Big news: How the universe got so big so quicky

Guests: Mark Devlin and Mark Trodden

Physicists and astronomers have theorized for centuries about what happened immediately after the Big Bang. How did the Universe get so big so quickly? Last week, scientists announced that they had evidence supporting a theory called “cosmic inflation” which explains the Universe’s rapid expansion in less than a trillionth of a second. Using a high-powered telescope at the South Pole, the researchers were able to detect gravitational waves from the beginning of time –13.8 billion years ago. Today, we’ll learn more about why this is such an exciting finding, how it fits into our understanding of how the Universe was born and what questions still remain. Marty talks with MARK DEVLIN, Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Pennsylvania and MARK TRODDEN, Professor of Physics and Co-Director for the Penn Center for Particle Cosmology.