Scientists: Confidence lowered for Big Bang signal

Scientists who claimed to have found a pattern in the sky left by the super-rapid expansion of space just fractions of a second after the Big Bang say they are now less confident of their result. The BICEP2 Collaboration used a telescope at the South Pole to detect the signal in the oldest light it is possible to observe. At the time of the group's announcement in March, the discovery was hailed as a near-certain Nobel Prize. But the criticism since has been sharp.
Background:
Cosmic inflation: Confidence lowered for Big Bang signal [BBC]
Astronomers hedge on Big Bang detection claim [NYT]