Starts With A Bang podcast #131 – The baryon life cycle The Universe was born with just hydrogen and helium for atoms: insufficient for making complex molecules, rocky planets, and life. So how did we get from there to here? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #podcast

Ask Ethan: What sets the size of the observable Universe? We know how big the observable Universe is, was, and will be: not just today, but far into the past and future as well. Here's what sets the "actual size" of our cosmos. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #cosmology #actualsize

To those of you wondering how bad wealth inequality has gotten here in the USA, the latest report on wealth (2025) has just come out. www.ubs.com/global/en/me... The average wealth in the USA is $696,277: 2nd in the world. But the median wealth in the USA is just $68k: 28th in the world.

America pioneered gravitational wave research. Now it may leave it behind. The USA has led the way in detecting gravitational waves here in the 21st century. The ongoing threat is that we'll abandon it, as we've done with so much science already. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics

Forget seeing the Universe’s beginning. It’s already been erased The Big Bang gave us our cosmic origin story, and inflation took us back even before that, to an earlier stage. So where did inflation come from? That information's all been erased! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

Why the “smallest” giant telescope may be the world’s best At only 25 meters across, the GMT pales in size next to the 39 meter ELT for next-gen flagship telescopes. Yet due to some brilliant decisions, GMT science, overall, looks better. Get on board! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

Famous study in error: the Universe isn’t anisotropic Just two weeks ago, a bold claim was made: that DESI data reveals an anisotropic Universe, on larger scales than should be possible. It's not possible; these errors explain why. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #cosmology #physics

When they say "it's a big tent" that means they'll let anyone in. Nazis, racists, sexists, homophobes, TERFs, racists, violent bigots of all types. If your solution to fascism is to fight "the big tent" with "a big tent" of your own, congratulations. You have become what you despise most.

What has more power: Earth’s aurorae or fireworks shows? Sure, the USA may have broken the record for most fireworks at a single fireworks show. But can the power in all of our fireworks compete with the power in Earth's aurorae? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #energy #fireworks #physics

Ask Ethan: Could we spot an extinction-level asteroid? The last extinction-level impact happened here on Earth 65 million years ago. If humans had been around back then, how much warning would we have had before our demise? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #history #dinosaurs

How to not overestimate the number of stars in the Universe Yes, we know how many stars are within the observable Universe: just over 2 sextillion. But we see far fewer than that, and mustn't overestimate the true number. Be careful. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #stars #cosmos

Is it finally time to take dark matter-free galaxies seriously? NGC 1052-DF9 has just been identified as the fourth galaxy appearing to be dark matter-free. Are they truly what they seem, or might they have dark matter after all? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #darkmatter #astro #astrophysics

I got contacted by a journalist to comment on Avi Loeb's appointment to lead US research into UFOs. I told the unfiltered, inconvenient truth about what it means to the best of my knowledge. Scroll past Avi's bloviating and see if you agree: www.alternet.org/trump-ufos-m...

The most distant lensing cluster reveals a dark matter surprise XLSSC 122: the most massive galaxy cluster for its time, the most distant gravitational lens, and the cuspiest dark matter profile of all. More examples like these, please! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #astro #space #darkmatter #JWST

Could nearby relic galaxy NGC 1277 lead to the first stars? Galaxy NGC 1277 hasn't formed stars in over 10 billion years. The strongest-ever silicon signal that's inside of it could indicate the remains of the first stars of all. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #firststars

Ask Ethan: What super-galactic structures are we a part of? Our address is planet Earth, orbiting the Sun, within the Solar System, embedded in the Milky Way, and part of the Local Group. But where are we, truly, on even larger cosmic scales? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #cosmology

Einstein’s E = mc² is only half of the full equation Pretty much everyone knows Einstein's most famous equation: E = mc². But that's only half of the full equation for energy in the Universe. What comes out of that is so much richer. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #Einstein #energy #mass #physics

One stringy thought causes inflationary cosmologists to lose sleep Most cosmologists who study our cosmic origins don't give string theory a second thought. But some nagging clues all point in the same stringy direction. Could string theory be right? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #space

Scientific American is being sold to LabX Media, publisher of Discover: group.springernature.com/gp/group/med... They've fired me and other union staff, ahead of June 26 vote ratification. My rates are suddenly more reasonable, if you need editing or reporting - [email protected]

Yes, interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is older than the Solar System When we first spotted 3I/ATLAS, its trajectory told us it might be older than the Solar System. Today, three even stronger lines of evidence point to its ancient age. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #comet #ATLAS

Famous globular cluster Terzan 5: an imposter after all One of the largest, most famous globular clusters in our Milky Way is Terzan 5. Only, it might not be a true globular cluster after all. In fact, many of them might be imposters. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #stars #globular

Ask Ethan: How do space telescopes stay focused? Focusing a space telescope takes a lot more than just making a perfectly-shaped mirror and launching it. Keeping it focused, especially with moving parts, takes a whole lot more bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #jwst #physics #optics #astro

The entire quantum Universe exists inside a single atom If you looked deep enough inside even one single atom, you'd find the entire story of the Universe, including all the forces and particles, encoded inside of it bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #atom #physics

Hello! We have a very-off-cycle postdoc fellowship at UC Santa Cruz. Open to any area of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Applications are due July 15th. It is funded by the Moore Foundation. Looking for someone to start Oct 1, 2026 (!, approx), see details below. aas.org/jobregister/...

