“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.”

This quote from Carl Sagan represents one of the most poetic truths of our scientific reality. That heavy elements that we are made of weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of earlier generations of stars that have since exploded and spread their material across the universe. We are literally made of stardust. This allows us a new and profound feeling of connection to the stars we see in the sky, to the universe, and to everyone in it.