Evidence of events that happened before the Big Bang can be seen in the glow of microwave radiation that fills the Universe, scientists have asserted.

Renowned cosmologist Roger Penrose said that analysis of this cosmic microwave background showed echoes of previous Big Bang-like events.

The events appear as “rings” around galaxy clusters in which the variation in the background is unusually low.

The ideas within it support a theory developed by Professor Penrose – knighted in 1994 for his services to science – that upends the widely-held “inflationary theory”.

Interesting stuff.