Wearing the Cosmos on Our Bodies

A custom suit designed and tailored by Adam Ross for Professor Avi Loeb. (Image: Loeb Photo Collection)We are made of cosmic matter. As of today, I can also wear an image of the cosmos on my body.As soon as FedEx delivered a large cardboard box through the front door of my home, I noticed that the package was sent by Adam Ross. I met Adam in Houston, Texas a couple of months ago, on the day that I was invited to throw the first pitch for the Houston ASTROS (as described here). Adam is an exceptional designer of custom suits. To my surprise, he has been following my research in astrophysics and was particularly inspired by my search for alien intelligence. During my visit to his clothing store in Houston, Adam measured my body and promised to send me a tailored suit, designed exclusively to reflect my research. We also recorded his first podcast over delicious dark chocolate and red wine; the full conversation is available here, with shorts posted here.After the FedEx delivery, I texted Adam: “I just received the new suit. It is amazingly beautiful. A real work of art. THANK YOU SO MUCH! 🥂🙏”The inside of the suit shows galaxies, stars, Earth-like planets, spacecraft and aliens. As Adam’s art suggests, we carry the story of the Universe in our body.The interior of a custom suit by Adam Ross for Avi Loeb. (Image: Loeb Photo Collection)Nearly all the atoms heavier than helium in our body were made through nuclear fusion inside a star that lived and died before the Sun formed.The Big Bang produced mainly the two hydrogen atoms in each water molecule, that makes roughly 60% of our body mass. About 13.8 billion years ago, the early universe spent only a few minutes at fusion temperatures that allowed it to make only the lightest elements: hydrogen, helium, and traces of lithium. No carbon, no oxygen, no iron. This primordial composition does not enable the chemistry of life-as-we-know-it.About 100 million years after the Big Bang, the first stars started fusing hydrogen in