Starts With A Bang
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.
Ask Ethan: How do we know the universe is 13.8 billion years old?
It's been precisely 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang occurred. Here's how we know.
Astronomers race to save the night sky, but will anyone listen?
An unprecedented number of new satellites threatens the night sky as we know it. Will we act in time to save it?
Sparks fly when you microwave grapes: here’s the science of why
Put two grapes close together in a microwave and you'll get an electrifying result, all because of the physics of plasmas.
A giant solar flare is inevitable, and humanity is completely unprepared
For the past 150+ years, the big ones have all missed us. But at some point, our good luck will run out.
94% of the universe’s galaxies are permanently beyond our reach
Even if we traveled at the speed of light, we'd never catch up to these galaxies.
William Shatner cried upon returning from space. The “overview effect” explains why
The "overview effect," experienced by astronauts when they view the Earth from outer space, irrevocably changes your perspective as a human.
Surprise: the Big Bang isn’t the beginning of the universe anymore
We used to think the Big Bang meant the universe began from a singularity. Nearly 100 years later, we're not so sure.
Can we use a giant thruster to change Earth’s orbit?
Migrating our planet to a safer orbit might be the only way to preserve Earth after all the ice melts.
The 3 types of energy stored within every atom
Chemical energy, where electrons transition in atoms, powers the reactions we see. But two other types hold more promise than all the rest.
Ask Ethan: Do we know why the Big Bang really happened?
Many contrarians dispute that cosmic inflation occurred. The evidence says otherwise.
These 5 recent advances are changing everything we thought we knew about electronics
From wearable electronics to microscopic sensors to telemedicine, new advances like graphene and supercapacitors are bringing "impossible" electronics to life.
Why “chaos and complex systems” absolutely deserves 2021’s Nobel Prize in physics
It's not for climate science and condensed matter physics. It's for advancing our understanding beyond spherical cows.
After 350 years, astronomers still can’t explain the solar system’s strangest moon
Saturn's Iapetus, discovered way back in 1671, has three bizarre features that science still can't fully explain.
The science of how Earth will meet its ultimate end
The past ~4 billion years have been an incredibly successful, unbroken run for life on Earth. The future won't be nearly so bright.
Ask Ethan: Will dark energy cause the Big Bang to disappear?
If we were born trillions of years in the future, could we even figure out our cosmic history?
Planet found orbiting three stars all at once
Move over, Tattooine, and instead feast your eyes on GW Orionis.
Could there be a parallel universe identical to our own?
If there really is another version of you out there in a parallel universe, what can that teach us about reality?
Can we see farther back in space than we can in time?
The universe is only 13.8 billion years old, but we can see back 46.1 billion light-years. Here's how the expanding universe does it.
Neptune’s discovery 175 years ago was our first success finding dark matter
Gravitation, all on its own, can reveal what's present in the cosmos like nothing else.
Ask Ethan: Are we the children of neutron stars and black holes?
Are the stellar remnants in our cosmic backyard actually our parents and grandparents?
Astronomers discover a great galactic genocide 11 billion years ago
The most massive galaxies lost their star-forming material very early on and never got it back.
Dark energy might be neither particle nor field
Everything else in the universe is either a particle or field. Dark energy behaves as neither, and it may be a property inherent to space itself.
How did Mars get its two “impossible” moons?
Phobos and Deimos only have two explanations, and neither one adds up.
Does Jupiter protect Earth or endanger it?
Even with all the recent impacts we've seen, it might be more "foe" than "friend" to us.
Ask Ethan: What’s the real science behind Google’s time crystal?
Is the time crystal really an otherworldly revolution, leveraging quantum computing that will change physics forever?
Are we approaching quantum gravity all wrong?
An exclusive interview with physicist Lee Smolin reveals how abandoning Einstein's dream may have been a terrible mistake.
How to understand Einstein’s equation for general relativity
Mathematically, it is a monster, but we can understand it in plain English.
Could fundamental physical constants not be constant across space and time?
Signals from across the universe point toward a fascinating possibility.