Starts With A Bang

A dense starfield, with various colored stars shimmering through a dark cloud-like formation, lies against a deep black background in the mysterious zone of avoidance.
The Universe is out there, waiting to be discovered

Our mission is to answer the biggest questions of all, scientifically.

What is the Universe made of? How did it become the way it is today? Where did everything come from? What is the ultimate fate of the cosmos?

For most of human history, these questions had no clear answers. Today, they do. Starts With a Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, explores what we know about the universe and how we came to know it, bringing the latest discoveries in cosmology and astrophysics directly to you.

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Ethan Siegel is an award-winning PhD astrophysicist and the author of four books, including The Grand Cosmic Story, published by National Geographic.

Full Profile
A bald man with a long beard and handlebar mustache gestures with his hands against a backdrop of an upside-down cityscape wearing a purple shirt.
An image of an ancient black hole
At the center of Hubble's famous "cosmic horseshoe," a very heavy supermassive black hole has been robustly measured. How is it possible?
A person inspects a large, cylindrical section of a Higgs factory tunnel lined with metal pipes, cables, and equipment—a crucial site for particle physics research.
A next-generation collider is required for studying particle physics at the frontiers. Here's the fastest, cheapest way to get it done.
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In the search for life in the Universe, the ultimate goal is to find an inhabited planet beyond Earth. How will we know when we've made it?
parallel universe
Parallel universes are among the most profound notions in all of quantum physics. It's a compelling and fascinating idea, but is it true?
Amplifying the energy within a laser, over and over, won't get you an infinite amount of energy. There's a fundamental limit due to physics.
Two tall, rectangular scientific instruments, including a NASA nuclear reactor prototype, stand on the rocky lunar surface with Earth visible in the background against the blackness of space.
There are real concerns with long-term power generation on the Moon; nuclear could be the answer. But for NASA, will the cost be too high?
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At the end of July, hundreds of scientists convened to plan NASA's upcoming astrophysics flagship mission. Will the US allow it to happen?
Two supermassive black holes on an inevitable death spiral push the limits of Einstein's relativity. New observations reveal even more.
creation of adam sistine
When it comes to our Universe's origins, scientists discuss the Big Bang, cosmic inflation, and other theories. Why doesn't "God" come up?
laniakea
On the largest scales, galaxies don't simply clump together, but form superclusters. Too bad they don't remain bound together.
Abstract digital artwork featuring concentric blue circles, lines, and green geometric shapes over a dark blue and black textured background, evoking a sense of vibe physics within its captivating composition.
The conversation you're having with an LLM about groundbreaking new ideas in theoretical physics is completely meritless. Here's why.
5000 exoplanets
Somewhere, at some point in the history of our Universe, life arose. We're evidence of that here on Earth, but many big puzzles remain.
Full moon over a city skyline at night, high-rise buildings aglow and lights reflecting on the calm water—a scene that inspires 5 science lessons about the moon's impact on our world.
Even just by examining the Moon with the unaided eye, we can learn an incredible amount about the Moon, Earth, and more.
The Big Bang was hot, dense, uniform, and filled with matter and energy. Before that? There was nothing. Here's how that's possible.
quantum particles
Realizing that matter and energy are quantized is important, but quantum particles aren't the full story; quantum fields are needed, too.
levitation
With the right material at the right temperature and a magnetic track, physics really does allow perpetual motion without energy loss.
bounce ball
Whether you run the clock forward or backward, most of us expect the laws of physics to be the same. A 2012 experiment showed otherwise.
every square degree
When the Hubble Space Telescope first launched in 1990, there was so much we didn't know. Here's how far we've come.
Green abstract image with floating, glowing funnel-shaped objects and spherical wireframe shapes evokes a black hole universe, all set against a misty green background with ethereal light streaks.
Once you cross a black hole's event horizon, there's no going back. But inside, could creating a singularity give birth to a new Universe?
F = ma fall up
From high school through the professional ranks, physicists still take incredible lessons away from Newton's second law.