When Carl Sagan said that “we’re made of star stuff,” he wasn’t being metaphoric. He was simply noting—in his uniquely precise and poetic way—that the raw materials that constitute our physical bodies were forged in the bellies of distant, long-extinguished stars.
The photographer Ignacio Torres has made this insight visual. In his gorgeous images—presented as animated GIFs as a nod to the cosmic movement of space and time—he transforms Sagan’s world-altering perspective into something immediate and unnerving. His photographs show people bursting out of the primordial dust (really, reflective confetti) that birthed us all. He has made a beautiful theoretical insight look alluring and beautiful as well. One expects that Sagan would approve.
Michael Moyer is the editor in charge of physics and space coverage at Scientific American. Previously he spent eight years at Popular Science magazine, where he was the articles editor. He was awarded the 2005 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award for his article "Journey to the 10th Dimension," and has appeared on CBS, ABC, CNN, Fox and the Discovery Channel. He studied physics at the University of California at Berkeley and at Columbia University.
