Primordial Sound Waves Still Shape the Distribution of Galaxies
Astronomer Mark Whittle argues that the cosmic microwave background preserves the pressure waves that moved through the universe’s primordial gas, and that their harmonic structure remains detectable in the later clustering of galaxies. These baryon acoustic oscillations froze when the universe became transparent about 400,000 years after its birth, leaving a measurable link between quantum-scale fluctuations and the large-scale distribution of matter. Whittle’s collaboration with sound artist Ander Mikalson and composer Caroline Shaw turns a deliberately altered sonification of those data into a choral work.
TED·Sep 17, 2026·4 min read
