September 24, 2015
“He who loves practice without theory is like the sailor who boards ship without a rudder and compass and never knows where he may cast.” -Leonardo Da Vinci
There's an attitude that's very, very common in America: the notion of the rugged individualist. Part of that ethos is the idea that, "if I…
September 23, 2015
“In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; my position is mistaken,’ and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn’t happen as often as it should, because scientists are…
September 22, 2015
“Whenever I gaze up at the moon, I feel like I’m on a time machine. I am back to that precious pinpoint of time, standing on the foreboding — yet beautiful — Sea of Tranquility. I could see our shining blue planet Earth poised in the darkness of space.” -Buzz Aldrin
If you look at Earth from space…
September 21, 2015
“From our home on the Earth, we look out into the distances are strive to imagine the sort of world into which we are born.. But with increasing distance our knowledge fades, and fades rapidly, until at the last dim horizon we search among ghostly errors of observations for landmarks that are…
September 20, 2015
“It is worthwhile, too, to warn the teacher that undue severity in correcting faults is liable at times to discourage a pupil’s mind from effort.” -Quintilian
We live in a society where we often draw this dichotomy between "our side," which is always right, and "their side," which is against us…
September 19, 2015
“Making a wrong decision is understandable. Refusing to search continually for learning is not." -Phil Crosby
From searching for ET to galaxies beyond what Hubble can see, as well as two great guest posts, it's been an incredible week here at Starts With A Bang. Best of all, you've had plenty to…
September 18, 2015
“To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.” -Isaac Newton
If Newton truly meant that sentiment, perhaps he would have been happy to find out that his theory of gravitation -- which stood unchallenged for over 200 years…
September 17, 2015
“The great oak of Astronomy has been felled, and we are lost without its shadow.” –Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, on the passing of Jan Oort
In our Solar System, we have the inner, rocky worlds, an asteroid belt, the gas giants and then the Kuiper belt. Out beyond that, in theory, we have the Oort…
September 17, 2015
“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will…
September 16, 2015
100 years ago, Einstein put forth his General Theory of Relativity, and 99 years ago, Karl Schwarzschild came up with the mathematical solution describing a black hole, a solution we now know is not only physically valid, but one that has many examples all across the Universe.
Image credit: NASA…
September 15, 2015
When we think of our origin story -- the origin of everything in the Universe -- many of us think of, "let there be light!" This is true whether you consider the Big Bang origins of our Universe or the biblical stories we've told for thousands of years, yet few of us pause to consider what the…
September 14, 2015
“This then, I thought, as I looked round about me, is the representation of history. It requires a falsification of perspective. We, the survivors, see everything from above, see everything at once, and still we do not know how it was.” -W.G. Sebald
From their discovery in the 1600s, Saturn's…
September 13, 2015
“Drawing is not only a way to come up with pictures: drawing is a way to educate your eye to understand visual information, organizing it into a more hierarchical way, a more economical way. When you see something, if you draw often and frequently, you examine a room very differently.” -Vik Muniz…
September 12, 2015
"I am quite surprised that it happened during my lifetime. It is nice to be right about something sometimes." -Peter Higgs
The LHC at CERN proved its value, for sure, but there are lots of other opinions floating around. On this and all topics at Starts With A Bang, you're free to have your say!…
September 11, 2015
“[W]hat Fermi immediately realized was that the aliens have had more than enough time to pepper the Galaxy with their presence. But looking around, he didn’t see any clear indication that they’re out and about. This prompted Fermi to ask what was (to him) an obvious question: ‘where is everybody…
September 10, 2015
“A cosmic mystery of immense proportions, once seemingly on the verge of solution, has deepened and left astronomers and astrophysicists more baffled than ever. The crux … is that the vast majority of the mass of the universe seems to be missing.” –William J. Broad
When Fritz Zwicky first…
September 10, 2015
“There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” -Lord Kelvin
When Kelvin said that over 100 years ago, he was talking about how Newtonian gravity and Maxwell's electromagnetism seemed to account for all the known phenomena in the…
September 9, 2015
“The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.” -Henri Poincare
It's the start of another school year, and that means literally tens of millions of students returning to school. While there are a few…
September 7, 2015
“The thing is, when you see your old friends, you come face to face with yourself. I run into someone I’ve known for 40 or 50 years, and they’re old. And I suddenly realize I’m old. It comes as an enormous shock to me. ” -Polly Bergen
It isn't just humans that age rapidly, but stars as well. For…
September 6, 2015
“The impact of an attacking tiger can be compared to that of a piano falling on you from a second story window. But unlike the piano, the tiger is designed to do this, and the impact is only the beginning.” -John Vaillant
I can't fault you if you've given up entirely on the perfume/cologne…
September 5, 2015
“I was strongly encouraged by a science teacher who took an interest in me and presented me with a key to the laboratory to allow me to work whenever I wanted.” -Frederick Reines, discoverer of the first neutrino
That kind of education is irreplaceable, and at Starts With A Bang we do our best to…
September 4, 2015
“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.” -Rod Serling
Of course, despite our best theoretical hopes, we know only of four…
September 3, 2015
“One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.” –Joan of Arc
In 2012, I had the honor and the privilege to learn about Mariam Sultana, the first woman in Pakistan to be awarded a…
September 2, 2015
“When you see how fragile and delicate life can be, all else fades into the background.” -Jenna Morasca
The hot Big Bang -- proposed seventy years ago -- is a tremendous success story. Predicated on the assumption that the Universe was hotter, denser, more uniform and expanding faster in the past,…
August 31, 2015
When it comes to the Universe, physicists say things like: it originated in a Big Bang, it's isotropic (or the same in all directions), and it's homogeneous (the same everywhere), save for the effects of cosmic evolution. In every direction we look, we see galaxies expanding away from us, with the…
August 31, 2015
“It is marvelous indeed to watch on television the rings of Saturn close; and to speculate on what we may yet find at galaxy’s edge. But in the process, we have lost the human element; not to mention the high hope of those quaint days when flight would create ‘one world.’ Instead of one world, we…
August 30, 2015
“When he came home, I could see a change. He was quieter and he was a man and a hero to me. I watched him and listened to him. I’d never had an opportunity to do a superhero, and when that came, [that voice] just came right out of me and I sounded like Optimus.” -Peter Cullen, on his brother
If…
August 29, 2015
“To me there has never been a higher source of earthly honor or distinction than that connected with advances in science.” -Isaac Newton
And the advances continue, not just here at Starts With A Bang but everywhere humans are engaged in the practice of gathering knowledge about the world and…
August 28, 2015
“Thus it seems Einstein was doubly wrong when he said, God does not play dice. Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can’t be seen.” -Stephen Hawking
You've no doubt heard that Stephen Hawking is claiming that the black hole information…
August 27, 2015
“When I say, ‘I love you,’ it’s not because I want you or because I can’t have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I’ve seen your kindness and your strength. I’ve seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you…
