logo
episode-header-image
Dec 2022
27m 8s

A View of the Beginning of Time: An Upda...

The New York Times
About this episode

This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.

In July, NASA released new images captured from a point in space one million miles from Earth. Ancient galaxies carpeting the sky like jewels on black velvet. Fledgling stars shining out from deep within cumulus clouds of interstellar dust.

Today, we return to our episode about the moment when the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest space observatory ever built, sent its first images back to Earth — and explore what the telescope has discovered since then in its long journey across the universe. 

Guest: Kenneth Chang, a science reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Up next
Yesterday
A Consequential Supreme Court Term Begins With a Conversion Therapy Case
Warning: this episode contains mentions of suicide.In one of the first cases of the Supreme Court’s new term, the justices considered whether to strike down a ban on conversion therapy, the contentious practice that aims to change a young person’s sexual orientation.Ann E. Marimo ... Show More
30m 29s
Oct 8
Trump Claims ‘Rebellion’ in American Cities
Over the past week, ICE and border patrol agents have clashed with Chicago residents, and federal guard troops arriving in the city might inflame tensions further.Julie Bosman, Chicago bureau chief for The Times, and Mattathias Schwartz describe the situation on the ground and ex ... Show More
34m 31s
Oct 7
Marriage and Sex in the Age of Ozempic
In the last few years, GLP-1 weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Zepbound have been radically reshaping the people’s lives, changing appetites and health.But the drugs also have the power to affect other parts of consumers’ lives, including their romantic relationships.Lisa Miller ... Show More
37m 17s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2022
Sunday Edition: A Look Inside NASA’s ‘Cosmic Time Machine’
Scientists were captivated when NASA released the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, which included images of distant galaxies billions of light years away. We examine what they could tell us about the universe and what else the telescope will be looking for in ... Show More
12m 44s
Dec 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope Is About To Launch
Soon the highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope will blast off into space, hurtling almost a million miles away from Earth, where it will orbit the Sun. Decades in the making, scientists hope its mission will last a decade and provide insights into all kinds of things, inc ... Show More
14m 28s
Mar 2023
Two Space Missions Shake Up Our View Of The Past–And Future
Two significant advances in science and technology are helping us examine our own planet, as well as galaxies near and far. The first is the James Webb Space Telescope—an instrument that’s already transmitting game-changing data from a million miles away. The second is NASA’s SWO ... Show More
28m 59s
Sep 2022
The Biggest Space Telescope in the Universe (UPDATE!)
Hear sounds created from images by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, in this updated episode! The biggest space telescope in the universe had a busy summer, wowing us with incredible images of the cosmos like we've never seen before. But it took a lot of work to get there! Learn ... Show More
21m 54s
Sep 2023
How the Webb Telescope Sees Back in Time
On Christmas Day, 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope into orbit a million miles from Earth—a huge and insanely ambitious machine, billions of dollars over budget and 14 years past deadline. Now, as the telescope completes its first year of capturing astonishing im ... Show More
45m 9s
Dec 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is only days away. Scheduled for lift off on 22 December, the largest and most complex space observatory ever built will be sent to an orbit beyond the moon. James Webb is so huge that it has had to be folded up to fit in the rocket. T ... Show More
33m 49s