The Oldest Light in the Universe

In the very barest of microseconds following the Big Bang, the universe expanded faster than the speed of light. Or so the Inflation theory goes. If right, Inflation would explain some curious features of the universe, like why is it so much bigger than it should be based on its current rate of expansion? And why is there no good Jewish deli in Park Slope? (It may not answer everything.) A team of NASA-backed scientists from Columbia University have built a massive telescope that should be able to see all the way back to the moments after the Big Bang, when Inflation should have produced a very distinct kind of light. My latest for Columbia Magazine, A Shot in the Light.