How much light has been emitted by all galaxies since the cosmos began? After all, almost every photon (particle of light) from ultraviolet to far infrared wavelengths ever radiated by all galaxies that ever existed throughout cosmic history is still speeding through the Universe today.

An international team of scientists at the Planck observatory has made the closest reading yet of the most ancient story in our universe: the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

Astronomers have  made the most precise measurement ever of how the universe has cooled down during its 13.77 billion year history - putting the Big Bang theory to the test.

Peering deep into the past, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have identified seven primitive galaxies that formed more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was less than three percent of its present age.

Researchers at MIT, the California Institute of Technology, and the University of California at San Diego have peered so far back in time that they've found matter that pre-dates the creation of heavy elements.

The universe began not as a Big Bang but rather like water freezing into ice, a team of theoretical physicists suggests.

IBM is to take on one of the biggest information processing jobs imaginable - handling the data from the world's largest radio telescope in an attempt to explore the origins of the universe.

There must be some cosmic Star Trek serendipity going on, but the same week William Shatner reached his 81st birthday (!), Leonard Nimoy completed his cameo for The Big Bang Theory.

Last year was definitely a sad time for Trekkies as Leonard Nimoy announced he was retiring from acting. 



More than half of parents are filled with fear when asked scientific questions by their kids, a British survey has found.

Astronomers have discovered two clouds of gas that are still in the same state as they were just minutes after the Big Bang.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have made the heaviest antimatter ever found.   

A leading Oxford University cosmologist says he has been able to observe the effects of cosmic events that preceded the Big Bang.

The ALICE detector team at CERN has discovered that the very early universe consisted of a hot, dense liquid, rather than a gas.

Just four days after shutting down the Large Hadron Collider's proton running experiments, CERN has completed the transition to lead-ion running and has recorded its first collisions.

The Large Hadron Collider is about to enter a new phase of operation, with proton running for this year concluding successfully this morning. For the rest of the year, lead ions will be accelerated and brought into collision in the machine for the first time.

Theoretical physicist and official World's Cleverest Chap Stephen Hawking says there's no reason to think that God created the universe.