Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 6m

Macroscopic quantum tunneling wins 2025’s Nobel Prize in physics

This year's Nobel Prize in physics was all about building the first sustainable macroscopic system to exhibit quantum behavior.

Here's the science behind the prize, and why it matters.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #quantum

Macroscopic quantum tunneling wins 2025's Nobel Prize in physics

Quantum mechanics was first discovered on small, microscopic scales. 2025's Nobel Prize brings the quantum and large-scale worlds together.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 19h

Keep in mind: a static character can, throughout the story, have previously unseen aspects about them revealed to us, but the key is that the character themself does not change.

Glad this helped!

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 21h

Shoutout to @stephenking.bsky.social for an astute understanding of probability and how to answer the question of "If I'm the only one I know of, I might be alone; what will it take to convince me I'm not alone?"

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 22h

What you want are static characters.

Whether they're likeable or relatable varies.

"They are what they are and they do what they do" even as circumstances around them change, and they can end in triumph or tragedy.

Hemingway's "old man" in the old man and the sea.
Indiana Jones.
Sherlock Holmes.

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 23h

Today is the day!

The Grand Cosmic Story, my newest book (with Jon Lomberg, Mark Garlick, and Will Lidwell), from National Geographic, is released!

Get the history of the whole Universe, one page and 100 Myr at a time, today!
amzn.to/46GsS9d

www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/789623...
#space #book

An inside look at four individual page spreads from the book The Grand Cosmic Story, featuring artwork, page titles, intricate text, and statistics about the Universe.

Cover image and a look at the introduction inside to the book The Grand Cosmic Story, telling our cosmic history 1 page and 100 million years at a time.

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 1d

The search for alien life must heed this lesson from Stephen King

In Stephen King's "The Stand," survivors of the Captain Trips superflu are rare, and finding a second survivor doesn't always occur.

Here's what that lesson means for seeking alien life.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro

The search for alien life must heed this lesson from Stephen King

In 2025, Earth remains the only planet where life is known to exist. Without a second example, "The Stand" has a vital lesson to teach us.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 1d

COSMOS-Web unveils JWST’s newest gravitational lenses

Within JWST's largest-area survey so far, the COSMOS-Web field, there are over 100 newly imaged gravitational lenses.

Here are the sights, and surprises, lying within.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #jwst #astro

COSMOS-Web unveils JWST's newest gravitational lenses

By deeply imaging a large volume of space, COSMOS-Web provides JWST's widest cosmic views. Its gravitational lenses reveal a big surprise.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 4d

How and when will the Universe die?

#AskEthan

Ever since the discovery of dark energy, astronomers have been secure in predicting the heat death of our Universe.

But if dark energy is changing, as DESI data suggests, are all bets off?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #cosmology #astro

Ask Ethan: How and when will the Universe die?

As the Universe ages, it continues to gravitate, form stars, and expand. And yet, all this will someday end. Do we finally understand how?

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 5d

You can learn more about journalism, ethics, and the world of reporting by reading Karen Attiah than you can by reading everything else by everyone working at the Washington Post today.

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 5d

I wrote this piece about 7th anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's murder.

On the costs of speaking the truth in today's world.

And how Jamal's memory still stalks Saudi Arabia--- and the Washington Post.

open.substack.com/pub/karenatt...

Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post, and the Cost of Speaking Out

As Saudi Arabia hosts comedians and courts gamers, the silenced voice of Jamal Khashoggi still echoes.

open.substack.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 6d

What do distant observers see when they look at Earth?

If a distant observer takes a look back at Earth, what would they see?

They'd see a more primitive version of our planet, of course, and beyond a certain distance, no Earth at all.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #Earth

What do distant observers see when they look at Earth?

From here on Earth, looking farther away in space means looking farther back in time. So what are distant Earth-watchers seeing right now?

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 6d

RIP to the one and only Jane Goodall, who has finally embarked on what she promised just a short while ago would be her "next great adventure" here: www.youtube.com/shorts/XeXNK...

Jane Goodall on death, her next great adventure #shorts

YouTube video by The Well

www.youtube.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 6d

Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew

Yes, NASA science is being destroyed, and the NASA we know is actively in the process of being gutted.

Here are the receipts.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #nasa #usa

Thousands of NASA employees to bid farewell to the NASA they knew

As October begins, thousands of longtime NASA employees are leaving the agency. 4000+ will exit by January 9, 2026, changing NASA forever.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 7d

The “atom” lost its original meaning, and that’s good for science

First proposed more than 2400 years ago, the idea of the "atom" was an uncuttable, indivisible building block to all reality.

