"I have just gone over my comet computations again, and it is humiliating to perceive how very little more I know than I did seven years ago when I first did this kind of work." -Maria Mitchell
"The world owes you nothing. It was here first." -Mark Twain
When you think about where all of this came from back to the beginning of the Universe there's a good chance it makes you a little uncomfortable. For this week's Ask Ethan, our one remaining column here on ScienceBlogs, our reader vvv asks a question that quite possibly many of you have wondered:
Why didn't the universe collapse into a black hole right "at the moment of the big bang?"
“I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” -Johannes Kepler, 1601
It's easy to think of some things as eternal, even though nothing truly is. The Sun is long lived, and it has another 7 billion years (or so) to go before it runs out of fuel, but eventually it, too, will die. But surely gravitational orbits will outlast us all, right?
“In this land of ours, there are many great pits. But none more bottomless than the bottomless pit. Which, as you can see here, is bottomless.” -Grunkle Stan, Gravity Falls
After another week of fun-filled stories about the Universe here at Starts With A Bang, it's time to take a look back at everything we've said, as well as everything you've said in response. If you missed anything (or simply want a second look), here's what we've covered over the past week: