FROM COSMOS
TO CIVILIZATION
All episodes/Episode 1.1

Episode 1.1 · 20 min

The Big Bang

How expansion and cooling transformed the early universe from a hot plasma into a transparent cosmos of atoms—and what its oldest light can tell us.

Watch this film on YouTube ↗

Visual credits

15 sources

Visual sources include third-party material incorporated into custom animations. License information is reproduced from source records; an unrecorded license does not mean a work is public domain.

  • The Cosmic Microwave Background: temperature and polarisation

    ESA

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • Bontecou Lake Milky Way panorama

    Juliancolton

    View original source ↗CC BY-SA 4.0

  • Scientific figure · source page 3

    Balkenhol et al.

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Map

    Creator credit under review

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific image

    Creator credit under review

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • View of the LHCb experiment in its underground cavern (image: CERN)

    CERN

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • image

    Springer Nature

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • image

    Springer Nature

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • Scientific figure · source page 6

    Kislitsyn et al.

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 24

    Aver et al.

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific figure · source page 4

    Particle Data Group

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Scientific image

    Creator credit under review

    View original source ↗License not recorded

    Incorporated into an explanatory animation; presentation may include cropping, labels and overlays.

  • Image of Act telescope

    ACT Collaboration

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • image acttemp

    ACT Collaboration

    View original source ↗License not recorded

  • hep cosmology astrophysics 0 image

    Argonne National Laboratory

    View original source ↗License not recorded
Animation design references 1 sources

These works informed the design of explanatory animations. A reference listed here is not necessarily reproduced on screen.

  • Scientific figure · source page 6

    Creator credit under review

    Original source link under reviewLicense not recorded

    Figure or page excerpt cropped from the source publication.

Research references

Selected sources from the episode’s research and scientific figures.

  1. PDG 2026 reviews index ↗
  2. Balkenhol et al. 2026, arXiv:2512.10613v2 ↗
  3. LHCb, Nature 643 (2025) ↗
  4. LBT helium, arXiv:2601.22238 ↗
  5. LBT cosmological implications, arXiv:2601.22239 ↗
  6. BBN sensitivity atlas, arXiv:2603.22414v2 ↗
  7. Data-driven D/H prediction, arXiv:2604.16600 ↗
  8. Planck 2018 cosmological parameters ↗
  9. ACT DR6 maps, arXiv:2503.14451 ↗
  10. SPT-3G D1 v2 ↗
  11. https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/cobe/firas_monopole_spect.html ↗
  12. https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/07/Planck_s_view_of_the_cosmic_microwave_background2 ↗
  13. https://act.princeton.edu/overview/act-dr6-science ↗
  14. PDG 2025 BBN review ↗
  15. J1332+0052 deuterium, arXiv:2401.12797 ↗
  16. PDG 2026 Big-Bang Cosmology ↗
  17. NASA John Mather Big Bang Q&A ↗
  18. NASA expansion explainer ↗
  19. ESO molecular CMB thermometer ↗
  20. SH0ES SMC anchor, arXiv:2404.08038 ↗
  21. DES supernova time dilation, arXiv:2406.05050 ↗
  22. Planck 2018 inflation constraints ↗
  23. BICEP/Keck + Planck PR4 ↗
  24. Simons Observatory expanded SAT forecast, arXiv:2512.15833 ↗
  25. Simons Observatory first-light site ↗
  26. PDG 2026 Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis ↗
  27. PDG 2026 Cosmic Microwave Background ↗
  28. CERN result page ↗
  29. arXiv:2509.16103 ↗
  30. RMP baryogenesis review ↗
  31. Miranda lithium model, arXiv:2508.09821 ↗
  32. NASA LAMBDA FIRAS products ↗
  33. ESA Planck CMB explainer ↗
  34. Duration of last scattering ↗
  35. https://esdcdoi.esac.esa.int/doi/html/data/astronomy/planck/CMB_Maps.html ↗
  36. https://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/wmap/current/ ↗

Music

  • Meditation From The Star Orion
    OctahedronMusic · Envato Elements

How this film was made

Created and editorially directed by Anders Lunde using a custom production system developed over six months. AI assists research, drafting, programming, and visual production; I review and edit the material and make the final editorial decisions. Narration uses text-to-speech. Visuals combine custom-built scientific animations, AI-generated reconstructions, and credited scientific imagery.

Generated reconstructions illustrate scientific interpretations. They are distinct from photographs, specimens, and measured data.

More about the creator and production →