PhilosophySciencePsychologySocietyCulture
EssaysVideos

Popular

About
DONATENEWSLETTER
Menu
Aeon
DonateNewsletterSIGN IN
Email
Post
Share

We are born of supernovas – our spectacular and totally ordinary origin story

You might have heard that we are made of ‘star stuff’, but what exactly does that mean? In this collaboration between The Atlantic and the podcast TRBQ (The Really Big Questions), the NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller explains how every atom in the human body – and, indeed, every object in the Universe that is composed of anything more complex than hydrogen and helium atoms – can be traced back to the life cycle of a star.

Producer: Flora Lichtman, Katherine Wells

Websites: Soundvision Productions, TRBQ

14 September 2017
Email
Post
Share
Illustration of a tattooed man from behind looking at a starry sky with trees silhouetted in the foreground.

videoAstronomy

The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky

5 minutes

Drawing of Earth and the Moon in orbit with straight lines trailing off each on a white background with grey specks.

videoPhysics

To change the way you see the Moon, view it from the Sun’s perspective

5 minutes

Close-up of two black optical devices with visible yellow light inside the lenses, set against a blurry background.

videoPhysics

What does it look like to hunt for dark matter? Scenes from one frontier in the search

7 minutes

Abstract black-and-white image featuring a spherical shape at the centre surrounded by an intricate web of swirling, crisscrossing lines, creating a three-dimensional effect. The background is dark, enhancing the contrast and emphasising the white lines and central sphere.

videoPhysics

Imagining spacetime as a visible grid is an extraordinary journey into the unseen

12 minutes

Artistic depiction of a black hole with light bending around its event horizon. A bright swirl of light contrasts against the dark background, illustrating the gravitational pull and bending of light.

videoPhysics

The abyss at the edge of human understanding – a voyage into a black hole

4 minutes

Overhead view of a person walking down a spiral staircase with yellow steps. The staircase creates a swirling visual effect.

videoChemistry

Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?

12 minutes

A woman with brown hair wearing a dark blazer and light-coloured top is speaking, gesturing with her hand. The background is out-of-focus greenery.

videoCosmology

Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse

11 minutes

Futuristic illustration of two astronauts in red spacesuits above a moon-like surface. One astronaut points towards an illuminated city inside a crater.

videoAstronomy

The history of astronomy is a history of conjuring intelligent life where it isn’t

34 minutes

Illustration of a man in a suit, looking down, with a background of indistinct figures in a hallway. The colours are muted, creating a sombre atmosphere.

videoCosmology

The Indian astronomer whose innovative work on black holes was mocked at Cambridge

13 minutes