Ask Ethan: Do gravitational waves redshift like light does? Light redshifts as it travels through the expanding Universe, and is affected by a host of other phenomena. But not everything is the same for gravitational waves. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #cosmology

The 4 ways science confirms the Moon landings were real As NASA's Artemis II basks in the success of its launch, and astronauts head back to the Moon for the first time in 50+ years, the Moon landing deniers are back. Fight them with facts! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #moon #space #astro

The flimsy case for evolving dark energy There's been a lot of talk about evolving dark energy, and how DESI data demands it. But the case for this remains somewhat weak, while the true underlying puzzles remain unsolved. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #astro #space #darkenergy

There are people who make no art that think of themselves as artists. There are people who do no physics who think of themselves as physicists. There are people who create nothing themselves who think of themselves as creators. The word-guessing plagiarism machine has fed their self-delusions.

The new Big Think print issue just dropped: on the Roots of Resilience. Here's how we can avoid a space megaconstellation mega-disaster. The current situation, where companies do nothing, is a recipe for destroying our one & only near-Earth environment. bigthink.com/starts-with-...

The Universe has changed by the time you finish this sentence It takes just over three seconds to read a typical sentence. In that tiny flash of time, the Universe has changed in tiny but mighty ways. On cosmic timescales, that really adds up! bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #cosmos #astro

Peculiar galaxies showcase the beauty of cosmic violence Most galaxies are spirals, with ellipticals and lenticulars making up the next most common types. But peculiar galaxies reveal the in-between steps, showing how modern galaxies are made. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #galaxies

Ask Ethan: Does dark energy curve the Universe over time? Our Universe was once ruled by radiation and matter, but those densities eventually dilute. Would spatial curvature appear? Even if it did, dark energy now flattens the Universe once again. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

The widely reported “hole in the Universe” is a lie It's 2026. There still isn't a hole in the Universe, and the famous nebula they always show when describing it doesn't have anything to do with the Universe at all. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #cosmology #astro #physics

The original National Academies Organizer deleted the original, as well as all the others in the thread, but it was: -about a NASEM special conference, -on scientific integrity, -featuring the pro-covid, anti-mask, anti-vaccine madness of John Ioannidis, Jay Bhattacharya, and Emily Oster. Gross.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is no more. This is all alt-right propaganda. The house has already burned down.

BrainMaxxing: the road less traveled in the age of AI For older people, AI overuse leads to skill erosion. For younger people, AI leads to you never developing those skills in the first place. It's never too late to grow your mind instead. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #education #physics #astro

Gravity and quantum physics are fundamentally incompatible General relativity works perfectly well describing space, time, and gravity. Quantum physics works perfectly well describing the other forces. So why can't they work well together? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #GR

Simply looking up inspires scientific exploration The ultimate act of defiance, of freedom, of resistance, and of connection beyond our Earthly troubles is this: look up. There's a whole Universe out there, and it's yours, too. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #astronomy #space #dreams

Ask Ethan: Does nature need to obey laws at all? One of the most profound facts about the Universe is that it obeys the same laws in all places and at all times. But why are there laws that govern it at all? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #nature #fundamental #laws

Many things have impacted American astronomy over the past few years. The peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collapse of Arecibo. The rise of megaconstellations. But the federal destruction and dismantling of research, NASA, NSF and more from 2025-present has killed jobs like nothing else.

The case for and against a 5th fundamental force of nature Looking for a fifth fundamental force of nature? It might be out there. But finding one is a much bigger challenge than any experiment or observation is up to, at least, so far. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #force #space

Just a quick aside. A lot of folks are awful - I have had ... plenty of experiences with more senior men that sucked. So I'm going to use this skeet to say thank you to the ones that haven't. You stand out, and I know it's the lowest bar but I'm grateful every time.

Why “CPT” is the Universe’s most unbreakable symmetry Some symmetries are always preserved, although things could be different if they weren't. But particle physics's CPT symmetry may truly be unbreakable. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics #particle #quantum #CPT

Einstein showed space can curve, but data reveals a flat Universe According to Einstein, space can take on any curvature depending on what's in it: positive curvature, negative curvature, or zero (flat) curvature. So why is our Universe so flat? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics

A somewhat different look at Drake's Equation from @startswithabang.bsky.social. "The only thing that we can perhaps count on is that, with no signs of anyone else to talk to, there’s no evidence that anyone is coming to save us from ourselves." medium.com/starts-with-...

OJ 287 has the most supermassive pair of black holes ever Supermassive black holes exist at the hearts of most galaxies, but only rarely are there two of them. In OJ 287, a 150 million solar mass one is the *small* one! What, you thought they'd match? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

Ask Ethan: How dark will the Universe become? Sure, dark energy will empty out the Universe and galaxies will run out of fuel to form new stars. But that doesn't mean our sky will only get darker. Look forward to the brightness ahead. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #stars #physics

You don't have to be the next Ethan Vishniac to apply! For all professional astrophysicists looking for a wonderful opportunity to help guide and steward the #AAS journals through the coming years and decades, this is a once-in-a-generation job opening!

