means for our disappearing Universe. One of the biggest surprises for humanity about the Universe is that […]
In the search for the youngest planet in the Universe, astronomers may have accidentally stumbled upon something entirely new. Growing up is hard to do in the Universe. In the great […]
If you go all the way back to where neutral atoms first formed, you can see the cosmic microwave background. Buried in the details is the Universe’s first evidence for […]
Our dark matter searches have yet to yield a robust detection. Could we be looking in all the wrong places? There’s perhaps no more fundamental question to ask than, “what is […]
When we place the known objects in the Solar System in order, four inner, rocky worlds and four, outer, giant worlds stand out. Traditionally, these were defined as planets. Will […]
The current record-holder is a doozy, and right at the limit of what Hubble can do. But there’s even more out there. The greatest advances in science often come when we […]
Here on Earth, all the right conditions occurred for intelligent life to come about, but the nearest aliens, if they’re on another world, are light years away. But it doesn’t […]
We’re taught that the most massive stars in the Universe all die in supernovae. We were taught wrong. Create a star that’s massive enough, and it won’t go out with a […]
Humanity has mapped the Milky Way better than ever with ESA’s Gaia. But 1.7 billion stars later, there are still no Dyson spheres. Perhaps the greatest ‘holy grail’ in all of […]
With huge suites of data, we can extract plenty of signals where we know to look for them. Everything else? That’s where AI comes in. At the dawn of the 20th […]
And the one “sucker’s question” you must never answer, even if the salesperson asks it. For a majority of American adults, a car is a necessity of daily life. From commuting […]
In 2015, the ultra-distant galaxy CR7 was measured to have hydrogen and helium, but no carbon or oxygen. With new ALMA observations, there’s carbon after all. As brilliant as our Universe’s […]
Dark energy means that the Universe’s expansion is accelerating. But how big will it get, and how fast? Our Universe, as we observe it today, is a vast, enormous place, full […]
In 2015, the United States brokered a revolutionary international deal with Iran about their nuclear programme. Here’s the science behind it. In 2015, a historic agreement was reached between Iran and […]
Dylan McWilliams was bit by a shark in Hawaii less than a year after being bit by a bear in Colorado. What are the odds? There’s an old saying out there […]
‘Luck’ is the wrong word. The Universe cooperated, but we gave ourselves the opportunity by being prepared. It was already 28 years ago that the Hubble Space Telescope was launched […]
And it isn’t Einstein’s equations… but it does come from them! There are some incredibly big questions that humanity has been asking about the Universe since we first began looking upwards: […]
The solar neighborhood is so different than people imagine. But for the first time, we know what it’s like. When you look up at the stars in the night sky, they […]
Whatever you do, don’t try to wash it away with water. Every few months, a volcanic eruption occurs on Earth, with lava flows and enormous plumes of volcanic ash. In 2015, […]