Well, it's the lead story on the BBC ..

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.. above the NHS, politics, economy etc. in the running order on the news. My faith in BBC news reporting is restored.

Gravitational waves detected : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35524440

So, observational evidence to support Einstein's theory of general relativity from a century ago, almost as awesome news as the detection at CERN of the massive scalar boson posited by Peter Higgs and others to complete the Standard model.

#physics
 
I was at Astrofrest last weekend where there was a lecture on gravitational waves. Hints were dropped that this was going to be announced. It's another thread in unravelling the secrets of the universe - far more important than mundane things here on Earth. Worth remembering too that the technology is sure to knock on into other applications, and if it fires up a renewed interest in science in a few youngsters.............
 
I was at Astrofrest last weekend where there was a lecture on gravitational waves. Hints were dropped that this was going to be announced. It's another thread in unravelling the secrets of the universe - far more important than mundane things here on Earth. Worth remembering too that the technology is sure to knock on into other applications, and if it fires up a renewed interest in science in a few youngsters.............

Serious question....why?
 
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Serious question....why?

The nature of the cosmos versus the events that occur on a small planet amongst billions of planets orbiting billions of stars in one average galaxy amongst billions of galaxies. Yep, on a cosmic scale I'd say I can understand what was meant.
 
The nature of the cosmos versus the events that occur on a small planet amongst billions of planets orbiting billions of stars in one average galaxy amongst billions of galaxies. Yep, on a cosmic scale I'd say I can understand what was meant.

Fine....but that doesn't answer the question really. :)
 
I find the whole bloody thing incomprehensible and I'll wager that there are a lot of people who were whooping and cheering at the discovery also find it incomprehensible.
 
I find the whole bloody thing incomprehensible and I'll wager that there are a lot of people who were whooping and cheering at the discovery also find it incomprehensible.
What he said:plus1: Taking a short term view as an old git I don`t think its going to affect my daily routine much.
 
I look forward to the development of the new gravitational wave death ray.
 
I look forward to the development of the new gravitational wave death ray.

Why did I just hear in my head, the "three toned fanfare of doom" commonly used in '50s films and preivate eye films?? :D
Dun...Dun...Duuuuuuuh!!!
 
Why did I just hear in my head, the "three toned fanfare of doom" commonly used in '50s films and preivate eye films?? :D
Dun...Dun...Duuuuuuuh!!!
I "got" Queen playing in my head .... Flash .............. aaaaaaaaaaa ah ............ :D
 
Why did I just hear in my head, the "three toned fanfare of doom" commonly used in '50s films and preivate eye films?? :D
Dun...Dun...Duuuuuuuh!!!
I am not very musical but isn't that "Eastenders"?
 
Now that I shall have to take your word for!
I think it's the bit they end up with so I have heard it when switching over to the following program.
 
Amazing discovery and goes to show how people like Einstein and Da Vinici were light years ahead of their time
 
What he said:plus1: Taking a short term view as an old git I don`t think its going to affect my daily routine much.

Think of this like the landowner planting an apple tree for his grandkids to enjoy the fruits- your daily routine has to change to nurture the tree and to explain to your kids how and why they have to continue that nurturing otherwise there won't be any fruit for the grand kids.
 
Think of this like the landowner planting an apple tree for his grandkids to enjoy the fruits- your daily routine has to change to nurture the tree and to explain to your kids how and why they have to continue that nurturing otherwise there won't be any fruit for the grand kids.

No kids....therefore no grandkids....
This discovery isn't even on my radar, let alone something to get excited about :D
 
All the money spent on looking for new places to screw up for our own use should be spent on saving THIS planet and its inhabitants IMO.
 
All the money spent on looking for new places to screw up for our own use should be spent on saving THIS planet and its inhabitants IMO.

Why? This planet doesn't need saving. She'll be just fine on her own.
Many of the parasites on her surface may not fare as well, but that can only be a good thing :)
 
All the money spent on looking for new places to screw up for our own use should be spent on saving THIS planet and its inhabitants IMO.
The best bumper sticker I have seen in ages, was actually in the back window of a beaten up estate car fairly recently.

Earth First (y)

We'll f*** the rest of the planets up in due course
 
All the money spent on looking for new places to screw up for our own use should be spent on saving THIS planet and its inhabitants IMO.

A small minded view surely. Flat earth society member in a former life (or in this one)?

