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5 Essential Facts about Gravity Waves from the Big Bang – The Countdown, Episode 44

On March 17th, physicists with the BICEP2 experiment announced they had detected the remnant of gravity waves in the cosmic microwave background, the light left over from the Big Bang.

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


On March 17th, physicists with the BICEP2 experiment announced they had detected the remnant of gravity waves in the cosmic microwave background, the light left over from the Big Bang. While still needing confirmation, the discovery lends weight to the idea that the early universe underwent rapid expansion.

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Video credits -

Host/writer: Sophie Bushwick

Production Assistant: Geoffrey Giller

Editor: Kathryn Free

Producer: Eric R. Olson

About Eric R. Olson

Eric is multimedia journalist and producer who specializes in science and natural history. His work has appeared on the websites of Scientific American, Nature, Nature Medicine, Popular Science, Slate and The New York Times among many others. He is a former video producer & editor for Scientific American.

More by Eric R. Olson