Podcasts Science Natural Sciences Big Picture Science Before the Big Bang

Before the Big Bang

Published: Dec. 17, 2012, 1 p.m.

It\u2019s one of the biggest questions you can ask: has the universe existed forever? The Big Bang is supposedly the moment it all began. But now scientists wonder if there isn\u2019t an earlier chapter to our origin story. And maybe chapters before that! What happened before the Big Bang? It\u2019s the ultimate prequel.\nPlus \u2013 the Big Bang as scientific story: nail biter or snoozer?\nGuests\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Roger Penrose \u2013 Cosmologist, Oxford University\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Sean Carroll \u2013 Theoretical physicist, Caltech, author of The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Simon Steele \u2013 Astronomer, Tufts University\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Andrei Linde \u2013 Physicist, Stanford University\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Jonathan Gottschall \u2013 Writer, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human\n\u2022\xa0\xa0Marcus Chown \u2013 Science writer and cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices