With a haunting phrase echoing in his head, a scientist decides to tell a fascinating story about finding a link between the stars that make up our universe and life on Earth.
Our sun is a second or third generation star formed by the remains of gas and dust from other stars that have already died. Everything that surrounds us—from animals, the air we breathe to the water we drink—is composed of atoms that were inside the stars. Recent scientific findings highlight an even deeper and disturbing idea: that the role of the stars doesn’t stop there. They may not only create matter, and therefore the atoms that create living things; They might also play a role in originating, evolving and extinguishing life anywhere in the universe.
Astronomy meets particle physics and biology in this adventure to uncover a natural phenomenon hidden from our eyes: cosmic radiation. Journey to some of the best research centres in the world, where scientists study the links between terrestrial life and the rest of the universe. Research shows that the death of distant stars bathes the space with small particles, which have the ability not only to change life on our planet but also to create the basic blocks for life in the cold and dark interstellar medium.
Perhaps stars are more than matter—and maybe we are not only star stuff.