Bob Kirshner, of Harvard University, explains why supernovae are important for all of us.

“The supernovae make the chemical elements through real alchemy, transforming one element, the light elements into the heavy ones,” he said. “So the calcium that is in your bones and the iron that is in your blood probably came from supernovae that exploded before the sun formed. So, we are all stardust, and it seems reasonable for us to want to know how these elements get formed when stars explode.”