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
New Horizons is closing in on what was once our Solar System’s most distant planet. How did it get there? “Even in hindsight, I would not change one whit of […]
It’s only a matter of time before another star has a close encounter with our Solar System. How long do we have? “From an incandescent mass we have originated, and […]
How an experiment high above Antarctica — Spider — sheds new light on the cosmic microwave background. Observations of the cosmic microwave background continue to capture public attention, highlighted these last few weeks in […]
The future of stars like our own, in a story only pictures can tell. “I lie on the floor, washed by nothing and hanging on. I cry at night. I […]
With superhuman speed, strength and precision, how far could the man of steel hit a baseball? “If I had to choose a superhero to be, I would pick Superman. He’s […]
We claim to know the Universe’s history to incredible precision. But is this justified? “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”-Albert Einstein We’ve reached […]
As the Hubble Space Telescope nears its 25th anniversary, it never stops amazing us. “That I learned even as a three year-old that I see this world that is really […]
Scientific debate is important for the questions it raises, not the early conclusions it reaches. “Even when Darwin’s teaching first made its appearance, it became clear at once that its […]
We owe our origins to the stars. But it’s not the fast catastrophes that made us possible, but a slow, burning romance. “It took less than an hour to make […]
In the story of where all this comes from, our closest world was a mystery for millennia. But now we know! “But even when the moon looks like it’s waning…it’s […]
How a funny idea to ship your enemies glitter turned into an empire. “There is a concept that is the corrupter and destroyer of all others. I speak not of […]
The Sun is made almost entirely out of hydrogen and helium; the Earth has hardly any of either. How’d that happen? “The single most powerful element of youth is our […]
How to figure out your location on Earth with only the most primitive tools. “And you may find yourself in another part of the world.And you may find yourself behind […]
Either there’s an unseen source of mass, or the laws of gravity are wrong. But only one can explain what we see. “The discrepancy between what was expected and what […]
Encounters in the fourth dimension. We all have an intuitive sense of what a dimension is. There are only three perpendicular directions in which we might move, which we might […]
From our spiral shape to the heavy elements expelled in supernovae, our galaxy’s gravity reveals far more than we see. “I think if I had to choose, I would rather […]
Our Milky Way is only the second-largest galaxy in our local group. Take an interactive dive into the biggest! “He who would search for pearls must dive below.” –John Dryden […]
If everything began with a Big Bang and is expanding, is there a center? “I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out […]
If a scientific theory can never be “100% proven,” how can we know what’s true? “Never waste your time trying to explain who you are to people who are committed […]
With the full suite of observations of the Universe now at our disposal, what is the story, contents, and history of the Universe? “People are trapped in history and history […]
Kepler took a look at 150,000 stars, searching for habitable worlds. Based on what it found, how many should be in our galaxy? “I’m sure the universe is full of […]
If you ever saw a spiral galaxy where one side looked darker than another, prepare yourself: now we know why! “With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, […]
Remember the “Pillars of Creation,” the star-forming nursery in the heart of the Eagle Nebula? You’ve never seen it like this. “The whole difference between construction and creation is exactly […]
NASA represents a full 50% of the world’s expenditures on space science & exploration. What should we expect from it? “This Administration has never really faced up to where we […]
The early Universe consisted of atoms, but 99.999999% of them were Hydrogen and Helium. Where’d the rest come from? “A physicist is just an atom’s way of looking at itself.” […]
“If you draw something, I will add to it.” The red pen never felt so good. “Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the […]
As dark energy takes over and distant galaxies accelerate, what are we losing, and what does that mean? “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they […]
While 2015 gives us all a fresh start, we can consider the Big Bang until today to be “One Universe Year.” What comes next? “And now we welcome the new […]
What it means if there’s no life anywhere else in the Universe, and what we know so far. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves […]
All the stars in the night sky are bound in the Milky Way galaxy, just one of billions in the Universe. Here’s the story of where they come from. “The […]