Shows
Big ThinkDo we actually live in a multiverse? | Dr. Ethan Siegel"Welcome to the multiverse. Or should I say our one universe within a multiverse of possibilities?"
Do we have proof of a multiverse?
Our idea of the multiverse stems from the notion of quantum mechanics: The idea that every time we enter a situation there are potentially infinite possibilities to arise as the outcome. But when we make a decision, we only get one of these outcomes.
Science fiction as well as our media and films are bewitched by the concept of the multiverse. But what can science tell us about its legitimacy...2025-07-1737 min
Close Encounter ClubEP 16: The Astrophysicist Who Saw a UFO feat Ethan SiegelWhat happens when a lifelong skeptic, a science communicator, and an astrophysicist sees something in the sky he can’t explain?
In this episode, we step back from the eerie and the unexplainable… and zoom all the way out.
To galaxies, black holes, and the limits of what we think we know.
We talk with Ethan Siegel about the moment that shook his worldview—and what it really means to stay grounded in science while keeping your mind open to the unknown.
Whether you're here for the mystery or the math… this one will...2025-07-161h 21
Big ThinkWhere did our universe come from? | Ethan Siegel: Full Interview"Asking the question of, "Where did the entire universe come from?" is no longer a question for poets and theologians and philosophers. This is a question for scientists, and we have some amazing scientific answers to this question."
Chapters For Easier Navigation:-
00:00:00 The origins of the universe
00:00:19 Why did you become a science communicator?
00:05:39 What are the origins of the Big Bang theory?
00:23:13 What is the difference between, “Singularity” and “Hot Big Bang’?
00:27:38 What are the three big predictions of the Hot Big Bang?
00:35:41 How was...2025-07-092h 31
Big ThinkSurprise: There was a universe before the Big Bang | Ethan Siegel**Where Did the Universe Come From?**
For millennia, questions about the origins of the universe were left to poets, philosophers, and theologians. But in the 20th century, science took over the conversation—offering answers that surpassed even our wildest imaginations.
Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel breaks down the groundbreaking discoveries that led to our modern understanding of the universe’s origins. From Edwin Hubble’s discovery of distant galaxies to the Big Bang theory and the revolutionary idea of cosmic inflation, this video explores the fundamental forces that shaped everything we see today.
How did space...2025-05-2226 min
Today In Space'Infinite Cosmos: Visions from the James Webb Space Telescope' | Ethan Siegel, Astrophysicist | People of ScienceThis week, we welcome Ethan Siegel on the podcast! Our guest, author of "Infinite Cosmos," discusses his STEM origin story from a curious child with a telescope to a renowned astrophysicist and science communicator. He recounts his educational path, including his PhD from the University of Florida and postdoctoral work at the University of Arizona. Siegel emphasizes the importance of curiosity and overcoming crises in career choices. He highlights the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as a revolutionary tool for understanding the universe's early stages. Siegel's book, "Infinite Cosmos: Visions from the James Webb Space Telescope," explores...2024-10-201h 01
Straight No Chaser - A Jazz ShowPodcast 984: A Conversation with Ethan Margolis AKA Emagerio ‘Genre-fluid’ is a great word to describe the music of guitarist Ethan Margolis, aka “Emaginario.” A life-long student of music, he has traveled the world from his native Cleveland to bring African diaspora-Caribbean sounds and flamenco stylings to his musical base of the blues and folk-rock. Margolis has evolved into a creative and worldly artist, whose deep connections with flamenco, jazz, blues and even punk coalesce into a unique musical voice. Elements of that Margolis style can be heard coming to fruition on his latest album, Interlude of the Duende (released on Ropeadope), in trio form with a pair of j...2024-09-1136 min
Thoughts Maybe FeelingsThe Inspirational Story Of Ethan A. PoeticEthan tells us about how he managed to be a better version of himself after an almost fatal car accident . He now has his autobiography on Amazon and other outlets called ;" The Inspirational Story of Ethan A. Poetic: Adversities, Education, Sports, Relationships, And Resiliency". Reach him at www.ethanspeaks.com. Facebook : Ethan Poetic2024-04-1851 min
Recovering From ReligionE197: Why Science Education is Important w/ Dr. Ethan Siegel
This week on RfRx, we are joined by Ethan Siegel Ph.D., astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator who has taught physics and astronomy at various colleges and written numerous books. He will share fascinating information about the universe, and discuss the importance of science education and science communication. Bring your questions for Ethan and let’s get nerdy!
