To photograph the very infancy of the Universe—back when it was mere seconds years old—you need an extremely complex camera. In an operation that seems not unlike building a high-performance Go-kart in your garage, the EBEX team at Columbia University, led by physicist Amber Miller, has spent seven years building a complex balloon-borne telescope. When it takes flight later this year, over the icy dunes of Antarctica, the hope is that scientists will be able to glimpse a little further into the past than ever before. Take an inside look at the mission.

This video was presented as part of the 2012 World Science Festival program Afterglow: Dispatches from the Birth of the Universe.

Recorded June 2012; Posted June 2012