Ethan Siegel

Ethan Siegel

A theoretical astrophysicist and science writer, host of popular podcast “Starts with a Bang!”

Ethan Siegel 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.

quantum entanglement qubit ER = EPR
There was a lot of hype and a lot of nonsense, but also some profoundly major advances. Here are the biggest ones you may have missed.
A person in a red shirt stands next to "Waves in an Impossible Sea," the 2024 science book by Matt Strassler. The background displays a blurred bookshelf.
Matt Strassler's journey into fundamental physics culminates in a brilliant explanation of the Higgs field. Enjoy this exclusive interview.
The image showcases the JWST observations of the Firefly Sparkle galaxy alongside UGC 12158, a modern Milky Way analogue. It includes a reconstructed galaxy reminiscent of a baby Milky Way, beautifully interpreted through a lens model.
The Firefly Sparkle galaxy was only spotted because of gravitational lensing's effects. Yet galaxies like these brought us a visible cosmos.
A close-up of the quantum AI processor labeled "Willow" rests on a textured metallic surface, hinting at the mysteries of quantum computation and whispers of parallel universes.
By improving quantum error correction, quantum computations are now faster than ever. But parallel universes? That's utter nonsense here.
moon landing Apollo 11
Sixty years ago, the Soviet Union was way ahead of the USA in the space race. Then one critical event changed everything.
atoms
If atoms are mostly empty space, then why can't two objects made of atoms simply pass through each other? Quantum physics explains why.
evolution universe cosmic history big bang
From a hot, dense, uniform state in its earliest moments, our entire known Universe arose. These unavoidable steps made it all possible.
A sky full of stars with a large central galaxy, surrounded by smaller galaxies and bright spots on a dark background.
It was barely a century ago that we thought the Milky Way encompassed the entirety of the Universe. Now? We're not even a special galaxy.
Illustration of a galactic collision, showing one galaxy colliding with the Milky Way, creating a loop of stars and cosmic material against a black background.
Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.
black hole
50 years ago, Stephen Hawking showed that black holes emit radiation and eventually decay away. That fate may now apply to everything.
Betelgeuse visualization
The closest known star that will soon undergo a core-collapse supernova is Betelgeuse, just 640 light-years away. Here's what we'll observe.
A digital visualization displays particle collision results with colored tracks and trails diverging from a central point against a black background, hinting at how B-mesons might break the standard model.
We have very specific predictions for how particles ought to decay. When we look at B-mesons all together, something vital doesn't add up.
einstein general relativity curved spacetime
Most waves need a medium to travel through. But the way that light and gravitational waves travel shows that space can't be a medium at all.
Two images of the Sombrero Galaxy viewed edge-on. The top image, captured by JWST, shows a glowing blue center, while the bottom reveals a bright core with dust lanes.
The Sombrero is the closest bright, massive, edge-on galaxy to us. JWST's new image, taken with MIRI, finally shows what's under its hat.
Diagram of atomic orbitals showing various shapes and labels, including s, p, d, and f orbitals, organized in a triangular structure with coordinate axes x, y, z.
One of the fundamental constants of nature, the fine-structure constant, determines so much about our Universe. Here's why it matters.
gravitational wave effects on spacetime
Gravitational waves are the last signatures that are emitted by merging black holes. What happens when these two phenomena meet in space?
lookback time galaxies
For nearly 60 years, the hot Big Bang has been accepted as the best story of our cosmic origin. Could the Steady-State theory be possible?
how much dark matter
Two parts of our Universe that seem to be unavoidable are dark matter and dark energy. Could they really be two aspects of the same thing?
Global geoid map with colorful variations representing differences in Earth's gravity field. The scale ranges from -100 (low) to 100 (high). Europe's position is central.
Scalars, vectors, and tensors come up all the time in physics. They're more than mathematical structures. They help describe the Universe.
CMB polarization Planck
Since the mid-1960s, the CMB has been identified with the Big Bang's leftover glow. Could any alternative explanations still work?