Let Me Tell You Just What You Really Are

The truth (science) can often be far stranger than fiction (religion).  Here's a fine example. 

Religion likes to tell you that we were just plopped here by some divine being, end of story. Don't question, just take it on faith. You weren't and then you were.

Science tells us that we are the end result, for now at least, of billions of years of cosmic events and processes.

Many of us are familiar with the Periodic Table. I like Wiki's description:

The periodic table is a tabular arrangement of the chemical elements, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and recurring chemical properties. This ordering shows periodic trends, such as elements with similar behaviour in the same column. It also shows four rectangular blocks with some approximately similar chemical properties. In general, within one row (period) the elements are metals on the left, and non-metals on the right.

Most of us know that everything, including your own body, is composed of these elements in combination. But where did those elements come from? How did they get here? What are the real origins of life?

Every atom in your body traces back to one or more cosmic processes: the Big Bang, cosmic ray fission, merging neutron stars, exploding massive stars, dying low mass stars and exploding white dwarfs.  

Above is the periodic table colour coded to represent which violent process or processes were responsible for each element that now form every atom in your body.

And this, kids, is why Carl Sagan liked to refer to us as "Star Dust."