The early universe experienced a phase of rapid expansion, known as inflation. For decades, cosmologists assumed that this expansion was powered by a new entity in the universe, known as the inflaton.

Weeks after his death, physicist Stephen Hawking has delivered his last thoughts about the nature of the cosmos, and he says it may be simpler than often believed. Well, simpler if you understand ...

Last year’s reports that the BICEP2 telescope had uncovered evidence for cosmic inflation turned out to be a false alarm, but researchers in the field haven’t given up. Matthew R Francis describes how ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast. Cosmic voids that stretch across millions even billions of ...