Surprise: the Big Bang isn’t the beginning of the universe anymore

[Sean C]

Meh. The article linked in the OP begins by stating the big bang isn't the beginning, and concludes by saying that:

Inflation could have gone on for an eternity, it could have been preceded by some other nonsingular phase, or it could have been preceded by a phase that did emerge from a singularity.

IOW, the big bang theory is no less plausible than before. More precisely: we're now even less sure whether or not it is the right theory - and we may never know.

Don't get me wrong, it's still fascinating. Just a bit of click-bait at the beginning ... as usual.

What really interests me is the idea of "time" itself in [or "before"] these extremely early states.