SCIENCE
-
The six strongest materials on Earth are harder than diamonds | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | May, 2025
Atomic and molecular configurations come in a near-infinite number of possible combinations, but the specific combinations found in any material…
Read More » -
Why does physics break down at the Planck scale? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | May, 2025
The central idea of String Theory is that all the quanta we know of are described by tiny strings that…
Read More » -
Ask Ethan: When do stars turn the most mass into energy? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | May, 2025
This Wolf–Rayet star is known as WR 31a, located about 30,000 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. The outer…
Read More » -
The evidence for biosignatures on K2–18b is flimsy, at best | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
While there are a great number of exoplanets out there that may house life, including exoplanets that are very different…
Read More » -
Ask Ethan: What right do we have to colonize other worlds? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
This illustration shows a human colony within a dome on an otherwise uninhabited planet. Humans have often dreamed of colonizing…
Read More » -
Science’s value, unlike NASA, cannot be destroyed by politics | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
In July of 1969, humanity took our first steps on the surface of another world: the Moon. This was the…
Read More » -
Ask Ethan: Couldn’t COVID-19 have originated in a Chinese Lab? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
The SARS virus (orange) has a crown-like structure, meaning that it’s part of the coronavirus family of diseases. The novel…
Read More » -
Why nuclear reactions on an exoplanet won’t imply alien life | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
From the main mine that humans made in the Oklo region, one of the natural reactors is accessible via an…
Read More » -
Will the Sun make a planetary nebula when it dies? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
From their earliest beginnings to their final extent before fading away, Sun-like stars will grow from their present size to…
Read More » -
Ask Ethan: Why are maps of the cosmos always oval-shaped? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Apr, 2025
These two projections show the primordial sky in microwave light as seen by ESA’s Planck mission. At left, a hemispherical…
Read More »