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.
Magnetic reconnection this fast shouldn’t be possible, yet we see it everywhere we look. Finally, we know why. “We are inside this plasma,and plasma is inside everything. It is incandescentin the […]
Merging black holes are some of the most extreme events in the Universe. Could a modified event horizon reveal quantum gravity? “The bedrock nature of space and time and the unification […]
When black holes stop eating, galaxies fade away. “I’ll never, ever be full. I’ll always be hungry. Obviously, I’m not talking about food.” –Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson Most large galaxies are […]
They move at the speed of light, but not even light can escape. So how do gravitational waves? “I think there are a number of experiments that are thinking about […]
And defeat for new physics. Without something spectacular, there’s no reason to build a bigger collider. “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is […]
It’s not appealing to authority that’s the problem; it’s the false authorities and what comes next if you accept their nonsense. “When a scientist says something, his colleagues must ask […]
If the impossible space engine works, could dark matter reconcile the laws of physics with these bizarre experimental results? “…axions are potentially detectable through their weak coupling to electromagnetism…” –Aaron […]
The highest energy collisions go beyond any collider… and may hold a fantastic secret! This article was written by Sabine Hossenfelder. Sabine is a theoretical physicist specialized in quantum gravity. […]
Sometimes, what nature gives you is even better than what you hoped for. “Science doesn’t always go forwards. It’s a bit like doing a Rubik’s cube. You sometimes have to make […]
Sure, we move through it just like space, but it was the aftermath of Einstein that led to us truly understanding it. “It is old age, rather than death, that […]
If you’ve ever wondered just why it has piqued the interest of so many, have a look inside. “I just think too many nice things have happened in string theory for […]
Thanksgiving may already be a week behind us, but there’s always something to be thankful for. “If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful […]
Either momentum truly is conserved and this isn’t a reactionless drive… or else. “The law of the conservation of momentum is the basis of the static thrust equation, the law of […]
And what it found was a world swimming, literally, with possibilities. Just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs are still planetary bodies. The misfit becomes the […]
From a speculative story to solid science! “The new ALMA images show the disk in unprecedented detail, revealing a series of concentric dusty bright rings and dark gaps, including intriguing features […]
It might have puzzled Einstein right up until his death, but that doesn’t mean you can’t understand it! “As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are […]
Even if the Universe grows to infinity, there might not be enough space to hold all the possibilities. “We are actually living in a million parallel realities every single minute.” –Marina […]
There’s never been a more important time to be aware of how the fate of the Earth depends on us. “We only have one planet that serves as an example and […]
In the depths of intergalactic space, the Big Bang’s leftover glow is just 2.73 K. But this spot in our own galaxy is even colder. “If you want your boomerang to […]
The way to greatness requires us to look forwards, not backwards. “Whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, […]
Whether it’s “super” or not, you won’t want to miss this piece of the Universe. “From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab […]
Gravity is the oldest fundamental force ever discovered. Might it not be fundamental after all? “The whole edifice of modern physics is built up on the fundamental hypothesis of the atomic […]
We’ve just had the largest full Moon in 68 years. Here’s what was — and wasn’t — true. “For most people, we often marvel at the beauty of a sunrise or the magnificence of […]
Some things are held to a higher standard than mob rule. “The evidence at present available points strongly to the conclusion that the spirals are individual galaxies, or island universes, […]
How Polling botched the 2016 election “Distinguishing the signal from the noise requires both scientific knowledge and self-knowledge.” –Nate Silver On the eve of the 2016 election, Nate Silver’s 538 site […]
The reports that our Solar System is missing the galaxy’s most common type of planet are greatly exaggerated. “To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a […]
With a whole-planet comparison, you’d never confuse the two worlds. But from their surfaces, telling them apart is harder than you’d think. Image credit: NASA. Think you can tell the red […]
Perhaps the limits of what we can observe aren’t just artificial; perhaps there are no limits to what’s out there at all. “Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, […]
All pointing toward the Standard Model plus General Relativity not being all there is. “The Universe is very, very big. It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely […]
The Big Bang’s leftover glow tells us a lot more than just where we came from. “Cosmology is the study of the origin, evolution, and fate of objects in the observable […]