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Wait a second: What came before the big bang?

Not everyone thinks the universe had a beginning.

This story originally appeared in the print edition of the September issue of Popular Science. This week, it appeared online with enhanced graphics. The text is by PopSci editor Rachel Feltman and me; the art is by Matei Apostolescu.

Cosmologists used to think the universe was totally timeless: no beginning, no end. That might sound mind-melting, but it’s easier on the scientific brain than figuring out what a set starting point would mean, let alone when it would be. So some physicists have cooked up alternative cosmological theories that make time’s role seem a little less important. The concepts are as trippy as those black-light posters you had in college.

[read the rest at Popular Science…]