Why is the sky blue? Why is the ocean blue? The answers aren’t the same.

The sky is blue. The oceans are blue. While science can explain them both, the reasons for each are entirely different.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

15h

Did the Milky Way lose its black hole?

At four million solar masses, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole is quite small for a galaxy its size. Did we lose the original?Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

1d

Einstein was right. Flying clocks around the world in opposite directions proved it.

Time isn’t the same for everyone, even on Earth. Flying around the world gave Einstein the ultimate test. No one is immune from relativity.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

2d

Black hole science enters its golden age

The idea of black holes have been around for over 200 years. Today, we’re seeing them in previously unimaginable ways.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

3d

Everything we now know about the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole

After years of analysis, the Event Horizon Telescope team has finally revealed what the Milky Way’s central black hole looks like.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

6d

Ask Ethan: Why is fusion in stars different than during the Big Bang?

In Sun-like stars, hydrogen gets fused into helium. In the Big Bang, hydrogen fusion also makes helium. But they aren’t close to the same.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

1w

Sodium and water react, and quantum physics explains why

Drop sodium in water, and a violent, even explosive reaction will occur. But quantum physics is needed to explain why.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

2w

Can the new-and-improved Large Hadron Collider save particle physics?

The Standard Model may or may not be in trouble, but particle physics definitely needs saving. Here’s what the new LHC can do.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

2w

What happens when the Universe turns up the heat?

Everything that gets heated up has to, somehow, radiate that energy away. Here’s what we see when that happens in the Universe.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

2w

Starts With A Bang podcast #81: The local bubble

For a thousand light-years in all directions, there’s a “bubble” that the Sun sits at the center of. Here’s the story behind it.Continue reading on Starts With A Bang! »

2w