Rarest elements reveal planets eaten by white dwarfs The lightest and rarest of the heavy elements, beryllium and boron, have now been found on a white dwarf. Is it evidence of a recently devoured planet, or perhaps something better? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #planets #astro #physics

The most overlooked fact about JWST's Little Red Dots We've identified a lot of factors that help explain JWST's mysterious Little Red Dots, but big questions still remain. Could a suppression of low-mass stars be the next big clue? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #stars #cosmology

A single illustration reveals the entirety of cosmic history It took 13.8 billion years for the Grand Cosmic Story to actually unfold. Why not view the whole thing in one illustration: from before the Big Bang to humanity's modern rise? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #astro #space #physics

1969: humans set foot on the moon for the first time. 1970: Knicks win NBA championship. 1972: humans set foot on moon for the last time 1973: Knicks win NBA championship. 2026: humans return to moon for first time in my lifetime 2026: IT REALLY HAPPENED! NY Knicks are NBA champions!

Alright Pasadena, here I come for #AAS248! Let's make it a great one full of great astro times!

Ask Ethan: How are black holes active if nothing escapes from them? Nothing can escape from inside a black hole. But black holes launch jets, flares, radiation, antimatter, and much more all the time. Here's the reconciliation. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #blackholes #Einstein

The best piece of sports live-blogging I've read all decade, maybe ever. If the Knicks broke your heart back in the 1990s over and over again, this one is special. Charles Smith can't make a layup. Anthony Mason can't inbound the ball. Ewing misses the finger roll. Starks 0-11 in Q4. Breathe.

Move over, giant meteor. Here’s what the largest comet would do to Earth Quit praying for a giant meteor to fix our problems here on Earth. It's much better to pray for comet Bernadelli-Bernstein: the Solar System's largest comet ever. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #comet #space #astro #armageddon

10 big questions about the search for life beyond Earth Every time scientists talk about life beyond Earth, audience questions range from profound to unexpected. Here are honest, up-to-date answer to 10 of the most interesting ones. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #biology #seti #aliens

The scientific value, and limits, of the Anthropic Principle Just from the fact that we exist, there's much we can rightfully conclude about the Universe. That's the core of the Anthropic Principle: powerful to use, but all too easy to abuse. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics #logic

Many of you know that I run a Patreon to help support what I do at Starts With A Bang. It has helped me, in many ways since 2015, including in making a living. If you support anyone on Patreon, or run one yourself, I'm now compelled to share this: www.patreon.com/posts/warnin...

From the smallest to the biggest objects in space It's not a surprise that astronomical objects come in a variety of sizes. But some types of objects vary wildly in size, while others are almost all exactly the same. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astronomy #planets #stars #blackholes #ohmy

Starts With A Bang podcast #130 – the initial mass function of stars Give the Universe a massive enough cold cloud of gas, and it'll give you a spectrum of stars of all different masses. But that spectrum isn't universal, and we finally understand why. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

Ask Ethan: How did we discover substructure inside the proton? We discovered the proton in 1917, the neutron in 1932, and realized there was more to the nucleus than protons and neutrons in 1934. So why did it take so long to get to quarks and gluons? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #quarks

Singularities inside black holes are truly unavoidable Nobody knows what resides inside a black hole's event horizon, because there's no way to measure it. Nevertheless, we're certain there must be a singularity inside. Here's why. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics #astro #relativity

JWST proves that black holes really do come before galaxies The biggest chicken-and-egg question in the Universe is what came first for galaxies: black holes or stars? A new JWST discovery gives the strongest proof yet: the answer is black holes! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #JWST

Gravitational wave astronomy is now a fully mature science In 2016, LIGO announced their first gravitational wave detection. 10 years later, we've seen 390 events. The field has now matured: a whole new way of doing astronomy. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #astro #LIGO #space

Is the USA on track to fulfill Astro2020’s decadal plan? Five years ago, the USA released the Astro2020 decadal plan: setting the course for astronomy and astrophysics. Halfway through the decade, here's how we're progressing (or regressing). bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics

Ask Ethan: Why does our Universe require CP-violation? There's more matter than antimatter in the Universe, and no one knows exactly how that happened. But CP-violation is sure to be a key; here's what's so important about it. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #space #matter #antimatter

Yes it is this bad. Over 10,000 PhD-level federal science workers were terminated in 2025. According to the Partnership for Public Service (ourpublicservice.org), a total of 95,000 scientists lost their employment in the US in 2025. The bleeding is intensifying, not stopping. So get up and fight!

Yes, scientists can be hostile to new ideas. So should you Have you ever presented a new scientific idea, only to have it dismissed or dunked on by an actual scientist. There's a good reason for that, and they're probably in the right. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #astro #physics #space #crackpot

The most recent IPCC report considers five main climate scenarios, RCP-1.9, RCP-2.6, RCP-4.5, RCP-6.0, and RCP-8.5 I've seen a lot of claims that "RCP-8.5 is unrealistic based on current emissions," but so are all RCP's less than 3. The point is to illustrate what *could* happen. We have agency!

At the same time that the NSF has been announcing new hundred-million-dollar "industry-driven initiatives," completely unapproved by any science or funding board, guess what they haven't been doing: administering funding for already-approved grants.

Science’s three big hopes for finding alien life One of humanity's biggest hopes (and fears) is to find evidence of life beyond Earth. We now have three scientific methods for seeking it, with one likely to pay off soon. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #astrobiology #exoplanets #life

CERN to lead particle physics throughout the 21st century The CERN Council has selected the Future Circular Collider as their next-generation plan for particle physics. Fundamental science still has a chance in the 21st century. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #fundamental #science #hope

Ask Ethan: What do surveys of physicists actually reveal? A recent survey of physicists was conducted by the American Physical Society. We learned a lot about their arrogance and willingness to opine, but about nature? Not so much. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #survey