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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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We might have been spared the worst of Hurricane Matthew, but the underlying science is informative at any time! “She didn’t even know what she’d do when she got back to […]
If you were betting on LIGO, you bet wrong. Just like everybody else. “‘Topology is destiny,’ he said, and put the drawers on. One leg at a time.” –Neal Stephenson One […]
The dark horsehead nebula isn’t dark at all, but only if you look at the invisible forms of light. “If you are fearful, a horse will back off. If you are […]
If the waste we have is so hazardous, and we have the capability, why don’t we hurl it all into the Sun? “There will be peace when the people of the […]
We see them change in wavelength, energy and in their electric and magnetic fields over time. So how do they experience it? “Everyone has his dream; I would like to […]
A correlation between normal matter and the observed rotation suggests that maybe dark matter isn’t a certainty, after all. “Nothing in the standard cosmological model predicts this, and it is almost […]
The same way a forgotten woman astronomer — Annie Jump Cannon — first did over 100 years ago! “Teaching man his relatively small sphere in the creation, it also encourages him by its lessons of […]
Want to ‘make America great again’? Not without science, you won’t. “Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson hated each other so much. But that hate that they had for each other did […]
As great as Hubble is, it can only see a narrow range of light, which means it can only see a sliver of the Universe. Want more? “We conducted the first […]
In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre showed how warp drive could be made real within General Relativity. What does that imply? “Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new […]
There are strict scientific standards a new ‘claimed discovery’ needs to meet. Has cold fusion gotten there? “Between cold fusion and respectable science there is virtually no communication at all. …because the […]
And can we even agree on the definition of ‘nothingness’? “Alone, I often fall down into nothingness. I must push my foot stealthily lest I should fall off the edge […]
The darkness we see from Earth can never be 100% dark. “All I want is blackness. Blackness and silence.” –Sylvia Plath If you take a look at the night sky […]
Looking into the great, dark unknown was a mystery for thousands of years. No longer! “Science cannot tell theology how to construct a doctrine of creation, but you can’t construct a […]
https://players.brightcove.net/2097119709001/4kXWOFbfYx_default/index.html?videoId=5131037086001 It’s the 10th anniversary of dark matter’s most compelling proof. “It may be that ultimately the search for dark matter will turn out to be the most expensive and […]
For thousands upon thousands of years, we didn’t know whether the other stars in the Universe were even like our Sun, much less whether they had planets around them like […]
What’s the difference between “point-like” and what we can actually state? “When we think about the present, we veer wildly between the belief in chance and the evidence in favour of […]
Rather than life arising on Earth, did it already exist in space prior to our planet’s formation? “When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it […]
Dark energy tells us what the Universe is doing right now, and it’s disconcerting. But its fate has some incredible possibilities. “Even if I stumble on to the absolute truth […]
Comet-like tail, X-rays and more discovered at Solar System’s edge. “Maybe some people don’t feel scared when they think about comets and supernovas. Maybe they think it is wonderful.” –Lydia Netzer […]