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.
How the entire history of the Universe gave rise to us, in ten giant leaps. Image credit: Zosia Rostomian, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “It surprises me how disinterested we are […]
In theory, there’s a way to push the cosmic reset button. Here’s how. “Don’t be too proud of this technological terror you’ve constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is […]
How the demons and angels of our greatest minds advanced science. Image credit: Luis Royo Fantasy Art, via Photobucket user mikenolan78. When most people think of Einstein, they think of […]
Beyond our own galaxy, this ancient relic holds a key to our cannibalistic past. Image credit: NASA / Hubble / Wikisky. “A hungry man can’t see right or wrong. He […]
There’s nothing like signing up for a random chat… and winding up with an improv serenade! “I created this project for fun. Initially, I had no business goals with it. […]
Is there a way to see past the barrier the Universe puts up before it became transparent to light? Image credit: Mark Kamionkowski, of gravitational waves. “From earliest times, humans — explorers […]
How we discovered what the Universe was made of when it first formed. Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/PSU/K. Getman et al.; IRL NASA/JPL-Caltech/CfA/J. Wang et al. “The nitrogen in our DNA, […]
How to destroy an Alderaan-sized planet. “What’s that star?It’s the Death Star.What does it do?It does Death. It does Death, buddy. Get out of my way!” –Eddie Izzard It’s one […]
At the bottom of the teapot in Sagittarius, the ancient giants burn for your pleasure. Image credit: REU program / NOAO / AURA / NSF. “I told my father that […]
An animal becomes so much more the instant you first love them. Image credit: me, of my first dog, Cordelia, back in 2008. “Dogs are our link to paradise. They […]
The physics of one of the rarest and most spectacular sunset sights ever seen! Image credit: © Mila Zinkova / Creative Commons. “It does no harm to the romance of […]
The largest structures in the Universe are phantasms, in the process of self-destructing. Image credit: NASA, N. Benitez (JHU), T. Broadhurst (Racah Institute of Physics/The Hebrew University), H. Ford (JHU), […]
How Worlds Thought in the 1960s to be Circling Barnard’s Star Turned out to be Illusions. Image via: http://www.wingmakers.co.nz/universe/extrasolar/Barnards.html. In this golden age of exoplanet discovery, it is hard to […]
At the top of the Teapot, a fantastic cluster dotted with Red Giants awaits. Image credit: © 2005–2009 by Rainer Sparenberg, via http://www.airglow.de/html/starclusters/m28.html. “The most difficult thing is the decision […]
Supermoons are both super and common, but they’re only a tiny slice of our nearest neighbor’s magnificent journey. Image credit: ESA / NASA and the International Space Station. “O, swear […]
How can salmon get upstream when their waters are blocked by dams? You’ve got to see this new innovation! Image credit: William Bain / flickr. “You ain’t supposed to get […]
The scariest of all possible fates results in the ultimate destruction of everything that ever was or will be. Image credit: Boren-Simon 2.8–8 ED POWERNEWT Astrograph Image Gallery. “Why do […]
Do you know all of them, and what makes them so bright? Image credit: source unknown, but it contains #7 and #9 on the list, via http://st.gdefon.com/wallpapers_original/wallpapers/428170_orion_yupiter_betelgejze_rigel_aldebaran_pleyady_y_7408x4602_(www.GdeFon.ru).jpg. “I’m hungry for […]
Letting data and evidence, not fears or ideology, guide you is harder than you’d imagine. Image credit: European XFEL, via http://www.xfel.eu/research/benefits/. “Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of […]
An ancient relic from the young Universe is covered in surprising riches near the galactic center. Image credit: Paul Chasse (astronewb11) of flickr, via https://www.flickr.com/photos/astronewb2011/7247070648/. “Ancients knew that you need […]
What happens when an artist decides to share her sketchbook with her four-year-old daughter? Image credit: Mica & Myla Hendricks, via their (fully funded) Kickstarter page. “If you can’t share, […]
If we came to be just a few billion years earlier, we’d never know. Image credit: Jean-Charles Cuillandre (CFHT) & Giovanni Anselmi (Coelum Astronomia), Hawaiian Starlight. “After all the ‘Universe’ […]
What every middle-to-high schooler should know. Image credit: Bayside STEM academy, via Stanford at https://ed.stanford.edu/news/new-design-thinking-curriculum-targets-middle-school-students. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time […]
There’s plenty of gas, dust, planets and rocky bodies out there. Could some combination of them explain dark matter? Image credit: Chris Blake and Sam Moorfield, via http://www.sdss3.org/surveys/boss.php. “When a […]
Through a telescope, this swarm of star appears extremely oblate. But is it really? Image credit: via http://vilagbiztonsag.hu/keptar/displayimage.php?album=19&pid=19138. “If I take dust in my hand and ask you if that […]
How to turn the greatest NASA images in history into wallpaper, curtains, fabric and more! Image credit: Elinor Medezinski, Suprime-Cam/Subaru Telescope; ZwCl 0024–17. “I’m coming back in… and it’s the […]
And, in general, how would you be able to tell? Image credit: Mahdi Zamani, via http://www.twanight.org/newTWAN/guests_photos.asp?ID=5001660. “When I was ten all I knew was that I hated the weird words […]
The top 10 pictures from a Russian cosmonaut you’ve never heard of. Image credit: NASA, Space Shuttle Atlantis, during mission STS-132. “We came all this way to explore the Moon, […]
How a fundamental but unstable particle might be our first window into particle physics beyond the Standard Model. Image credit: Muon g-2 magnet, courtesy of Fermilab. “You suddenly realize that […]
No other idea explains even two of these. Image credit: NASA / CXC / ESO WFI / Magellan composite. Any recent article about the remaining mysteries of the Universe will […]