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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.
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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 […]
From 10 billion years ago, a cluster more than 500 trillion times the Sun’s mass is revealed to us. “If you take a galaxy and try to make it bigger, […]
The first ultra high-energy map of the Universe is complete after six years. And there’s a surprise inside. “I happen to have discovered a direct relation between magnetism and light, also […]
Pyongyang says they’ve detonated a hydrogen bomb. Here’s how science can tell us they’re lying. “In this first testing ground of the atomic bomb I have seen the most terrible and […]
And what it means if we don’t see gravitational waves from inflation in the next 5–10 years. “The paradigm of physics — with its interplay of data, theory and prediction — is the most powerful […]
And it didn’t even need a transit to do it! “Mars is much closer to the characteristics of Earth. It has a fall, winter, summer and spring. North Pole, South Pole, […]
It has been brought to my attention that some of you would like to have a copy of my book, autographed and personalized, and perhaps sent to either you or […]
The two best-explored outer Solar System worlds orbit one another. But no one was prepared for what New Horizons saw. “Just as a Chihuahua is still a dog, these ice dwarfs […]
Four years ago, the world was shaken with the announcement of a planet around Alpha Centauri. But was it real? “You’re on Earth. There’s no cure for that.” –Samuel Beckett If […]
The ability for mass to bend and magnify background light is a unique feature of General Relativity. But it can fool us, too. “Gravitational and electromagnetic interactions are long-range interactions, meaning […]