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 physics of accurately knowing just how much time has passed. “While friendship itself has an air of eternity about it, seeming to transcend all natural limits, there is hardly any […]
Now that the Higgs has been discovered, the Standard Model is complete. But are there any other new particles? “The particle and the planet are subject to the same laws […]
An extraordinarily simple explanation of the most mind-boggling concept of modern science. “In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.” -Walt […]
You’ll be investing 5-to-7 years of your life. What will you get back? “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” –Benjamin Franklin Recently, a number of people — of widely different ages […]
A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. “We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.” […]
The sounds you hear are affected by what you see. Experience it for yourself! “It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we […]
In 1887, two scientists set out to measure how the speed of light changed with the Earth’s motion. What they *didn’t* find wound up changing the world. “The conclusions, the bizarre […]
The speed of light in a vacuum is the limit for massless particles, but massive ones are limited even further! “All our sweetest hours fly the fastest.” -Virgil If you’ve been […]
What everyone should know about where our matter-and-radiation-filled Universe came from. “I don’t think at this point we have any way of knowing where the laws of physics came from. We […]
A surprising globular cluster found directly opposite to the galactic center! “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain […]
How an observational signature from Cosmic Inflation could herald the scientific revolution of the century “Despite its name, the big bang theory is not really a theory of a bang at […]
“You Done Stole My Album! Uh Uh, No You Better Don’t, Hooker!“ “[M]y goal is to always come from a place of love… but sometimes you just have to break it […]
Is the largest object in our galaxy — our central black hole — poised to devour a massive gas cloud? “What makes us love… is when we learn all these fantastic stories. Feeding the imagination […]
This March 14th, stump your friends with these amazing facts about the world’s favorite transcendental number! “So here we have π squared, which an engineer would call ‘10.’” –Frank King […]
Every element found on Earth was made in either the Big Bang or the cores of stars… except these three. “We cannot conceive of matter being formed of nothing, since things […]
And — if you aren’t — why you should be watching. “The brain is like a muscle. When it is in use we feel very good. Understanding is joyous.” –Carl Sagan I’ve already told […]
One of the only members of the Virgo Cluster… that isn’t located in Virgo! “[L]ife is a luminous halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of consciousness to the […]
Seven of the greatest and most entertaining achievements of human ingenuity. “I love that moment just before the curtain goes up…It’s a thrill that’s unequaled anywhere.” -Joel Grey It’s a […]
Cleansing your body never tasted so good… or felt so bad! “My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.” –Orson Welles I’m […]
Someday, the Sun will expand, engulfing Mercury and Venus, and then some. Will we survive? “They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has faded and Moon is dead.”-J.R.R. Tolkien […]
You’ll frequently hear people say “the science is settled.” Scientifically speaking, can it ever be? “All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to […]
From Earth and beyond, these time lapses show our one-of-a-kind motion through the Universe. “Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen.” […]
It was the most promising idea for where new physics might lie. Now that the LHC data is in, is it dead? “The revolution is not an apple that falls when […]
A galaxy very different from our own may hold the key to seeing what our far future looks like. “We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum […]
Phrases that only came out of one man’s mouth because of his kids. “Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.” –Aldous Huxley […]
“If I see a spider in my house, I put it in a cup, and then I take it outside. I save it. What is wrong with me?” –Jacqueline Emerson […]
Alan Alda recently challenged scientists to explain this simple question to 11-year-olds in less than 300 words. Could you do it? “You can’t get there by bus, only by hard work […]
It’s one of the most beautiful (and terrifying) sights in the world. But what causes it? “If you are caught on a golf course during a storm and are afraid of […]
You know that the square root of -1 is “i”, an imaginary number. But did you know any of these? “There is not enough love and goodness in the world to […]
How a “New Star” appearing in 1572 paved the way for us to truly begin understanding our Universe. “I conclude, therefore, that this star is not some kind of comet […]