Our whole postal address is surely

Flat 2b
99 Acacia Avenue
Some Street in UK
Some town or city in the UK
Some county in the UK
UK Postcode
Part of Europe
Planet Earth
Solar System- Sol
Galaxy- Milky Way
Our Universe

If we don''t know where we come from, how will we know where we're going. If we don't know how things work then how do we know how to fix them. If every citizen of planet earth took a wider view of the Universe then we would surely get to a point where we recognised what we shared more than what small minded things divides us and we can come closer to reaching our potential. Every time science advances our understanding of the Universe in a multi-national team effort the world gets closer to being a nicer place.

Hope we work it all out before the religious nuts and politicians f**k it all up.
 
"The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface and contains 97 percent of the planet's water,
yet more than 95 percent of the underwater world remains unexplored.
The ocean and lakes play an integral role in many of the Earth's systems including climate and weather".


And that doesn't include rain forests and mountain ranges, that are also as yet unexplored.

I think we should be looking down here, discovering what the Earth has to offer, rather than floating around in space, to no practical end.
 
"The ocean covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface and contains 97 percent of the planet's water,
yet more than 95 percent of the underwater world remains unexplored.
The ocean and lakes play an integral role in many of the Earth's systems including climate and weather".


And that doesn't include rain forests and mountain ranges, that are also as yet unexplored.

I think we should be looking down here, discovering what the Earth has to offer, rather than floating around in space, to no practical end.

Couldn't disagree more. Earth has a finite existence. IF humankind is to flourish then it has to head for the stars. There is no choice. The exploration of space and the understanding of the cosmos are necessary to enable us to make the one giant leap that guarantees humankind's future.
 
Couldn't disagree more. Earth has a finite existence. IF humankind is to flourish then it has to head for the stars. There is no choice. The exploration of space and the understanding of the cosmos are necessary to enable us to make the one giant leap that guarantees humankind's future.

Pretty much sums up my view.
 
"They ( scientific discoveries) remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.”
Carl Sagen
 
"They ( scientific discoveries) remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends on how well we know this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.”
Carl Sagen

That'll be Sagan!
 
I've always found Carl Sagan's 'Pale Blue Dot' quote in the context of viewing Earth from Voyager 1 quite evocative.

212px-PaleBlueDot.jpg


"From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known, so far, to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
 
My head won't ache when the s*** hits the fan.
 
Couldn't disagree more. Earth has a finite existence.
Doesn't everything?

IF humankind is to flourish then it has to head for the stars.
Maybe so, but that will be in several thousand years, in which time, had they studied the Earth more closely, they could conceivably stopped the sun from burning out or created an artificial atmosphere,
or find away to stop meteor strikes that is "likely" to be the death of us.
Yes I know there are plans afoot for a one way trip to mars, if it happens there will be a few people living in a very inhospitable environment, that will have to artificiality manipulated.
Why not do that here instead of 48 odd million miles away?

The exploration of space and the understanding of the cosmos are necessary to enable us to make the one giant leap that guarantees humankind's future.
Its every schoolboys dream led by sci fi films books etc to travel to space, We have probes out there, we can create weightless environments on Earth to carry out the experiments,
I have no idea what the cost of all this is, but we could do far more, right here "at home" with all that finance.
 
I look at space exploration and look at the day to day technology that has come from it. It's mans nature to always go after what is potentially unachievable
 
It's mans nature to always go after what is potentially unachievable
I agree there have been some great explorers over the years, but we still haven't finished exploring our own planets potential.
It would be good to finish what they started.
 
I struggle to reconcile Humans living on another planet.

We can't live easily on the extremities of Earth at the equator, poles, altitude or in the ocean. I think until we conquer these, living on another planet is nothing but a dream.

I think it was Neil Degrasse Tyson who said something along the lines of 'its the 21st century, we are still using chemical rockets, we run away from tornadoes, volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes. We can't even control our own planet'.
 
It's not a question of IF it's going to happen..... <pause> ...It's a question of WHEN.

Amazing discovery and goes to show how people like Einstein and Da Vinici were light years ahead of their time
Subtle, but funny.

Anyway here's a picture of gravity waves recently. We need a picture.
captura-116-730x400.jpg
Look at the picture with a serious face and nod and say "Mm-hmm. Gravity waves."
 
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