So why do we still call our composite structures atoms, then?
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#physics #atom

The "atom" lost its original meaning, and that's good for science

Invented over 2000 years ago by Democritus, the word atom literally means uncuttable. Revived in 1803, today's "atoms" can indeed be split.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 8d

So happy that my undergrad nerd colleagues and my grad school nerd colleagues are finding each other!

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 8d

Want to make a game together, lol?

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 8d

The 5 biggest mysteries about the origin of our Universe

We know more than ever before about the beginning stages of our Universe's history.

But five huge puzzles, from the first stars to the origin of matter to the nature of inflation, still remain.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #bigbang

The 5 biggest mysteries about the origin of our Universe

From the Big Bang to a prior period of cosmic inflation, our cosmic origins are clearer than ever. Yet these 5 big mysteries still remain.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 9d

It's really too bad. Masks are supposed to be about public health and protecting one another.

These days, you have to protect yourself and plan for yourself, alone, almost everywhere you go.

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 9d

(In the USA. There are plenty in Japan!)

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Reposted by Ethan Siegel

Phil Plait @philplait.bsky.social · 12d

Mark is one of my favorite illustrators, and I use (and link to) his work in my newsletter often. Ethan is also a great writer, so I expect this book will be wonderful.

Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 12d

As the author of the book that @markgarlick.com and Jon Lomberg co-illustrated, the opportunity to get a free, frameable art masterwork along with the extraordinary book is a bonus that will catch your eye, day after day, and make you ponder both the remarkable knowns and unknowns of existence.

⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 12d

Coming in 2 weeks is this rebooting of our successful Kickstarter book, Encyclopaedia Cosmologica. If you missed it, here's another chance. Written by @startswithabang.bsky.social and co-illustrated by me.

Order below and get a free art print from the book.

lnkd.in/eRjmMPQH

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 12d

As the author of the book that @markgarlick.com and Jon Lomberg co-illustrated, the opportunity to get a free, frameable art masterwork along with the extraordinary book is a bonus that will catch your eye, day after day, and make you ponder both the remarkable knowns and unknowns of existence.

⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 12d

Coming in 2 weeks is this rebooting of our successful Kickstarter book, Encyclopaedia Cosmologica. If you missed it, here's another chance. Written by @startswithabang.bsky.social and co-illustrated by me.

Order below and get a free art print from the book.

lnkd.in/eRjmMPQH

Image of the cover of the forthcoming book The Grand Cosmic Story, by Ethan Siegel, Mark A Garlick, Jon Lomberg and William Lidwell.

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 12d

Where are we located relative to the Big Bang?

#AskEthan

The Big Bang didn't occur at a single location in space, but rather, everywhere at once.

If we assumed it was a big ka-boom, we'd be shockingly close to its origin point.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #astro #bigbang #notanexplosion

Ask Ethan: Where are we located relative to the Big Bang?

If you think of the Big Bang as an explosion, we can trace it back to a single point-of-origin. But what if it happened everywhere at once?

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 12d

Now is absolutely the perfect time to preorder my newest book, The Grand Cosmic Story from National Geographic, coming out in just 2 weeks!

Do it now at this link - promo.porchlightbooks.com/pages/promot... - and get a FREE bonus frameable print of the unique artwork in the book!

Cover of the book The Grand Cosmic Story with pre-order now text beneath it, and a beautiful galactic background behind it.

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 13d

Was too good of a joke for me to be the only like!

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 13d

Even before the Big Bang, space wasn’t truly empty

Before the Big Bang, space was inflating, devoid of matter and antimatter particles.

But even still, it wasn't truly empty, and the existence of a cosmic horizon explains why.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #bigbang #physics #astro

Even before the Big Bang, space wasn't truly empty

All of the matter that we measure today originated in the hot Big Bang. But even before that, and far into the future, it'll never be empty.

bigthink.com

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Ethan Siegel @startswithabang.bsky.social · 14d

The strongest evidence for a Universe before the Big Bang

Louder, for those of you in the back who've been willfully covering your ears: the Big Bang wasn't the beginning, and we have some damn good evidence supporting that conclusion!

bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#space #physics #bigbang

The strongest evidence for a Universe before the Big Bang

The hot Big Bang is often touted as the beginning of the Universe. But there's one piece of evidence we can't ignore that shows otherwise.

bigthink.com

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