February 24, 2014

Before the Big Bang

Listen Later

54 minutes

It’s 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’t an earlier chapter to our origin story. And maybe chapters before that! What happened before the Big Bang? It’s the ultimate prequel.

Plus – the Big Bang as scientific story: nail biter or snoozer?

Guests:

Roger Penrose – Cosmologist, Oxford University

Sean Carroll – 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

Simon Steel – Astronomer, Tufts University

Andrei Linde – Physicist, Stanford University

Jonathan Gottschall – Writer, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Marcus Chown – Science writer and cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine

Descripción en español

First released December 17, 2012

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Big Picture Science

By Big Picture Science

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912912 ratings

February 24, 2014

Before the Big Bang

Listen Later

54 minutes

It’s 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’t an earlier chapter to our origin story. And maybe chapters before that! What happened before the Big Bang? It’s the ultimate prequel.

Plus – the Big Bang as scientific story: nail biter or snoozer?

Guests:

Roger Penrose – Cosmologist, Oxford University

Sean Carroll – 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

Simon Steel – Astronomer, Tufts University

Andrei Linde – Physicist, Stanford University

Jonathan Gottschall – Writer, author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human

Marcus Chown – Science writer and cosmology consultant for New Scientist magazine

Descripción en español

First released December 17, 2012

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more

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