Ethan Siegel is a Ph.D. astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has wo...2023-08-301h 29
Left at the Valley 2.0Talking Cosmology with Dr Ethan SiegelDr Ethan Siegel return to the valley to discuss cosmology. We ask why people think the universe is designed, and is it? Listen in to find outFollow Ethan here https://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegelDawn talks about a crappy raceTroy explores religious cosmology and Brentlee exposes Floridians' fear of renaissance art2023-04-212h 06
The Cartesian CafeEthan Siegel | Demystifying Dark MatterEthan Siegel is a theoretical astrophysicist and science communicator. He received his PhD from the University of Florida and held academic positions at the University of Arizona, University of Oregon, and Lewis & Clark College before moving on to become a full-time science writer. Ethan is the author of the book Beyond The Galaxy, which is the story of “How Humanity Looked Beyond Our Milky Way And Discovered The Entire Universe” and he has contributed numerous articles to ScienceBlogs, Forbes, and BigThink. Today, Ethan is the face and personality behind Starts With A Bang, both a website and podcast by the...2023-03-211h 49
AstronomerANDEthan Siegel; You Choose With Whom You RideThis week I am talking to Ethan Siegel in the second of a two-parter where we talk about Ethan's career and we deep diver into mental health and how we can all improve the academy. Ethan Siegel is the world's greatest living science communicator. He has a PhD in cosmology, is a former professor of physics and astronomy, and left that career behind to work full time on communication under the banner Starts With A Bang! He now spends his days writing stories, articles, books, creating podcasts and videos and delivering talks to curious minds all across the world.2023-01-2756 minAstronomerANDEthan Siegel; Half Man, Half Dwarf, with a Mötley Crüe Beard.This week I am talking to Ethan Siegel in the first of a two-parter where we talk about Ethan's career and origin start and begin our long conversation about mental health. Ethan Siegel is the world's greatest living science communicator. He has a PhD in cosmology, is a former professor of physics and astronomy, and left that career behind to work full time on communication under the banner Starts With A Bang! He now spends his days writing stories, articles, books, creating podcasts and videos and delivering talks to curious minds all across the world.CW: We discuss...2023-01-201h 11
Stories From SpaceThe Frontiers Of Astrophysics | A Conversation With Senior Contributor, Forbes Magazine, Ethan Siegel | Stories From Space Podcast With Matthew S WilliamsGuestEthan SiegelSenior Contributor, Forbes Magazine [@Forbes]On Twitter | https://twitter.com/StartsWithABangOn Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/ethansiegel/On YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ethansiegelHost | Matthew S WilliamsOn ITSPmagazine 👉 https://itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/matthew-s-williams______________________This Episode’s SponsorsAre you interested in sponsoring an ITSPmagazine Channel?👉 https://www.itspmagazine.com/sponsor-the-itspmagazine-podcast-network______________________Episode DescriptionEthan Siegel is an astrophysicist, science writer, science communicator, and a professor of physics and astronomy at various colleges. He is also a...2022-12-1048 min
Sacred ScienceFar-Out Ideas: A Conversation with Ethan Siegel, PhDAs the host of the Starts with a Bang podcast, Ethan Siegel ponders faraway topics from outer space, but also the stakes they have for us here on Earth. Who are we really, and what is our place in the universe? In demonstrating how these questions matter, Dr. Siegel has also encountered some difficult interview subjects, and some irrational ways of thinking. How can we hear someone out, even if their ideas sound strange, without getting pulled in to an ideological black hole? Rabbi Mitelman and Dr. Siegel discuss the wonders of the universe, as well as how to sh...2022-12-0558 min
The DemystifySci PodcastAIRWAVES #4 - Mastering Mainstream Cosmology - Dr. Ethan Siegel, Starts with a Bang!DemystifySci is a show of opposites, and in the court of Science it is vital that we present both sides of any debate. To balance our tendency to favor arguments that undermine consensus, we have a conversation with Dr. Ethan Siegel, blogger, professor, podcaster, and high priest of the big bang and inflation cosmology. This is a primer of the foundations of thought in mainstream physics, and so constitutes mandatory listening for those interested in finding a new way forward because, despite the ways in which we disagree, Siegel is right about one thing. New theories have an enormous...2022-11-191h 55
Notable Nostalgia51. Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Inner Light with Dr. Ethan Siegel!We are thrilled to be joined by astrophysicist and author or Treknology, Dr. Ethan Siegel to discuss some Star Trek! We get to know Ethan a little better, then dive into a discussion on the Next Generation Episode, The Inner Light!Find anything Ethan Siegel at https://www.startswithabang.com/Find anything Notable Nostalgia and Big Door Prize podcasts, including our 90's DND podcast Dungeons and Decades at https://www.bigdoorprize.com/podcasts2022-06-041h 12
Scott Horton Show - Just the InterviewsEthan Siegel: How Hot Are Nuclear Bombs?Ethan Siegel joins Scott to discuss the science behind the temperature of thermonuclear explosions. Scott is putting together a new book that argues for the abolition of nuclear weapons called Hotter Than The Sun. He wanted to talk with an expert who can actually explain how the bombs are able to reach temperatures that far exceed the center of the Sun. Siegel wrote an article on that exact topic a few years ago, so he’s the perfect person to answer that question. At the end, they also talk about some of the things to avoid if you find yo...2022-05-1727 min
IkonokastEpisode 28: Fourteen questions with Ethan SiegelEthan Siegel is a primo science communicator, with a blog at Starts With a Bang, a podcast of his own of the same name, and articles that he has published in a diverse array of magazines. He's an enthusiastic interpreter of science, and we assure you there is no math required to listen to this podcast.
The episode post is at https://ikonokast.com/2022/05/08/fourteen-questions-with-ethan-siegel/2022-05-0800 min
The Ten Thousand (10,000) Heroes ShowWhy you should care about the Origin of the Universe, with Ethan SiegelThis week’s guest is comologist and science communicator Ethan Siegel. Ethan helps me understand some basic physics as we dive into: How the universe came to be (even before the Big Bang) The difference between the early, the late early, and the late universe (now) Will the universe end? Agreement, observation, and the scientific method Why we can’t see all the stars that are out there, and why that’s a good thing. Cosmic inflation, Dark energy, and what you should be afraid of...2021-08-211h 11
CineflekRatatouille with Sophie and SiegelWelcome to episode 48 of Cineflek with your host Ethan Colburn! Today, I am joined by Sophie and Siegel to discuss their favorite Pixar film Ratatouille!
We are pairing this movie with a Bordeaux. While there is no recipe here, you can find my other drink recipes at @cineflekpod on Instagram, or Twitter @cineflek, or get in touch by emailing me at cineflek@gmail.com.
CINEFLEK HAS A PATREON! Support the show here!2021-03-081h 16
The State of The Universe#83 - Dr. Ethan Siegel - ʻOumuamua, Aliens, and The Scientific CommandmentsEpisode 83 features astrophysicist Dr. Ethan Siegel. We discuss the interstellar interloper ʻOumuamua, why Ethan pushes back on the ʻOumuamua-Alien hypothesis, the scientific commandments to abide by, and much more! Use codename "Universe" to get 20% of all products at PremiumJane.com. Check out the "Starts With a Bang" Universe at https://www.startswithabang.com/. Subscribe to the show on Youtube at: https://www.youtube.com/TheStateoftheuniverse?sub_confirmation=1 Support the show by leaving a rating or a review and subscribing to receive future content. Consider becoming a Patron by subscribing at https://www.p...2021-03-021h 29CineflekLa La Land with Sophie Planos and SiegelWelcome to episode 37 of Cineflek with your host Ethan Colburn! This episode, I had 2 friends on, Sophie and Siegel, to discuss the magical, technicolor, La La Land! We drank Aviations on the show, which to be honest I didn't love BUT I will nonetheless post the recipe for! You can find a recipe for those and connect with me at @cineflekpod on Instagram, or Twitter @cineflek, or get in touch by emailing me at cineflek@gmail.com.
CINEFLEK HAS A PATREON! Support the show here!2021-01-211h 15
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #63 - Exoplanets, TESS, And BeyondOver the past 30 years, we've gone from zero exoplanets to thousands. With each new generation of telescopes, observatories, and scientists, we build upon our previous finds to make enormous advances that go beyond what any one person could ever produce. The ESA's Gaia mission has surveyed more than a billion stars, identifying the closest ones that would make potentially great targets for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, if they had potentially habitable planets around them. NASA's TESS is doing the preliminary work of observing these stars, most of which are red dwarf (M-class) stars, to find which ones actually have...2020-11-221h 23
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #62 - Black Holes And ALMAIt was only back in the early 2000s that scientists were struggling to identify and weigh the small number of supermassive black holes that we'd been able to identify in the known Universe, but the past 15-20 years have led to a revolution in what we know about them. We've identified tens of thousands of active galaxies, pinned down the masses of some of the closest ones to us through a variety of techniques, and even observed the event horizon of our first black hole directly.
These powerful advances were mainly enabled by superior observatories and instruments, and the spectacular...2020-10-121h 23
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #61 - Astronomical Instruments And InjusticesWhen most of us think of astronomy, we think about two types of scientists: the observers who point their telescopes at the sky and collect data, and the theorists who put together the physical rules of the Universe to both make critical predictions for what those observational results ought to yield and to interpret the data that comes in. But in reality, there are other important types of astronomers that we don't talk about frequently: analysts who focus on dealing with these literally astronomical data sets and the people who work on (and with) the instrumentation itself. This includes telescope...2020-09-251h 50
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #60 - The End Of The Dark AgesWhen we look out at the Universe today, we see that it's full of stars and galaxies. And yet, we can only see those stars and galaxies because the space between those galaxies and ourselves doesn't block that starlight before it gets to our instruments, observatories, telescopes, and eyes. But early on, that's an enormous problem: there is light-blocking gas and dust, and the record-holder for most distant galaxy ever discovered is still not a pristine, first-generation galaxy at all.
But there are new observatories and cutting-edge techniques that will reveal them, teaching us how the Universe grew up: from...2020-08-301h 16
Enterprising IndividualsSeason 5, Episode 13.5 Treknology with Dr. Ethan SiegelThis week, Dr. Ethan Siegel joins the show to talk about his book "Treknology", science outreach, finding your path, and the principles behind the Trek tech we could make in the 21st century!Risa, here I come!Get Ethan's excellent book, "Treknology"!https://amzn.to/3l0BspjJoin us Thursday nights for LIVE reviews of Lower Decks and Star Trek: Discovery!Communicate with us on Facebook and Twitter and the Just Enough Trope Discord!http://www.facebook.com/eistpodhttp://www.twitter.com/eistpodhttps://discord.gg/APk2...2020-08-201h 11
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #59 - Active GalaxiesWhen we look out at the galaxies in the Universe, almost all of them have supermassive black holes at their centers: millions or even many billions of times more massive than our Sun is. Most of the time, these black holes are relatively quiet, but every so often, a black hole can be spotted emitting enormous amounts of radiation over a large range of the electromagnetic spectrum. These "active galaxies" come in many different flavors, from blazars to AGNs to quasars and many others, but they're very closely tied to both the age of the Universe and how rapidly a...2020-08-141h 36
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #58 - Gravitational Waves From SpaceWhen it comes to gravitational waves, our terrestrial laser interferometers have provided us with unparalleled success in terms of direct detection. But they have some strong fundamental limits: their laser arms are short; their sensitivity is limited to low-mass, small-radius objects; the signals they detect last for mere seconds, at most. Most importantly, seismic noise, and even the fact that we live on a planet with tectonic plates, place restrictions on how sensitive we'll ever be able to get.
But in space, all of these stories change dramatically, and the upcoming European Space Agency mission LISA is aiming to open...2020-07-171h 19
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #57 - The Universe's Newborn StarsEven today, the Universe is forming enormous numbers of new stars: from various nebulae throughout our galaxy to mighty starburst galaxies where the entire galaxy is an enormous star-forming region. A decade ago, we were still trying to figure out how, when, and where stars formed throughout the Universe; today, we have that nailed down, but a whole suite of new questions and puzzles have arisen as a result of what we learned.
On this edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast, I'm pleased to welcome Indiana University astronomer Jennifer Sieben to the show, who specializes in the Universe's...2020-06-121h 06
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #56 - Dark Matter SubstructureDark matter is often thought of as the glue that holds the Universe together. With five times as much gravity due to this unseen form of matter as compared to normal, atom-based matter, it affects how galaxies and giant large-scale structures form in a tremendous, truly epic way. But depending on what the properties of dark matter actually are, we should get a very different Universe on smaller scales.
Is dark matter cold? Warm? Hot? And does it interact with itself, or is it truly invisible? Thanks to a fascinating new technique, we're learning more about this than ever before...2020-05-091h 09
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #55 - The Cataclysmic Deaths Of StarsWhen you look up at the sky, most of the points of light we see appear to be fixed. On night-to-night timescales, the distant stars and galaxies, with the exception of a few notable variables, appear to be relatively unchanged. But every once in a while, a spectacular event will occur, giving off a transient signal that outshines a typical star's brightness by factors of many billions. These events fall into many classes: supernovae, gamma ray bursts, and even more exotic events, and part of the fun is uncovering exactly what's going on as we discover these new classes of...2020-04-101h 09
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #54 - The Origin Of StarsOne of the great challenges for astronomy is to determine, in gory detail, how stars are formed from a mere cloud of molecular gas and dust. Although the general picture is simple, where gravitational collapse leads to protostars that ignite nuclear fusion in their cores, the actual environments where these stars are born have many competing factors at play. Gravitational collapse is only one of them, joined by thermal heating and radiative cooling, magnetic fields and hydrodynamics, as well as stellar winds, ultraviolet radiation, and feedback from a variety of sources.
Here to help us disentangle what's important, where, and...2020-03-041h 10
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #53 - Exoplanets From Kepler To TESS And BeyondHow many planets are out there in the Universe? How many stars have planets, and what kinds of planets do stars of various types have? How close are we to doing direct imaging, finding whether some of our Earth-like planets are potentially habitable or even inhabited? Are Super-Earths a real thing, or are all of the ones larger than our world more Neptune-like than we care to admit?
We've answered a whole slew of questions about exoplanets that we didn't even know to ask a decade or two ago, and there's so much more happening right now as well as...2020-02-071h 03
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #52 - The Thirty Meter TelescopeThe history of astronomy is a history of receding horizons. As we improve our optics, our instruments, and our observing techniques, we can reveal progressively more of the Universe than we've ever seen before. As the 2020s dawn on us, we're preparing to jump from 10 meter-class observatories, which are presently the largest in ground-based optical telescopes, to 30 meter-class ones, with approximately thrice the resolution and ten times the light-gathering power.
There's a tremendous suite of cosmic stories to discover, but the only one of the 30 meter-class observatories to be built in the Northern Hemisphere is facing a tremendous controversy that's...2020-01-091h 21
Did You Know PodcastEpisode 65: Ethan Siegel on Black HolesEthan Siegel is an astrophysicist, former professor at William & Mary College, author and Forbes contributor
Listen as Ethan and I discuss..
→ History of Blackhole’s
→ What is a Blackhole
→ Theories as to what happens to matter after it enters
→ How blackhole’s effect spacetime
→ What Interstellar and other Science Fiction gets right
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Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #51 - Cosmology At The Edge Of TimeHave you ever wondered what the first moments of our Universe were like? Not just going back towards the hot Big Bang, but at the very first fractions of a second that come after, during, and even before the Big Bang occurs?
It was my pleasure to get to speak to Dan Hooper, astrophysicist, professor, and author of the new book At The Edge Of Time, which is my favorite popular science book of 2019. (Pick up a copy here: https://amzn.to/2XReiGG)
In this fascinating hour+ conversation, we cover topics like dark matter, inflation, and what not only 21st...2019-12-141h 08
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #50: The Hunt For Planet Nine And BeyondWhat lies out there, in the outer Solar System, beyond the orbit of the last known planet? Up until 1992, you would have said Pluto and its moon (maybe "moons" if you were willing to speculate), but even the existence of the Kuiper belt was doubted by many. Of course, all of that changed with the discovery of many different objects, including the more-massive-than-Pluto world discovered in 2003: Eris. We quickly realized that Pluto was not unique, but one member of a distinct class of objects thoroughly different than the planets. In 2006, we created the "dwarf planet" classification for non-planetary objects that...2019-11-141h 17
Straight No Chaser - A Jazz ShowPodcast 709: A Conversation with Ethan IversonOn November 1 and 2, the jazz world will celebrate 50 years of the monumentally influential ECM Records, rightfully called “one of the defining sound-worlds of the past half-century of recorded music” by the New Yorker. Founded by producer Manfred Eicher in Munich in 1969 and still under his artistic leadership, ECM Records has released some of the definitive jazz recordings of the past half century, and continues to set new directions in music and sound. The show, to be held at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, boasts an outstanding lineup of perfo...2019-10-3041 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #49 - The LHC And The Future Of PhysicsThe Large Hadron Collider, located at CERN, is the most powerful particle accelerator and collider in human history, and the detectors that observe the collisional debris are the most sensitive and comprehensive ever constructed. With this powerful new tools, physicists discovered the Higgs boson earlier this decade, and continue to probe the frontiers of the known Universe.
Currently undergoing upgrades, the LHC has only collected, to date, 2% of the eventual data it will wind up collecting. Meanwhile, physicists are already planning for the future, looking to build a next-generation collider capable of probing the frontiers beyond the LHC's reach.
Yet...2019-10-121h 32
Generations Geek46. Interview: Ethan Siegel on TreknologyAKA "Treknology ": We welcome astrophysicist Ethan Siegel, author of Treknology, which which compares various Star Trek gadgets with the technology we have right now, or may be able to achieve in the future. On his blog Starts With a Bang, Ethan explains the mysteries of the universe via astronomy and physics. —February 20182019-09-241h 01
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #48 - The Event Horizon TelescopeEarlier this year, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration revealed the first image that directly showed the existence of an event horizon around a black hole. This image, constructed from many petabytes of data from telescopes observing the same target, simultaneously, from all across the Earth, provided a breathtaking confirmation of Einstein's relativity in a realm where it had never been tested before. But that's just one image of one black hole at one particular moment in time, and there's so much more to come from the Event Horizon Telescope.
This month, we're so fortunate to sit down with EHT scientist...2019-09-121h 12
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #47 - Ice Giants At The Solar System's EdgeWhat do we really know, and what mysteries are left to solve, about the outer worlds of our Solar System, and about the gas giant and ice giant worlds found throughout the Universe? Remarkably, if you had asked this same question 30 years ago, we would have had a quaint story about how planets form and why our Solar System has the planets it does, and we assumed that these rules would be extended to all solar systems in the galaxy and Universe. But with the deluge of exoplanet data, accompanied by better observations and simulations of our Solar System, that...2019-08-071h 27
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #46 - Experimental Particle SearchesWe know that there's more to the Universe than we presently know. As successful as the Standard Model may be, it cannot describe everything we observe to be true about the Universe. Neutrinos oscillate from one flavor into another, and must have a non-zero mass, but we don't understand why or how. Dark matter has an overwhelming suite of astrophysical evidence that points towards its existence, but we have no direct evidence for the type of particle it might be.
What do we do about these puzzles? We perform the best experiments we can to try and probe, identify, and...2019-07-191h 30
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #45 - Beyond Earth 2.0With all the planets out there in the galaxy and Universe, it's only a matter of time and data until we find another one with life on it. (Probably.) But while most of the searches have focused on finding the next Earth, sometimes called Earth 2.0, that's very likely an overly restrictive way to look for life. Biosignatures, or more conservatively, bio-hints, might not only be plentiful on worlds very different from our own, but around Solar Systems other than our own. Earth-like worlds, in fact, might not even be the most ubiquitous places for life to arise in the Universe.
...2019-06-141h 15
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #44 - The Expanding UniverseOne of the biggest conundrums in the Universe surrounds the question of how quickly the Universe is expanding. Questions like what is the Universe made of, how old is it, what is it's ultimate fate, etc., absolutely depend on this. For generations, we argued over the details of this, seeming to have finally reached a consensus in 2001 with the Hubble Key Project's results: 72 km/s/Mpc, with an uncertainty of about 10%. But the modern results, as of 2019, seem to depend on how you measure it. Some teams are consistently getting 67 km/s/Mpc, while others get 73-74 km/s/Mpc...2019-05-031h 01
MythWitsAstrophysicist - Ethan SiegelEthan Siegel is a theoretical astrophysicist, author, blogger, and full-time science communicator. He spent many years as a full-time physics professor before devoting his career to sharing the story of all we know about the Universe and how we know it with the general public. His books range from the origin of the Universe to the real-life science behind Star Trek's technologies, and you can find him and his latest work at Starts With A Bang on Forbes, Medium, SoundCloud, and all over social media.http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabanghttp://soundcloud.com/ethan-siegel-172073460...2019-04-1409 min
Interplanetary Podcast#128 - Ethan Siegel - BlackholeThis week features our chat with Ethan Siegel about Black Hole pictures and much more
We take a look at Angular Distance and a usual rundown of some of the week's top space news.
Space Quote: Tim Vine
On this Day? Yuri Gagarin obvs and the Death of Messier.
Beresheet crashes during the edit
Space Song playlist on spotify bit.ly/spacesongs
If you enjoy the show please go over to www.Patreon.com/Interplanetary and become a Patron or even a producer of the show.
If you enjoy why not join the BIS at www.bis-space.com the oldest...2019-04-121h 11
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #43 - Gravitational MicrolensingWhen we think about finding planets in the Universe, we typically look for ways to detect them as they orbit their parents stars, either affecting their star's position or velocity, or blocking or reflecting a certain portion of their light.
But what about the planets that are too small to be detected that way? What about the planets whose effects are imperceptible? And what about the rogue planets: the ones that no longer (or perhaps never did) orbit a star of their own?
Well, they're not doomed to be invisible! In fact, we can measure and characterize them extremely well...2019-04-081h 09
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #42 - Black Holes And GravitationSo, you want to know about black holes, including how we're seeing them, what happens when you fall into them, what our future plans for direct and indirect detection are, and how scientists are answering some of the biggest questions about them today?
It's a fascinating story about some of the most mind-blowing objects in the Universe. Please welcome Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Leo C. Stein, to the show, and enjoy a 1 hour+ conversation where we explore some of the deepest concepts in cutting-edge physics and gravitational wave astronomy!
(Image credit: Northwestern...2019-03-251h 11
SparkDialogEp 57: The Future of the Universe: with guests Dr. Avi Loeb and Dr. Ethan SiegelEverything changes. Even the stars, that seem so constant, will one day burn out. The sky will change. Today, we’re going on a journey to the very distant future of the Universe to see what is in store for us all.
The time scales we will be talking about are truly mind-blowing. We’ll see what will happen to the Earth when the sun expands to be a red giant, and eventually becomes a white dwarf. We’ll see a spectacular explosion of star formation when our Galaxy, the Milky Way, collides with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy...2019-03-0543 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #41 - Before The First StarsAfter the Big Bang, it took only a few hundred thousand years for the Universe to form neutral atoms. But it took tens or even hundreds of millions of years for the first stars to turn on, and a whopping 550 million years for those neutral atoms to all become reionized by that starlight once again.
Believe it or not, we can measure not only the starlight coming from the stars that do form through the now-infrared light they emit, but also the neutral atoms themselves through the power of 21-cm astronomy. I'm joined this week by Dr. Elizabeth Fernandez, research...2019-02-251h 00
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #40 - Pristine Matter and Future Space TelescopesOne of the great goals in our study of the Universe is to see past the currently-known frontiers. That means going farther, to greater and greater distances. It means going fainter, to smaller and less-easy-to-see objects. It means going to earlier times and less-evolved conditions. And it means detecting more of the Universe than we've ever seen before. Our goal is the most ambitious one you can imagine: understanding what the Universe was like when it was born, how it grew to be the way it is today, and where it's headed in the future.
One huge step that we...2019-01-121h 02
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #39 - The Search For Extraterrestrial IntelligenceIs there intelligent life out there in the Universe beyond planet Earth? If so, are they technologically advances, can they hear us, and are they broadcasting in ways that we could possibly detect them?
In the absence of their arrival on Earth, you might think that there's no surefire way to know. But the scientists working hard on SETI, the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence, sure are trying their best. By listening to the Universe at large (and our galaxy in particular), they're hoping to uncover the answer to perhaps the ultimate question: whether there's a civilization out there that humanity...2018-12-2058 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #38 - Interstellar Interloper `OumuamuaIn 2017, the incredible happened: for the first time in history, we were able to identify an object passing through our Solar System that originated from outside of it! Interstellar interloper 'Oumuamua was originally designated as a comet, then as an asteroid, and then as a new class of object: one of interstellar origin. It's a fascinating object that's the first of its kind, and much has been said about its composition, properties, and possible nature.
But, unfortunately, the most famous of those "nature" discussions was from Schmuel Baily and Avi Loeb of Harvard, claiming that it could be due to...2018-11-2154 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #37: The Outer Solar SystemOur Solar System formed some 4.6 billion years ago from a molecular cloud that collapsed. Our proto-Sun formed along with a protoplanetary disk that eventually evolved into the Solar System we have today, complete with the inner, rocky planets, an asteroid belt, the gas giants and their moons and ringed systems, and then the outer Solar System.
Those outer regions sure are interesting, and it's only over the past 3 decades we've really started to learn about them in earnest. I had the opportunity to speak with outer Solar System specialist Michele Bannister, and she agreed to be this month's guest on...2018-10-231h 12
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #36: The Future Of Gravitational Wave AstronomyI'm so pleased to welcome Dr. Erin MacDonald to the Starts With A Bang podcast, as we discuss the future of Gravitational Wave astronomy. From pulsars to merging black holes, to kilonovae to hopes of observing gravitational wave signatures from the earliest moments of the Universe, we cover a whole lot of astrophysics, cosmology, and experimental hopes for the near future in this burgeoning new field of astronomy.
The future of gravitational wave science is so bright, even without the collection of any light. Come learn all about it today!
Find Dr. Erin MacDonald online here:
Website: www.erinpmacdonald.com
...2018-09-2850 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #35 - Do We Live In A MultiverseThere's been a lot of speculative ideas put forth about the Multiverse, and I dare say that a great many of them are nothing more than wishful thinking. But that doesn't mean the Multiverse itself is ill-motivated at all. Rather, if you take two of our best theories that have been well-confirmed in a wide variety of different ways, you're going to find that you arrive at a bizarre but unavoidable picture: one of an inflating spacetime, eternal to the future, where regions that look like our Universe, complete with a hot Big Bang, are spawned continuously.
