And I, what fountain of fire am I
among this leaping combustion of spring?

– D.H. Lawrence “The Enkindled Spring”

Improbable as it may sound, we are all made from the spectacular death of stars called supernovas. Everything in the world – the iron in our blood, the oxygen we’re breathing, the silicon in computers are ultimately atoms. And most kinds of atoms are made when stars explode. Each time we take a breath, we’re actually inhaling atoms forged in the interior of burning stars and then propelled across the Milky Way before reaching us.

Intrigued? Let astrophysicist Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz shine more light on this “starry” fact”. Ramirez-Ruiz’s talk was presented at a TED Institute event in partnership with The Kavli Foundation, the Simons Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences. Watch an excerpt of his talk here: