J. Richard Bond

In its first moments, the universe resembled dough beginning to rise. If the yeast is unevenly distributed, the rolls come out in different sizes. Astronomers are hunting for such 'clumps' in the oldest light and in the arrangement of galaxies to understand what the recipe was.

Dark matter is an invisible substance that reveals itself only through gravitational effects: it bends the light of distant galaxies, much like an unseen window that alters the path of light rays.

Imagine looking at a distant mountain range through morning fog. The peaks' outlines are blurred, and if the fog is patchy, some slopes fade more than others. That's roughly how astronomers see the ancient light of the universe, which has been traveling to us for 13.8 billion years. This light was born when the universe was just 380,000 years old, long before the first stars.