SCIENCE

Why the number “1/137” appears everywhere in nature | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2024

Each s orbital (red), each of the p orbitals (yellow), the d orbitals (blue) and the f orbitals (green) can…

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What happens when a gravitational wave meets a black hole? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2024

When a gravitational wave passes through a location in space, it causes an expansion and a compression at alternate times…

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Scalar fields: the secret sauce of theoretical physics | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Dec, 2024

The gravitational field on Earth varies not only with latitude, but also with altitude and in other ways, particularly due…

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Ask Ethan: Does the CMB really “prove” the Big Bang? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

This map shows the CMB’s polarization signal, as measured by the Planck satellite in 2015. The top and bottom insets…

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What do JWST’s “red monster” galaxies mean for cosmology? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

These three “red monster” galaxies, found just 1 billion years after the hot Big Bang, are dusty, massive objects with…

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Ask Ethan: How do scientists color the Universe? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

At left is the iconic view of the Pillars of Creation as seen by Hubble. Beginning in 2022, JWST (at…

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A new origin story for supernovae after 94 years | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

This animation of the double detonation scenario shows two white dwarfs in close orbit around one another. When material accumulates…

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Starts With A Bang podcast #111 — Black hole jets | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

This illustration shows how black hole jets can be as large as the scale of the cosmic web itself, with…

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Is “round” the only allowable shape for planets? | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

Although most large, massive objects in space are spherical, many can be stretched into spheroidal shapes by their rotation. Other…

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The physics behind curly hair. Whether your hair is straight, wavy… | by Ethan Siegel | Starts With A Bang! | Nov, 2024

This photo was taken as part of the Dutch festival of Internationale Roodharigen Dag, or International Redhead Day, in 2011.…

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