@startswithabang.bsky.social
Cosmologist, science communicator, author, speaker, and longtime writer of Starts With A Bang. Not the next Carl Sagan; the first Ethan Siegel.
@startswithabang.bsky.social7 mind-bending comparisons between the Universe and the human body
The Universe is too vast for our minds to comprehend, while the cellular, molecular, and atomic world within us is mind-numbingly small.
These 7 comparisons help bridge that gap.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #human
@startswithabang.bsky.socialI'm not sure about that, and no one is because we've never tested it. On that note, I wrote a recent column about Mars' gravity, too:
@startswithabang.bsky.socialYour giant O'Neill cylinder (5 miles/8 km in diameter) should be ok!
@startswithabang.bsky.socialAsk Ethan: Can a Kevlar tether create artificial gravity in space?
The cheapest way to create artificial gravity in space is to rotate two massive, tethered capsules together.
But how to control for both angular momentum and Coriolis forces?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #physics
@startswithabang.bsky.socialAfter the Sun devours both Venus and Mercury, Earth will be the hottest for a brief while.
@startswithabang.bsky.socialMercury lost its crown, and isn’t our Solar System’s hottest planet
Mercury, as the closest planet to the Sun and the most absorptive planet in the Solar System, should be the hottest, too.
Maybe it was at one point.
But Venus is #1 now, and by a lot.
@startswithabang.bsky.socialClawing its way to the TOP!
@startswithabang.bsky.socialIceCube, high-energy neutrinos, and Francis Halzen win 2026’s Physics Nobel
A deep dive on the history and development of high-energy neutrino astrophysics.
Francis Halzen thoroughly deserves to be physics' first solo Nobel Laureate since 1992!
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #physics #astro
@startswithabang.bsky.socialPure sulfur discovered on Mars, making Martian concrete possible
10 years ago, the recipe for making effective concrete with Martian sand was discovered.
The key ingredient: molten elemental sulfur.
Guess what the Curiosity rover just found?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #mars #astro
@startswithabang.bsky.socialIs Olympus Mons really the Solar System’s highest mountain?
Olympus Mons is notorious for being the highest mountain, base-to-peak, in the Solar System.
But Vesta's Rheasilvia may yet be larger, and many other planetary candidates remain unexplored.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro
@startswithabang.bsky.socialAsk Ethan: Do evaporating black holes ever lose their event horizons?
When black holes evaporate, their event horizons shrink.
If those horizons get small enough, could they possibly reveal some object other than a singularity at their cores?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #physics
@startswithabang.bsky.socialQuantum fields carry energy. Does that prove that they’re real?
In quantum physics, we often argue over "what is real?"
Is the wavefunction?
Are eigenstates?
Quantum fields have a compelling argument for their reality: they carry energy.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #quantum #energy
@startswithabang.bsky.socialI don't think this, in and of itself, will lead to anything profound. But if we can go to higher loop order in QED, we can test the standard model more precisely. Remember the muon g-2 experiment? This could improve the electron g-2 constraints, already the most stringent on the standard model.
@startswithabang.bsky.socialAI makes its first meaningful breakthrough in theoretical physics
LLM-based AI just computed a specific nine-loop order calculation in theoretical physics: going well beyond what humans, alone, could do.
May we hope that QED loops are next!
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #theory #llm #AI
@startswithabang.bsky.socialA revolution has come in the first of the Big Bang’s 4 cornerstones
The earliest of the Big Bang's four cornerstones is nucleosynthesis: the primeval creation of the light elements.
It has now entered the era of precision cosmology, too: to 0.5%!
@startswithabang.bsky.social18 pictures show how profoundly large our cosmos is
From planet Earth to the inflationary multiverse, our conception of the Universe spans an enormous range of cosmic scales.
This photo tour takes us from here to eternity.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #space #cosmology #multiverse
@startswithabang.bsky.socialAsk Ethan: If intelligent alien life exists, will we make contact?
In the quest to find alien life, sure, luck plays a role in terms of how common it is.
But just as important, and vastly underrated, is how much we invest in the endeavor.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #aliens #SETI
@startswithabang.bsky.social“Donnie Darko” offers a time travel lesson you won’t find elsewhere
The movie "Donnie Darko" first came out 25 years ago.
How does the time travel in the story stack up against what physics actually understands?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #physics #timetravel #movies
@startswithabang.bsky.socialDepends. How do you feel doing service for the Nazi Science Foundation if you can help some of the "science" part while ignoring the rest of the "Nazi" part?
@startswithabang.bsky.socialThe Higgs boson’s most important puzzle remains unsolved
We've found the Higgs boson, measured its mass, and confirmed the Standard Model.
But does the Higgs field have a 1st or 2nd order phase transition?
The origin of matter depends on it
