Wed, Mar 19, 2014 -- 9:00 AM
Scientists Announce Big Bang BreakthroughDownload audio (MP3)
A team of astronomers released what's being called a monumental discovery this week about the origins of the universe. Using telescopes at the South Pole, scientists discovered gravitational waves they say prove that the universe expanded rapidly, less than a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Scientists are calling the discovery "smoking gun" evidence of a theory known as inflation that experts have been trying to prove for 35 years. We look at the discovery and its significance for science.
Host: Michael Krasny
- Andrew Fraknoi, chair of the Astronomy Program at Foothill College
- Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University; author of "The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos" and "The Elegant Universe;" and co-founder of the World Science Festival and WorldScienceU
- Chao-Lin Kuo, assistant physics professor at Stanford University
- Leonard Susskind, Felix Bloch professor of physics at Stanford University and author of "The Black Hole War" and "The Cosmic Landscape"