 Where did life on Earth come from? The answer lies in the stars, which have lives of their own. Stars are responsible for the materials that form us and everything around us, including these two people. Welcome back to Think Tank. Today's topic is the supernova. Or when stars go boom. Sure, why not? Everything set with a thought visualizer? All systems go. Let's do a quick check. Think of a planet. What kind of planet? Doesn't matter. Okay, fine. Think of something that's not a planet. Perfect. Let's get started. During most of their lives, stars shine by processing fuel. But what happens when they exhaust their fuel after millions of years or longer? A star that is many times more massive than our sun ends its life in a spectacular explosion called a supernova. An explosion so powerful that for a brief period it can generate more light than an entire galaxy containing billions of stars. A supernova is more than an impressive cosmic light show. It is critical in enabling life as we know it to exist. Like dinosaurs. Yes, like dinosaurs. And butterflies. Let's not name every animal. During a star's life, nuclear fusion turns lighter elements like hydrogen and helium into more complex, heavier elements like oxygen and carbon and eventually iron at its core. When the iron core becomes too massive, it implodes and collapses into itself. The rest of the star follows suit reaching incredible pressures and temperatures. At this stage, heavier elements are formed. All of this compressed material then rebounds into an explosion that we call a supernova. Elements like copper, nickel and iron are hurled into space at millions of miles per hour. Iron is very useful. That is a brilliant insight. Supernova events are responsible for producing most of the valuable elements that we use on Earth. By distributing them into space, a supernova allows the ingredients necessary for life to be swept up and recycled into the raw material for future stars and planets. So you can think of a supernova as a unique factory that also provides a delivery service. Like a pizza company that makes deliveries by exploding. Our solar system, including the Earth, owes its chemical makeup to probably several generations of stars that went supernova. They ultimately produced the right mixture of elements that allowed life on our planet, including humans, to form and thrive. Humans, like us. That's our show. Special thanks to NASA's observatories in space as they continue to observe supernovae, helping us discover our origins. And also special thanks to me, who, I think it's fair to say, did a stellar job. Thank you for watching. We'll see you next time.