The expanding Universe, full of galaxies and the complex structure we observe today, arose from a smaller, hotter, denser, more uniform state. But even that initial state had its origins, with cosmic inflation as the leading candidate for where that all came from. (Credit: C.-A. Faucher-Giguere, A. Lidz, and L. Hernquist, Science, 2008)

Ask Ethan: Do we know why the Big Bang really happened?

Many contrarians dispute that cosmic inflation occurred. The evidence says otherwise.

For as long as humans have been around, our innate sense of curiosity compels us to ask questions about the universe. Why are things the way they are? How did they get to be this way? Were the outcomes that we observe inevitable, or could things have turned out differently if we rewound the clock and began things all over again? From subatomic interactions to the grand scale of the entire cosmos, it’s only natural to wonder about all of this and more. For innumerable generations, these were questions that philosophers, theologians, and mythmakers attempted to answer. While their ideas may have been interesting, they were anything but definitive.

The modern alternative, however, provides us with a far more capable way of approaching these puzzles: through the process of science. That’s where this week’s inquiry, courtesy of Jerry Kauffman, comes from, asking:

“It’s always troubling for me to think of the Big Bang as having happened at a single point in [spacetime]… What existed before the Big Bang? And why did the Big Bang happen?”

When it comes to even the biggest questions of all, science provides us with the best answers we can…