The universe is out there, waiting for you to discover it.
Our mission: to answer, scientifically, the biggest questions of all.
- What is our 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 countless generations, these were questions without resolutions. Now, for the first time in history, we have scientific answers. Starts With A Bang, written by Dr. Ethan Siegel, brings these stories — of what we know and how we know it — directly to you.
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Why power generated through nuclear fusion will be the future, but not the present, solution to humanity’s energy needs.
It’s a strange idea to consider: that a tiny building block of matter, the atomic nucleus, holds the greatest potential for energy release.
And yet, it’s true; while electron transitions in atoms or molecules typically release energy on the order of ~1 electron-Volt, nuclear transitions between different configurations release energies a million times as great, on the order of ~1 Mega-electron-Volt.
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From before the Big Bang to the present day, the Universe goes through many eras. Dark energy heralds the final one.
A wild, compelling idea without a direct, practical test, the Multiverse is highly controversial. But its supporting pillars sure are stable.
The surface and atmosphere is colored by ferric oxides. Beneath a very thin layer, mere millimeters deep in places, it’s not red anymore.
The first supernova ever discovered through its X-rays has an enormously powerful engine at its core. It’s unlike anything ever seen.
Just 13.8 billion years after the hot Big Bang, we can see 46.1 billion light-years away in all directions. Doesn’t that violate…something?
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JWST has seen more distant galaxies than any other observatory, ever. But many candidates for “most distant of all” are likely impostors.
Most of us have heard that the Sun is an ordinary, typical, unremarkable star. But science shows we’re actually anything but average.
Yes, dark energy is real. Yes, distant galaxies recede faster and faster as time goes on. But the expansion rate isn’t accelerating at all.
65 million years ago, a massive asteroid struck Earth. Not only did Jupiter not stop it, but it probably caused the impact itself.
In 1920, astronomers debated the nature of the Universe. The results were meaningless until years later, when the key evidence arrived.
As time goes on, dark energy makes distant galaxies recede from us ever faster in our expanding Universe. But nothing truly disappears.
In the grand scheme of the cosmic story, a single year isn’t all that significant. But over time, the annual changes really add up!
There could be variables beyond the ones we’ve identified and know how to measure. But they can’t get rid of quantum weirdness.
The very word “quantum” makes people’s imaginations run wild. But chances are you’ve fallen for at least one of these myths.
Despite the Sun’s high core temperatures, particles can’t quite overcome their mutual electric repulsion. Good thing for quantum physics!
For nearly a century, physicists have argued over how to interpret quantum physics. But reality exists independent of any interpretation.
Ever since the Big Bang, cataclysmic events have released enormous amounts of energy. Here’s the greatest one ever witnessed.
Earth is actively broadcasting and actively searching for intelligent civilizations. But could our technology even detect ourselves?
All the things that surround and compose us didn’t always exist. But describing their origin depends on what ‘nothing’ means.
For years and over three separate experiments, “lepton universality” appeared to violate the Standard Model. LHCb at last proved otherwise.
You can lead an overconfident chatbot to expert knowledge, but can it actually learn and assimilate new information?
2022 was a year full of scientific discoveries and the dawn of the JWST. But Hubble’s still going after 32 years. Here’s the amazing proof!
Every proton contains three quarks: two up and one down. But charm quarks, heavier than the proton itself, have been found inside. How?
Particles are everywhere, including particles from space that stream through the human body. Here’s how they prove Einstein’s relativity.
Nuclear fusion has long been seen as the future of energy. As the NIF now passes the breakeven point, how close are we to our ultimate goal?
There will always be “wolf-criers” whose claims wither under scrutiny. But aliens are certainly out there, if science dares to find them.
Leaving Hubble in the dust, JWST has officially seen a galaxy from just 320 million years after the Big Bang: at just 2.3% its current age.
The very dust that blocks our view of the distant, luminous objects in the Universe is responsible for our entire existence.
The most common element in the Universe, vital for forming new stars, is hydrogen. But there’s a finite amount of it; what if we run out?
Photons come in every wavelength you can imagine. But one particular quantum transition makes light at precisely 21 cm, and it’s magical.
We thought the Big Bang started it all. Then we realized that something else came before, and it erased everything that existed prior.
The science fiction dream of a traversable wormhole is no closer to reality, despite a quantum computer’s suggestive simulation.
It’s not only the gravity from galaxies in a cluster that reveal dark matter, but the ejected, intracluster stars actually trace it out.
A Carrington-magnitude event would kill millions, and cause trillions of dollars in damage. Sadly, it isn’t even the worst-case scenario.
Compared to Earth, Mars is small, cold, dry, and lifeless. But 3.4 billion years ago, a killer asteroid caused a Martian megatsunami.