Symmetry Reduced Loop Quantum Gravity: A Bird's Eye View
  This is a brief overview of the current status of symmetry reduced models in
Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), focussing on the very early universe. Over the last
3 years or so the subject has matured sufficiently to make direct contact with
observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In particular, thanks to
an unforeseen interplay between the ultraviolet features of quantum geometry
and the infrared properties of quantum fields representing cosmological
perturbations, \emph{Planck scale effects} of LQG can leave imprints on CMB
\emph{at the largest angular scales}. In addition to a summary of these
results, the article also contains a critical discussion of the symmetry
reduction procedure used in discussions of quantum cosmology (and quantum black
holes).
