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.
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 […]
With current technology, things might take generations. But that could be greatly reduced with a little help. “Oh, yes — I know you. There was a time you looked at the stars and […]
How we went from our Milky Way, alone, to the entire Universe. “Gamow was fantastic in his ideas. He was right, he was wrong. More often wrong than right. Always […]
The laws of physics appear to be symmetric between matter and antimatter. But the Universe tells a different story. “If you see an antimatter version of yourself running towards you, […]
From cities across the world, fireworks were the spectacular sight. But near the poles, nature was the star of the show. “You cannot rob me of free nature’s grace,You cannot […]
These cosmic optical illusions are more common than you think. “I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort where we overlap.” –Ani DiFranco If […]
What we can see extends for 46.1 billion light years in all directions today. So how big was it at birth? “They say it all started out with a big bang. […]
From the Milky Way’s perspective, there are hundreds of galaxies visible with even a small telescope. But from this galaxy’s location? Zero. “If the expansion of the space of the […]
A discovery that never would have happened with robots instead of humans. “It’s like trying to describe what you feel when you’re standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon or […]
Scientists work on it, it’s consistent with science, and it hopes to be the biggest scientific breakthrough of all. But it’s missing one key ingredient. “As of now, string theorists […]
We know the Standard Model isn’t all there is. So why haven’t we found a single particle outside of it? “I often feel a discomfort, a kind of embarrassment, when I […]
Spirals and ellipticals rule the Universe, but every so often, something far more intricate shows up. “For me, the study of these laws is inseparable from a love of Nature […]
If energy is always conserved, then what “gains” the energy that photons lose as the Universe expands? “…in every kind of chemical change no loss of matter occurs […] in all […]
How does he deliver presents to hundreds of millions of households in just one night? With physics, of course! “Our family was too strange and weird for even Santa Claus to […]
If there is a quantum theory of gravity, is String Theory the only game in town? “I just think too many nice things have happened in string theory for it to […]
An Applicant’s Guide To NASA Astronaut Selection This guest post was written by Brian Shiro: NOAA geophysicist, NASA researcher, and co-founder of Astronauts for Hire. “I wasn’t destined to be […]
Science is the best tool we have for predicting the future. Here’s what the next year ought to bring. “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s […]
These stars are too hot and blue for their age, and the leading theory just got a strike against it. “Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work […]
Both are beautiful gifts, but only one is a beautiful learning experience. “The time will come when diligent research over long periods will bring to light things which now lie […]
It’s rare to find a galaxy where the arms wrap around even a full 360 degrees. But after billions of years, why is that? “The farther we peer into space, the […]