The evidence might...2018-08-3119 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #34 - There Is No Big Bang SingularityThe Universe, today, is expanding and cooling, as the volume of the Universe increases while the number of particles within it remains constant. If you extrapolate forwards in time, the Universe gets sparser, less dense, and closer to being completely empty. But if you extrapolate back in time instead, the Universe gets hotter, denser, and smaller in volume. Eventually, if you didn't stop yourself, you'd go all the way back to a state of infinite density, where all the matter was packed into a single point: a singularity. This was where, when it was first formulated, the idea of a...2018-07-2725 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #33 - The Limits Of SpaceHave you ever wondered what's out there in the Universe, on the largest scales, beyond what we can even observe? Or what lies down below the tiniest distance scales we've ever probed? Is there a smallest fundamental length scale in the Universe, like the Planck scale, or can we go down even farther? Is space discrete or continuous? And is the Universe fundamentally blurred; can we even distinguish?
Thinking about the limits of space, on both small and large scales, is a mind-bending game to play, but we're up to the challenge on this latest edition of the Starts With...2018-06-2927 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #32 - Humanity's 3 Hopes For Alien LifeThere are three very different ways humanity is searching for alien life beyond Earth. We can directly search the various planets and moons in our Solar System for past or present biological signatures simply by sending decontaminated probes, and looking for the evidence in situ. We can indirectly look at distant worlds around other stars, searching for the characteristic changes to the atmosphere and surface that life would bring. And, most optimistically, we can search for intelligent signatures created, perhaps willfully, by a technologically advanced alien species. These are our three hopes for finding alien life, and we're actively pursuing...2018-05-3020 min
MythWits518 Ethan SiegelEthan Siegel is Portland's favorite astrophysicist and a renowned science communicator. His blog, Starts With A Bang, has attracted tens of millions of hits since he began it in 2008, and is now featured online at Forbes.com. His work has been featured everywhere from NASA to ESPN to the Wall Street Journal. His first two books, Treknology - about the real-life science of Star Trek - and Beyond the Galaxy - about the cosmic story of how we discovered the Universe - are available everywhere books are sold.http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/http://www...2018-05-0800 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #31 - The Most Important Equation In The UniverseThere are some incredibly big questions that humanity has been asking about the Universe since we first began looking upwards: what is the Universe like, how did it get to be this way, where did it all come from, and what is its eventual fate? There were huge advances that were needed in order to answer these questions, such as understanding what the Universe was made of, how fast it was expanding, and what the laws governing it were. But once we know that, not only can we answer these questions, but we can do it with a single equation...2018-04-3017 min
Old Left at the ValleyThe Science of Star Trek with Ethan SiegelJoin the crew as they welcome Ethan Siegel, author and astrophysicist to talk about the science of Star Trek. What is possible and impossible in that universe and what we can expect to see in the future as our specie timidly takes its first steps into space. The iconic series has been the source of inspiration for much new technologies, lets see what Ethan Siegel has to say about itNancy starts a conversation about pranks in her top 10 segmentand we find out that lions don't care about the so called christian dominion of man..2018-03-311h 30
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #30: Hawking's Greatest DiscoveryIn memory of Stephen Hawking's life, I've decided to share the physics behind his greatest discovery: Hawking radiation. For a long time, in the context of relativity, we thought that black holes were static, unchanging objects defined only by their mass, charge, and angular momentum. A number of developments led us to understand that black holes needed to have entropy, temperature, and therefore, they needed to radiate. But Hawking was the one to put that puzzle together, and describe the physics of the radiation and its consequences for black holes.
It goes much further than that, with the famed (and...2018-03-2921 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #29 - What's At The Center Of A Black HoleWhen you fall inside the event horizon of a black hole, there's no escaping, no matter what you do or how you accelerate. Even if you travel at the Universe's speed limit, the speed of light, there's simply no way to get any closer to the exit. Instead, scientists say, you have no choice but to fall inevitably towards the singularity at the center. But why must you arrive at a singularity? Couldn't you wind up at some degenerate object instead?
We don't think so, and here's the science behind why. Find out what's at the center of a black...2018-02-2819 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #028 - In God's ImageA simple, innocent question that I received had me thinking for days about how to answer it. The question?
"If humans were made in God's image, whose image were aliens made in?"
There's so much to say from a science perspective about how humans were made, and how aliens might be made, that I couldn't resist giving it my absolute best! Do you agree? Comment below!2018-01-3118 min
Mr. Media Interviews by Bob AndelmanEthan Siegel, astrophysicist, author, "Star Trek: Treknology - The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive"Today's Guest: Ethan Siegel, astrophysicist, author, Star Trek: Treknology - The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive Watch this exclusive Mr. Media interview with Ethan Siegel by clicking on the video player above! Mr. Media is recorded live before a studio audience of Star Trek Discovery fans who uniformly ignore the fact that the Starship Discovery has cooler technology than any ol’ Enterprise ever did … in the NEW new media capital of the world… St. Petersburg, Florida! Star Trek Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive by Ethan Siegel. Order your copy today be clic...2018-01-2932 min
Mr. Media Interviews by Bob Andelman1347 Ethan Siegel, astrophysicist, author, "Star Trek: Treknology - The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive"The timing seems perfect to discuss Ethan Siegel’s fascinating new book, "Star Trek Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive." While not the first book of its kind, Treknology is a gorgeous, well-researched and sharply written exploration of where we actually stand on technology to take us where no man has gone before: from transporters, impulse engines and warp drives to holodecks, replicators, and tricorders, the future is closer than ever.2018-01-2932 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #27: The Biggest QuestionEver wonder about the biggest questions that there are? You know the ones I mean: about what is the Universe, where does it come from, and what is its fate? For millennia, these were questions for poets, philosophers, and theologians. Yet, despite all the "answers" that they offered, there was no way to test or verify whether they were correct.
Enter science.
After countless lifetimes struggling mightily with these, we have the answers, and they're spectacular. What do we know? How do we know it? And why is science so powerful at giving these answers? Find out, on this latest...2017-12-2922 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #26: Traveling Backwards In TimeEver dream of traveling back in time? According to all the laws of special relativity, all you can do is travel forwards through time, controlling your rate by controlling your motion through space. But in General Relativity, the curvature of spacetime allows you to play with those rules a little more flexibly.
