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
It may be the only way to save the USA — and the world — from alternative facts. “If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.” –Ernest Rutherford There […]
The outer three can even be seen with a small, 1.5 meter telescope. This 2010 picture of three of the four known exoplanets orbiting HR 8799 represents the first time […]
It’s the most fundamental fabric of the Universe itself. But how does it work? “‘Space-time’ — that hideous hybrid whose very hyphen looks phoney.” –Vladimir Nabokov When it comes to understanding the Universe, there […]
Beyond climate change, ice ages or even the death of our Sun, the cosmic dance continues for ages. Here’s how it will truly end. “The way to love anything is to […]
There’s useful science to be gotten out of it, but most science that mentions it is anything but. “There is a voice inside of youThat whispers all day long,‘I feel this […]
How a telescope 100 times the size of Hubble is going to change everything. “For my confirmation, I didn’t get a watch and my first pair of long pants, like […]
Is it conserved? Destroyed? Radiated away? 40+ years on, we still don’t have answers. This article was contributed by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in quantum gravity and […]
Why do the asteroids that fall to Earth have the composition they do? A giant space collision 466 million years ago may be to blame. “Men of genius are often dull […]
It’s been going on ever since we first discovered the expansion, and there’s no resolution in sight. The discovery almost 100 years ago that the Universe was expanding was a revolution […]
Why weightlessness is possible, even if there’s no place you can hide from the Universe’s longest-range force. “It was a strange lightness, a drifting feeling. Zero gravity. I understood that […]
What it means that 2016 is the hottest year on record. “There are now dozens of hockey sticks and the all come to the same basic conclusion. The recent warming does […]
How the James Webb Space Telescope was made. “One way or another the first stars must have influenced our own history, beginning with stirring up everything and producing the other chemical […]
What caused the incredible eruption that Hubble caught on film? A predicted merger in 5 years might show us. “We have chased away the clouds, the sky is all ‘rose.’” –Francois […]
How to turn a galaxy on, once and for all. “Speculating and predicting what lies beyond the boundary is fascinating. Finding out is even more fascinating.” –Wallace H. Tucker When two […]
And when you demand ‘perfectly identical,’ just how high of a bar are you setting? “Lives are snowflakes — unique in detail, forming patterns we have seen before, but as like one another […]
Science, pictures, and a revolution in what we know is out there. “The history of astronomy is a history of receding horizons.” –Edwin Hubble The Hubble Space Telescope took its first […]
Nearly 100 years after Hubble first showed us the Universe is expanding, we still don’t know its rate. “In the far, far future, essentially all matter will have returned to […]
If you think you can just take a test and demonstrate your scientific literacy, think again. “Through basic science literacy, people can understand the policy choices we need to be making. […]
Why it’s not “the next Hubble,” but “the first James Webb.” “…because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills; because that challenge is […]
Only a few galaxies exhibit this green glow in the nearby Universe. At early times, it’s practically all of the brightest ones. “The discovery that young galaxies are so unexpectedly […]
And just what did come before — way before — the Big Bang? “We are part of the universe that has developed a remarkable ability: We can hold an image of the world in our […]
You’ve never seen a rogue planet like this. “Other galaxies like Andromeda are shooting these ‘spitballs’ at us all the time.” –James Guillochon, coauthor on the new study Black holes don’t […]
But not every location was created equal. “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. […]
Want the speed of light, the fine-structure constant or others to change? There’s a new obstacle to overcome. “The mystery about α is actually a double mystery. The first mystery — the […]
How sure are we that what we’re looking at is cosmic, rather than galactic? “Every philosophy also conceals a philosophy; every opinion is also a hideout, every word also a […]
If you “know” the answer before you ever begin, you might as well not even try. “I have difficulty to believe it, because nothing in Italy arrives ahead of time.” –Sergio […]
Just because we know it’s real doesn’t mean it’s easy to create in a lab. “For me the best answer is not in words but in measurements.” –Elena Aprile Atoms, molecules, […]
You don’t have to detect a particle to know that dark matter is real. “You may hate gravity, but gravity doesn’t care.” –Clayton Christensen In the 1970s, Vera Rubin’s observations showed […]
If a prism can do it, why not the air? “It’s a brilliant surface in that sunlight. The horizon seems quite close to you because the curvature is so much more […]
And even with them all in place, what do we still not know? “The joy of life consists in the exercise of one’s energies, continual growth, constant change, the enjoyment of […]