How a One-in-a-Billion Blunder Made the Universe Possible

How a One-in-a-Billion Blunder Made the Universe Possible

From PBS Space Time by PBS

June 5, 2026 · 22 min

About this episode

The episode explores a recent finding related to the survival of matter after the Big Bang and its implications for understanding the universe.

Huge thanks to KiwiCo for sponsoring today’s video! Go to https://www.kiwico.com/spacetime and use code SPACETIME for 50% off your first monthly crate Check Out Reactions on the Earth Month Playlist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJFMP0_fhLQ&list=PLnNZYWyBGJ1F8ofFm4H9UTrHxqU8zngK4&index=2 At one-one-thousandth of a second after the Big Bang, the great annihilation event should have wiped out all matter, leaving a universe of only radiation. Why still don't know why any matter survived. Well, a new finding from the LHC brings us one step closer to understanding why there's something rather than nothing. Dr. Caplan Paper for Review: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.07647 Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew…

People in this episode

Host: Matt O'Dowd

Topics covered

  • Big Bang
  • matter
  • radiation
  • LHC
  • universe
  • science
  • cosmology

Keywords

  • Big Bang
  • matter survival
  • LHC
  • universe
  • cosmology
  • radiation
  • an annihilation event

Sponsors

KiwiCo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PBS, Kornhaber Brown, PBS Digital Studios

Books & works: How a One-in-a-Billion Blunder Made the Universe Possible, Reactions on the Earth Month Playlist, Paper for Review

Places: Earth

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