Cosmic Inflation and the First Millisecond of Your Awakening

In the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang - approximately ten to the minus thirty-sixth seconds to ten to the minus thirty-second seconds - the universe underwent a period of exponential...

In the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang - approximately ten to the minus thirty-sixth seconds to ten to the minus thirty-second seconds - the universe underwent a period of exponential expansion called cosmic inflation.

During inflation, the universe expanded by a factor of at least ten to the twenty-sixth power.

The expansion was faster than the speed of light - not because anything moved faster than light but because the spacetime fabric itself was expanding at superluminal speed.

In this inconceivably brief period, the observable universe grew from something smaller than a proton to something larger than a grapefruit.