In the first fraction of a second following the Big Bang, matter existed as a trillion-degree plasma of quarks and gluons—subatomic particles that zinged around at close to the speed of light. This roiling soup lasted for just a few microseconds before the particles coalesced into more stable pr...
Source: [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-11-pinning-quark-gluon-plasma-universe.html)