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Ethan Siegel
Theoretical astrophysicist and science writer
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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Is there any good reason for assigning North and South the way we do, or could we have just as easily done the reverse?
The laws of physics state that you can't create or destroy matter without also creating or destroying an equal amount of antimatter. So how are we here?
In the night sky for March of 2022, only stars and the Moon, not planets, will greet you. The real show, however, arrives just before dawn.
Despite all that we've learned about the Universe, there remain unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, questions. Could "God" be the answer?
Shortly after planet Earth formed, life took a permanent hold on our surface. But just how common is such an outcome?
If dark matter exists in a large halo in our galaxy, made up of particles, then it's passing through us constantly. But how much?
When we look out at the Universe, even with Hubble, we're only seeing the closest, biggest, brightest galaxies. Here's where the rest are.
There's a limit to how large planets can be, and it's only about double the radius of Jupiter. At least, so far.
More than any other of Einstein's equations, E = mc² is the most recognizable to people. But what does it all mean?
Despite being the closest planet to the Sun, Mercury "only" reaches 800 °F at its hottest. Venus is always hotter, even at night.
Planet Earth has been around for over 4.5 billion years, but humans? For 99.998% of our planet's history, humans were nowhere to be found.
Professional astronomy images are the gold standard. But this Large Magellanic Cloud composite is the amateur community's best image ever.
Is the multiverse real? It's one of the hottest questions in all of theoretical physics. We invited two astrophysicists to join the debate.
The natural wonders of Mauritius include the spectacular sight of an underwater waterfall. Here's the science of how it works.
Out of all the galaxies we know, only a few little ones are missing dark matter. At last, we finally understand why.
The odds are slim, but the consequences would be devastating. Here's what would happen, plus how to avoid it.
Move over, IC 1101. You may be impressively large, but you never stood a chance against the largest known galaxy: Alcyoneus.
If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at even higher energies, something even greater happens?
Once science operations begin for James Webb, we'll never look at the Universe the same way again. Here's what everyone should know.
Lake Baikal holds nearly one-fourth of Earth's fresh surface water and is the most scientifically interesting lake on our planet.