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.
Get Starts With A Bang in your inbox
Featured
Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity’s energy needs.
It’s a strange idea to consider: that a tiny building block of matter, the atomic nucleus, holds the greatest potential for energy release.
And yet, it’s true; while electron transitions in atoms or molecules typically release energy on the order of ~1 electron-Volt, nuclear transitions between different configurations release energies a million times as great, on the order of ~1 Mega-electron-Volt.
Popular
From before the Big Bang to the present day, the Universe goes through many eras. Dark energy heralds the final one.
A wild, compelling idea without a direct, practical test, the Multiverse is highly controversial. But its supporting pillars sure are stable.
The surface and atmosphere is colored by ferric oxides. Beneath a very thin layer, mere millimeters deep in places, it’s not red anymore.
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It’s unlike anything ever seen.
Just 13.8 billion years after the hot Big Bang, we can see 46.1 billion light-years away in all directions. Doesn’t that violate…something?
All Stories
With all the matter-and-energy so close together and so dense at the moment of the Big Bang, why didn’t it recollapse? Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick. […]
There have been many supernovae in the Milky Way seen over the past 2,000 years, but nobody ever saw the most recent ones! Image credit: NASA/CXC/NCSU/K.Borkowski et al. “When I […]
Where all the structure in the cosmos came from, and we aren’t forming new ones anymore. Image credit: Andreas Berlind, via http://astro.phy.vanderbilt.edu/~berlinaa/work_research.html. “To be loyal to myself is to allow […]
Is there a limit to how small a length can be? Image credit: Sabine Hossenfelder. Good ideas start with a question. Great ideas start with a question that comes back […]
Nearly 250 years since its discovery, this dense, brilliant core was found to have our Milky Way’s first globular-based black hole! Image credit: Paulino Maldonado, via http://observatorioelojodeowi.blogspot.com/2011/05/subo-algunas-fotografias-de-espacio.html. “And then you […]
You’ve got to see what happens when this man realizes he’s talking to the living legend herself. Image credit: GayCalgary Magazine, via http://www.gaycalgary.com/Magazine.aspx?id=109&article=3182. “I’m just thankful that I’m still here. […]
We don’t know the nature of either dark matter or dark energy: 95% of our Universe. Does that mean the Big Bang is in doubt? Image credit: wiseGEEK, © 2003 — 2014 […]
Look up after sunset for the most reliable meteor shower of the year: the Perseids, and learn where they come from! Image credit: Michael Menefee (Fort Photo on flickr), via […]
Did you hear about the EmDrive, the “impossible space engine?” Here are the red flags you should have looked for! Image credit: © 2012 — Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. “You can’t […]
How a scientist you never heard of made String Theory possible. Image credit: Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, at http://aether.lbl.gov/bccp/dimensions.html. When he died on September 7, 2012, theoretical physicist Claud […]
This star cloud is the only one of its kind: the densest large concentration of stars in the entire sky! Image credit: Dan Bush of Missouri Skies, via http://www.pbase.com/image/115380497. “It […]
How one Polish cartoonist uses his medium and the power of satire to raise awareness of injustice in the world. Image credit: Useful by Pawel Kuczynski; http://www.pictorem.com/Useful. “Everybody wants peace. […]
From atoms to solar systems to galaxies, everything seems to have rotation and revolution. Where does that come from? Image credit: Fermilab / DOE / Dark Energy camera; Dark Energy […]
More science, more stories, and more spectacular scientists are coming to Starts With A Bang! Image credit: BBC, The Story of Science. “Men at some time are masters of their […]
The incredible story of a single simple atom, that just happens to be in your body right now! Image credit: Richard Crisp, via http://www.narrowbandimaging.com/incoming/horse_ap155edf_pl39k_lrgb_15hrs.jpg. “The atoms come into my brain, […]
If spinning-and-moving charges make magnetic fields, why does a giant neutral thing have one? Image credit: NASA, Chandra X-ray Observatory, SAO, DSS, via http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140725.html. “By allowing the positive ions to […]
The incredible story of the record-breaking red planet’s rover. “In any field, find the strangest thing and then explore it.”–John Archibald Wheeler Sometimes, things get difficult. Sometimes, there are challenges […]
It’s the last Virgo Cluster member in the entire Messier catalogue, but they saved the best for last! Image credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO), via http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0608a/. “From a little spark […]
Piss off George Lucas and shoot your eye out with a real-life light saber! “General Kenobi. Years ago you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs you […]
And if not, how do you reason with those who believe they are? “Ignorance is hardly unusual, Miss Davar. The longer I live, the more I come to realize that […]
And what they mean for humans here on Earth. “Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.” –Alexander […]
If spiral galaxies have a preferred direction, it just might be. “Since the beginning of physics, symmetry considerations have provided us with an extremely powerful and useful tool in our […]
From asteroids to planets to stars and more, doubling what you’ve got can be disastrous! “Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double […]
The Virgo Cluster of galaxies is the richest nearby treasure trove of ellipticals; this is the final one Messier ever found. “We sail within a vast sphere, ever drifting in uncertainty, […]
Mike Denison’s artistic tribute to the small-screen legend is just delightful! “I’m not playing a role. I’m being myself, whatever the hell that is.” -Bea Arthur When it first came […]
The observer changes everything, but what does that mean? “You can observe a lot by just watching.” –Yogi Berra In our everyday lives, things happen the way they happen, and whether […]
As the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11 approaches, take time to remember the first human to reach the Moon. “Geologists have a saying: rocks remember.” –Neil Armstrong Looming up above us, […]
The DAMA experiment has seen an annual modulation in its signal for over a decade. But can it be explained without invoking dark matter? Today’s article comes courtesy of Sabine Hossenfelder. […]
They’re one of the great undetected predictions of dark matter, and we may have just found the first ones! “Two qualities are indispensable: first, an intellect that, even in the darkest […]
Amidst the great plane of the Milky Way, a glittering masterpiece awaits. “[T]his all fades to black, and it’s gone. It’s dust. Choose carefully what you obsess about.” -Meshell Ndegeocello […]