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
Dark energy may be real and the Universe may be accelerating, but does that mean a Big Freeze is inevitable? “It’s everywhere, really. It’s between the galaxies. It is in […]
Five independent images point to an incredible, single story, but the mystery of how it was created still remains. “The origin and evolution of life are connected in the most intimate […]
One of inflation’s co-founders lashes out against the community. But is there a scientific leg to stand on? “…an understanding of the infinite tree of universes seems to be needed in […]
The 20th century held some incredible advances across all the science. But astrophysics’ best days are yet to come. “When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up […]
Could there be a massive, giant planet beyond Neptune? Here’s what the science says… for now. “Finding out that something you have just discovered is considered all but impossible is one […]
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 […]