You can make it back in time, but you still can't kill your own grandpa before your parents were conceived. Find out why on this edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast!
Video version (for the first time): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhCxtdxa8nI2017-12-0116 min
The Next Reel Film PodcastTreknology: The Science of Star Trek with Dr. Ethan Siegel • The Next ReelWhat’s this? More Trek? We can’t get enough of it! This week, Ethan Siegel joins Pete to talk about the science of Star Trek, talking through those questions that stumped us during our film series. From space propulsion to transporters, energy fields to sliding doors, Ethan builds a bridge connecting the fantastic technology that provides the foundation for the Trek future, back to the practical science of today.
Who is Ethan Siegel? He’s a Ph.D. astrophysicist, author, and science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has won numerous awards for sc...2017-11-281h 09
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #25 - Why Do We Need Quantum Gravity?Our current best theories describing the Universe, general relativity for gravity, quantum field theory for electromagnetism and the nuclear forces, do a fantastic job independently and together. But there are fundamental questions that go unanswered if we take these as the final answers. What happens to the gravitational field of an electron passing through a double slit? What happens to the information on a black hole's surface when it decays? And what happens close by a gravitational singularity? Without a quantum theory of gravity, we can't know.
Yet we're on a path to try and figure it out! Where are...2017-10-2818 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #24: The James Webb Space TelescopeRight around one year from today, the James Webb Space Telescope will launch to a position 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, deploying into a quasi-stable orbit around the L2 Lagrange point. Its magnificent, 5-layer sunshield will unfold, allowing it to passively cool down to temperatures cold enough to turn nitrogen into a liquid. Beyond that, it will have on-board coolant taking it down to 7 Kelvin, allowing us to observe light that's 50 times as long as the wavelengths the human eye can see. The gold mirrors are ideal for reflecting infrared light, and will allow us to view the Universe as...2017-09-2918 min
Seattle Astronomy PodcastInterview with Ethan Siegel, author of TreknologyInterview with Ethan Siegel, author of Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive
Written and hosted by Greg Scheiderer.
Theme music "Aboard The Alien Craft" (Steve Combs & Delta Is)
CC BY 4.02017-09-2031 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #23 - Experiencing A Total Solar Eclipse For The First TimeOn August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse occurred over the continental United States for the first time in nearly 39 years, when half the current US population wasn't even born. For many of us, it was our first opportunity to ever experience a sight like this for ourselves, and not only lived up to the hype, it was something that even a scientist couldn't fully anticipate. Here's a first-person account of what the experience was like, and how to enjoy it to the fullest, yourself, the next time one comes around!2017-08-3026 min
Trolling With Logic#044 - Treknology with Ethan SiegelCaptain’s Log, Stardate 11708.05. The Trolling with Logic crew welcomes aboard Dr. Ethan Siegel, an astrophysicist with expertise in cosmological perturbations. He has reported on his journeys “Beyond the Galaxy” in his book carrying that title, published two years ago. We have invited him on board to brief us on his latest research endeavor, an upcoming book entitled “Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive.” The question we are trying to answer: Are the technological advances that make possible the universe inhabited by millions of Trekkies an impossible pipe dream, or is such technology becoming more and m...2017-08-051h 15
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #22 - The Science Of Solar EclipsesOn August 21, 2017, a coast-to-coast total eclipse across the United States will occur, the first one in 99 years. As the Moon's shadow hits the Earth and speeds across it, there's so much to see and enjoy, but only if you're prepared. What should you look for? Where should you go? How can you stay safe? And what's the science behind it?
Come get the full story on the latest edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast!
More information: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2017/07/27/the-sights-safety-and-science-of-the-great-american-eclipse/2017-07-2723 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #21: The Quantum Rule That Makes Existence PossibleAt a fundamental level, everything we know of in this Universe is made of the same few fundamental particles: quarks, gluons, electrons and photons, which combine to give us atoms, which in turn make up all the molecules, cells, organs and living creatures inhabiting our world today. But how do we go from these tiny scales where everything looks so similar to the huge diversity of what exists at a larger, more macroscopic scale?
The secret is encoded in a single quantum rule that governs how it all works: the Pauli exclusion principle. Come get the scoop here on the...2017-06-2520 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #20: Fate Of The UniverseHave you ever wondered how the Universe will end? In the far future, everything that we know, see, measure and perceive today will someday decay away, becoming something very different from what we know it as today. The Earth will cease to harbor life, the Sun will die, the galaxies will merge and recede, and eventually everything will fade to black. But beyond that, space itself will push everything apart, stellar remnants will get ejected, and even the most massive objects at all will decay into nothingness.
In just 20 minutes, you can experience the entire future of everything to come.2017-05-2820 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #19: Is Time Travel Possible?Is time travel possible? Of course it's inevitable in some sense, as we always move through the Universe at the "boring" rate of one second per second. But what about traveling into the future? If we go, can we ever come back? And what about back in time? Would it be possible to alter the past, or revisit a historical event as an observer?