A quirk of relativity is the closest thing to achieving immortality Even relativity, with all the power of time dilation, won't increase the span of your lived life. But it can take you far into the future, and even to the ends of the Universe. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics #astro

NASA’s next X-ray mission, AXIS, has been killed Did you think that the cuts to NASA made in 2025 had all been reversed, and everything is now fine? Think again. NASA's AXIS mission, on account of that 2025 bloodbath, is now dead. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #NASA #AXIS #Xray

The right way to be a scientific contrarian Contrarians, or those who reject the consensus view, are important to the progression of science. But there's a right and wrong way to do it. How does your favorite one stack up? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #science #physics #astro #space

JWST peers inside a dying star’s “exposed cranium” In 2013, NASA's Spitzer observed PMR 1, finding a structure that resembles a human brain. Today, JWST actually resolves the Exposed Cranium Nebula, revealing what's inside. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #JWST #astro #nebula

Starts With A Bang podcast #127 – Satellites and space pollution There are many excellent technological uses of satellite technology, but also many harms associated with the pollution of the environment around Earth. When they clash, must we all lose? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

Ask Ethan: Do signals degrade as they travel through space? Light and gravitational waves redshift, sure, as they travel through the expanding Universe. But do those signals degrade and deteriorate, and if so, what do we lose? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics #astro

No, particle physics colliders cannot ever destroy the Universe Every time we push the energy frontier in particle physics, laypersons fear that the world, or even the Universe, will be destroyed. Here's why we're certain it's all safe... for now. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #astro

Can the Drake equation’s final term predict humanity’s demise? Here in 2026, we still have not found the existence of any life beyond Earth. What does that mean for the Drake equation, the longevity of intelligent civilizations, and humanity's future? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro

If you haven't been aware, Physics Girl (Dianna Cowern), @thephysicsgirl.bsky.social here on BlueSky, has been sick with long COVID, and specifically COVID-induced ME/CFS, since 2022. Here is her first science video in 3+ years. Here's how solar neutrinos work! www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3m3...

Did Hubble’s new “dark galaxy” kill modified gravity? Hundreds of millions of light-years away, a collection of four globular clusters was found orbiting... nothing. Is there a "dark galaxy" there, and if so, is modified gravity now dead? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #gravity

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets

There are over 600 comments submitted on Reflect Orbital's filing at the FCC!! That's amazing, especially given how hard the FCC has made the submission process. If you want to submit your own comment (on this or SpaceX's million sat filing), there's still a few more days to do that, and […]

Only these six spacecraft will ever escape the Solar System Tired: not wanting to live on this planet anymore. Wired: already on a path to exit the Solar System. Only these six spacecraft (yes, six) are living the dream. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #science

This is completely wrong, and how the power of a paper's editorial board gets normalized. By choosing what content and whose voices they do and don't platform on their op/ed page, papers shape public perception. That's how fascism has become so normal, and why facts now matter so little.

Discussion time! I went on the Bordering on Belief podcast, along with Dr. Luke Barnes, to give cosmological perspectives and arguments on whether physics and astrophysics supports, refutes, or is agnostic about the existence of God. WDYT?? www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzAT... #astro #physics #god

Can quantum entanglement survive a black hole? #AskEthan When one member of an entangled pair of particles falls into the black hole, is the entanglement broken? And if not, is there any way to test and confirm its persistence? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #quantum

Record-breaking natural laser discovered 11 billion light-years away Lasers aren't just technological inventions here on Earth, but are also produced naturally in astrophysical environments. We just found one 11 billion light-years away: a new record. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #astro

What do the beginnings of complex life look like? Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social shares the story of the earliest organised organisms. Read the full article: bigthink.com/life/earths-...

How Einstein revolutionized the meaning of “where” and “when” Here on Earth, notions like "where" and "when" are easy to practically define and use. But in space, particularly at cosmic distances, Einstein gives us a whole lot more to think about. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #physics

The 5 biggest obstacles to AI data centers in space There are five main objections to building AI data centers in space. Engineering challenges are one thing. When you need to defy the laws of physics, that's where you get into trouble. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #astro #physics #ai

How our view of “fundamental” has evolved over time The idea of what's fundamental has evolved: from primeval elements to atoms to subatomic particles and, finally, to the Standard Model. Nevertheless, there's still a long way to go. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #physics #atoms #fundamental

Will anything persist when the Universe dies? #AskEthan The last star will burn out, the last black hole will decay, and entropy will reach its maximum: a heat death. After all that, can any trace of our existence still persist? bigthink.com/starts-with-... #space #cosmology #fate #astro

"FDA will drop two-study requirement for new drug approvals, aiming to speed access" is how you know that the AP is reporting propaganda, not news. The truth is that "FDA will drop two-study requirement for new drug approvals, paving the way for unfettered grift" Listen to the experts!

The Big Bang’s final and most difficult prediction: confirmed Beyond cosmic expansion, the CMB, light elements, and large-scale structure, the Big Bang also predicts a cosmic neutrino background. At last, that prediction has now been validated. Twice. bigthink.com/starts-with-... #astro #physics

Predictable baloney incoming any day now...

Countriees that do not embrace porcupines could be left behind, says man with face full of porcupine quills.