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.
There are many different levels, but one key difference separates science from the rest. “I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory […]
With Valentine’s Day in the past, that’s no reason to forget about the best part of that holiday! “Look, there’s no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.” –Fernando Pessoa One of the […]
What LIGO’s first signal actually means. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves.” –David Reitze This morning, the principal investigator of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), David Reitze, made […]
How we’ll directly take pictures of Earth-like planets in the future! “We stand on a great threshold in the human history of space exploration. If life is prevalent in our neighborhood […]
Just two days before its data was released, I wrote this story on what it all means. Come get the scoop! “Einstein’s gravitational theory, which is said to be the greatest […]
It’s actually better to not catch that extra light. Here’s why. “A mouse does not rely on just one hole.” –Plautus If you want to see farther, deeper and more […]
Are comets and asteroids periodic, and are we due? “Biological diversity is messy. It walks, it crawls, it swims, it swoops, it buzzes. But extinction is silent, and it has no […]
The first of the next generation of telescopes is already under construction. Here’s the audacious new science we’re in for! “We find them smaller and fainter, in constantly increasing numbers, and […]
Still want more information about the LIGO gravitational wave discovery? Check me out on my local news!
Is it how the Universe began, or just how our observable Universe began? They’re not the same! “These theories were based on the hypothesis that all the matter in the universe […]
An incredible live-blog of an incredible event. “It’s becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory where sufficiently extreme conditions are ever achieved to test new […]
In the Iowa caucuses, she won six coin tosses in a row to decide state delegates. Foul play, or normal statistics? “[T]he coin of life has meaning and value no […]
The Surprising Scientific Answer Has A Lot More Than Just Heat Exchange Involved. “I like cappuccino, actually. But even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at […]
Look for the bow shock, but not just in visible light! “Most people don’t know what’s happening around them because they’re just speeding through life. And before they know it, they’re […]
Is there an alternate Universe with a different version of you, and all the outcomes you didn’t choose? “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” –Stephen King, The Dark […]
In 30 million years, we’ll undergo star formation unlike anything else since before there were mammals on Earth. “Think about it this way — a boomerang goes out and comes back to you […]
How the biggest NASA mission of the decade will solve some of the Universe’s greatest mysteries. “Now the world has gone to bed,Darkness won’t engulf my head,I can see by […]
The first of the three great NASA disasters — Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia — happened 49 years ago. Look back. “If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, […]
The Orion Nebula demonstrates the answer. “So numerous are the objects which meet our view in the heavens, that we cannot imagine a point of space where some light would not […]
The similarities between the Universe and a living being are striking and surprising. Could larger entities than us be alive? “Do not look at stars as bright spots only. Try to […]
And how close does the farthest one we’ve ever found so far come to it? “Science, however, gives me the feeling of steady progress: I am convinced that theoretical physics […]
Planet Nine? More like “Planet maybe.” “Finding out that something you have just discovered is considered all but impossible is one of the joys of science.” –Mike Brown Last week, the […]
Is inertia of prior ideas the only thing keeping us from the next major revolution in science? This post was written by Brian Koberlein. Brian is an astrophysicist and Senior Lecturer […]
How the darkest places on the sky unexpectedly house the closest new stars. “You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will […]
And here’s the reason why, despite all you may have heard. “Thou shalt not embarrass thyself and thy colleagues by claiming false planets.” –Bill Cochran Late last year, one of the […]
The Universe may be truly infinite, but our understanding of it never will be. Here’s why. “To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not […]
And if the Universe is expanding, does that mean these ripples can break the speed of light? “Einstein’s gravitational theory, which is said to be the greatest single achievement of […]
It’s not that Astronomy has a “problem” that’s unique; it’s that they’re actually doing something about it. “Beauty provokes harassment, the law says, but it looks through men’s eyes when deciding […]
How the future of astronomy — and something we can’t even see — might open up the dark Universe. This post is written by Sabine Hossenfelder, a theoretical physicist specialized in quantum gravity & […]
Last week’s $1.5 billion jackpot was a record that likely will be broken again and again. But when, if ever, should you play? “I’ve done the calculation and your chances of […]