The universe witnessed a stunning cosmic expansion before the Big Bang; doubling in size at least 80 times in a fraction of a second. Because of this tremendous inflation, the cosmos became barren and frigid. That's when the cosmos stopped growing in size and the vacuum energy transformed into matter and radiation, ushering in the Big Bang's era of intense heat and density, forging the elemental building blocks that would eventually coalesce into the galaxies and stars we see today. Now, for the first time, the James Webb Space Telescope has peered into the distant past of the universe, and we have made a discovery so unexpected that it presents challenges to our understanding of the cosmos.
