The Universe Has Been Expanding Since the Big Bang. Just Not How We Thought.

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Last year, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument—DESI—made headlines around the world. Its enormous map of the Universe hinted that dark energy—the mysterious something causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate—might not actually be constant. Last month, another giant cosmology experiment released its final results. The Dark Energy Survey. DES. Its results are intriguing. But did they confirm the DESI measurement? We’ll, let’s see, but there’s also a much more interesting question—Why are completely different scientific studies so much more powerful in combination than any one study on its own? The answer brings us to the heart of what science really is.

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Hosted by Matt O'Dowd

Written by Matt O'Dowd

Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer

Directed by Andrew Kornhaber

Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour

Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber

Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez

Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing

Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: Mike Martin

Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.

This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.

© 2026 PBS. All rights reserved.

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