  This short review is addressed to cosmologists.
  General relativity predicts that space-time comes to an end and physics comes
to a halt at the big-bang. Recent developments in loop quantum cosmology have
shown that these predictions cannot be trusted. Quantum geometry effects can
resolve singularities, thereby opening new vistas. Examples are: The big bang
is replaced by a quantum bounce; the `horizon problem' disappears; immediately
after the big bounce, there is a super-inflationary phase with its own
phenomenological ramifications; and, in presence of a standard inflaton
potential, initial conditions are naturally set for a long, slow roll inflation
independently of what happens in the pre-big bang branch.
