COSMIC INFLATION MEASUREMENTS ERROR

A new study of cosmic inflation involving the BICEP2 team of scientists has concluded that results announced last year were in error due to light emission from dust in our own galaxy:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31058529

BICEP2 used extremely sensitive detectors in an Antarctic telescope to study light coming to Earth from the edge of the observable universe - the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR).

It was looking for swirls in the polarisation of the light, called B-modes, which are an imprint of the waves of gravitational energy that would have accompanied the early inflation of the universe fractions of a second after the Big Bang.

The scientists now believe that false B-mode signals in the measurements reported last year arising from dust in our own galaxy lead to a reduced significance in the results, and they are unable to confirm that the signal is an imprint of cosmic inflation.  

Other experiments are now attempting to resolve the B-mode signal using a variety of detector technologies and telescopes.

Comment: This is leading research and these developments are steps forward rather than setbacks.