The mathematics of relativity opens the door to a lot of possibilities, but the physical Universe has a lot to say about it, too.2017-04-2816 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #18: Why isn't Pluto a planet anymore?In 1930, Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto: our Solar System's ninth planet. For over 60 years, the Plutonian system was the only one known beyond Neptune, and Pluto retained its planetary status for all that time despite its diminutive size. Yet an explosion of exoplanets and of other Trans-Neptunian Objects within our own Solar System beginning in the 1990s meant that we'd need to reconsider what it means to truly be a "planet". The debate still rages today, but astronomers agree: when it comes to the planetary club, Pluto simply doesn't belong. Here's why!2017-03-2621 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #17 - When Was The First Star Born?Our Universe was born pristine, with no stars, galaxies, molecules or even stable atoms, some 13.8 billion years ago. Yet today, we're filled with all the complex structure we see today, including with planets, organics and even something as complex and differentiated as a human being. So how did we get here? We had to form stars and galaxies, and evolve the Universe to a point where the raw ingredients to make us existed in great enough abundances and in the right conditions. There are some steps we're still learning about in this story, including how the very first stars came...2017-02-2617 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #16: How fast is the Universe expanding?The discovery almost 100 years ago that the Universe was expanding was a revolution for science, for cosmology and for our conception of existence. Hubble discovered what Einstein's couldn't imagine, and after that, the race was on to learn exactly what those observations meant for our cosmic origins. After decades of controversies, we now have a better picture of our Universe than ever before, yet questions remain. What will be the ultimate answer? Find out the possibilities, and what the limits of our knowledge tell us is possible, on this edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast!2017-01-2919 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #15: Is our Universe the inside of a black hole?Black holes are incredibly massive objects that are so dense that, from within a given region of space, nothing can escape, not even light. Yet it's arguable that from our point of view, nothing can escape our observable Universe. Moreover, even though our Universe is huge, it's also incredibly massive, and since it's expanding, it was denser and smaller in the past. Could our Universe be the inside of a black hole? And do we have evidence either supporting this or ruling it out? Find out on the latest episode of the Starts With A Bang podcast!2016-12-2515 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #14: Are Parallel Universes Real?Ever since we first uncovered the quantum nature of our Universe, humanity has struggled to interpret it. Is there a wavefunction that collapses? Is it the quantum operators themselves that change? Does the end state evolve? Or are there an infinite number of parallel Universes that correspond to all the possible outcomes? This last possibility may actually be plausible, and this podcast is a deep dive into the adventure that ensues if they're real. But beware, there are a lot of assumptions needed to get there!2016-12-0118 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #13: How Many Galaxies Are In The Universe?Did you hear the news, that it isn't "billions and billions" anymore, but that there are TWO TRILLION (or 2,000,000,000,000) galaxies in the observable Universe? Come get the science behind this amazing story, including how we know, what it means and what we'll even have the potential to learn in the near future.2016-10-2319 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #12: Exoplanets, beyond our Solar System and Proxima bFor thousands upon thousands of years, we didn't know whether the other stars in the Universe were even like our Sun, much less whether they had planets around them like we find in our Solar System. Over the past 25 years, however, that question has not only been answered, but we've discovered thousands of confirmed planets. Even more exciting, we've found that the star systems out there are similar to our own in some ways but tremendously different in others, and that there are already more than 20 rocky planets known that are at the right distance to have liquid water on...2016-09-2519 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #11: Was The Big Bang The Beginning Of The Universe?Our Universe has been expanding and evolving since the hot, dense, expanding state known as the Big Bang first came to be. But there was a "day without yesterday," where the Big Bang occurred at a moment in time! Was that the birth of space and time itself? Or was there a pre-existing state that came before and gave rise to the Big Bang? Come find out the evidence that's led us to our greatest conclusions about the very beginning of where everything came from!2016-08-2819 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #10: The Last Star In The UniverseWhile there are presently more than ~10^23 stars in the Universe shining today, each one of them is fated to live only for a finite amount of time. While more and more will continue to form, we're already past the point of peak star formation in the Universe. How long will we have until, for the last time, the Universe's last star goes out?
Find out on this edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast!2016-07-2717 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #9: Interstellar TravelEver since humanity had the thought that the distant, twinkling stars might be Suns like our own, with their own planetary systems and chances at life, we've dreamed of extending humanity's reach to the galaxy and beyond. What are our actual chances of doing so, technologically, scientifically and practically? This podcast -- based on an exclusive interview with Larry Niven -- explores what's possible.2016-06-2918 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #8: What is Dark Energy?How will the Universe end? Will it recollapse in on itself, ending in a Big Crunch? Will it expand forever, ending in a Big Freeze? Or will it tear itself apart, ending in a Big Rip?
With the discovery of dark energy, we finally think we know, but there's always more science to be done, more possibilities to consider, and new evidence to look for to help point the way.2016-05-1417 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #7: Our Solar System's Planet NineCould there be a ninth planet in our Solar System, farther out than Neptune? Recent evidence points to a tantalizing possibliity, and searches are underway to look for it. Here's the science behind the full 'Planet Nine' story, in one amazing, easy-to-follow podcast!2016-04-2224 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #6: The most distant galaxy in the UniverseThe Hubble Space Telescope has just shattered the record for most distant galaxy in the Universe. How did we break this record, and what do we expect to find even farther back?2016-04-0318 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #5: Gravitational Waves and LIGOIn February of 2016, less than six months after first becoming operational, LIGO (the laser interferometer gravitational wave observatory) announced the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves. What are they? What does it mean? What did we learn? And what can we do with them now that we know they exist? All this and more on this month's Starts With A Bang podcast!2016-02-2723 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #4: The story of Pluto and CharonIn 1930, Clyde Tombaugh serendipitously discovered Pluto: the first object in our Solar System out past Neptune. For 48 years, it was the only object known out there, until Charon -- its giant moon -- was discovered. But the 1990s brought with it a slew of Kuiper Belt objects, and in 2006, Pluto was officially demoted to a "dwarf planet." But also in 2006, NASA's New Horizons mission was launched: the first dedicated mission to the outer Solar System. In 2015, it flew by both Pluto and Charon, discovering two vastly different worlds. Here's what we've learned.2016-02-0219 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #3: Why is there more matter than antimatter?Everywhere we look in the Universe, we find that planets, stars, galaxies, and even the gas between them are all made of matter and not antimatter. Yet as far as we know, the laws of nature are symmetric between matter and antimatter: you can't create or destroy one without the other. So how did our Universe get to be the way it is? Come right up to the frontiers of our scientific knowledge and have a listen!2015-12-3026 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #2 - Size Of The UniverseAlthough it's been only 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, we can see objects as distant as 46.1 billion light years away. How is this possible? Ethan Siegel explains in the second Starts With A Bang podcast. Plus, how to see Comet Catalina in the December skies, and why it's on its way out of the Solar System forever.
This podcast is free to download and distribute in perpetuity thanks to the support of our Patreon donors at www.patreon.com/startswithabang?ty=h2015-11-3019 min
Starts With A Bang podcastStarts With A Bang #1 -- Water (and life?) on MarsIn the first inaugural Starts With A Bang podcast, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel discusses the latest evidence for water on Mars, what it means for Earth and potential life on the surface, as well as other topics. Guest (and Patreon supporter) Maciek makes an appearance, and we discuss the future of physics and speculate on what the next great advance might be.
This podcast is free to download and distribute in perpetuity thanks to the support of our Patreon donors at https://www.patreon.com/startswithabang?ty=h2015-10-3028 min