What is new is a simulation that demonstrates how the process might have taken place. The basic idea has been out there for some time:
1) The universe began with a singular event called the Big Bang.
2) Initially all or almost all matter consisted of hydrogen (1 proton and 1 election). As these gathered together to form the first generation of stars, helium (2 + 2) started to be form through fusion.
3) As these first generation stars got old, some of them started to “burn the ash,” that is, to fuse hydrogen and helium into heavier atoms; e.g., carbon.
4) When these early stars exploded, yet heavier atoms were formed, and all of their material - including in particular the heavier atoms - was emitted in the explosion so that next generation stars include heavier atoms. We are probably on a third generation star system.
5) In our star system, much of the heavier stuff was gathered in the disk emanating about the center. Our planet in particular consists largely of iron or maybe iron-and-nickel (our core), a rocky crust, oceans of liquid water, and a thick atmosphere composed mostly of nitrogen and oxygen.
So, yes, a lot of what we humans are consists of material originating in first and perhaps also second generation stars that went nova. All of this enormously long period of time was necessary for a planet such as ours to be formed.
All of this is subsumed in Genesis 1:1. By Genesis 1:2 we’re on the surface of the early planet Earth, a much different place than it is today.
Excellent step-by-step list of what's believed to have occurred. And identifying that it's all in Genesis 1:1 was good for getting me to think about the wonder contained in those few powerful words.