| Author | Message | |||
     Zac4mac |
The Holy Grail of Physics, the Grand Unification Theory just got a HUGE boost with this. The guys at the 2 LIGO sites will get the Nobel Physics award this year for sure. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-355244 40 Z (Message edited by zac4mac on February 12, 2016) | |||
| Hughlysses |
Pretty cool stuff. The size of the rig they had to build to detect them is incredible. | |||
| Damnut |
We are pretty excited about the news here at my work. LIGO has over 200 of our capacitance sensors in their interferometer. The cap sensors play a critical role in the active seismic isolation system that is a part of the interferometer. (Message edited by Damnut on February 12, 2016) | |||
| Sifo |
Weighty stuff there. Very cool. | |||
| Aesquire |
http://xkcd.com/1642/  | |||
| 86129squids |
Fell asleep trying to watch "The Martian" last nite... had to watch the last "Idol" first.  Fun news about the science, I'm gonna have to learn more about it to grok it. | |||
| Aesquire |
Seriously, it's a very important result. Gravity waves were just theory until you can measure them. Or at least detect them at all. Major kudos to Dr. Robert L Forward who is a major pioneer in gravity. Still don't know how to make gravity. The Science is Never Settled. We keep learning new things. I hope. | |||
| Figorvonbuellingham |
Hopefully it leads to anti gravity. | |||
| Crusty |
What have you got against gravity? | |||
| Rick_a |
Gravity can be a real bitch.  | |||
| Aesquire |
My knees, spine, most of my hobbies revolve around cheating gravity. and, not least, the fact that without gravity or reactionless drives, you need atomic bomb levels of energy, released just a fraction slower, and under much more control, to go to orbit, and the rest of the Universe. With a ( so far magic ) drive, you still need atom bomb quantities of energy, but not the insane speed of release of that energy, and without the megatons of reaction mass that is most, almost all, of the weight of any reasonable rocket ship. | |||
| Pwnzor |
Hopefully it leads to the government revealing anti gravity technology which they have had since 1947. Fixed that for you. | |||
| Sifo |
Since 1947? You don't really think the pyramids were built using slaves and rollers, do you?  | |||
| Aesquire |
You don't think the Empire State Building was actually riveted together by humans walking hundreds of feet above solid rock, do you? How absurd. | |||
| Hootowl |
I didn't read the article above, but the one I did read said it could detect the gravity of a single proton up close, and the gravity of a volleyball anywhere in the universe. This is amazing, and might be the best/most sensitive sensor humans have ever built. I mean, that's Star Trek/fantasy level of sensor sensitivity. Maybe we won't have to leave home to map the universe. At least, as it used to be. | |||
| Malott442 |
I just want to be able to travel faster than light through space by manipulating gravity enough to bend my destination to me. The effects on the surrounding areas are of no concern to me. | |||
| Mr_grumpy |
I've developed personal time travel, currently running at 1 second per second. | |||
| Etennuly |
I always thought a gravitation wave was shown when a fat person fell down, first their central mass hits the ground followed by a wave of other mass flowing past the central mass to the ground. | |||
| Rick_a |
Science.    | |||
| Hootowl |
My time machine only goes forwards at regular speed. And it looks remarkably like a couch. ~demetri martin | |||
| Reepicheep |
I can slow the progress from time... (just schedule a meeting....) | |||
| Hootowl |
Pfft. Slow? Try stop. | |||
| Reepicheep |
True. All it takes is one auditor, there to help. | |||
| Pwnzor |
Our government didn't build the pyramids. Duh... | |||
| Malott442 |
If you could emulate the gravity from enough mass, you could fast forward to when Terry Crews becomes president.  | |||
| Hootowl |
Taco bell! Think of the revenue! Not to mention the adult tax returns! | |||
| Torquehd |
Am I the only one who mistrusts federally-funded agencies? Did they measure a gravitational bump? Maybe. Can they conclusively say, "This was clearly from two black holes colliding, neato!" I highly doubt it. There couldn't be a trillion different causes for gravitational ripples? I just don't blindly buy into the "official story", especially when it's a brand-new technology, obtaining brand-new results that we know nothing about. "Trust us, we're from the government". | |||
| Blake |
I'm skeptical too Jesse. Until the results are duplicated elsewhere, I'll recall the recent (2014) massive hoopla surrounding the "discovery" of polarized cosmic background radiation which supported the theory of cosmic inflation and gravity waves, but was later found to be the result of nothing more than space dust. http://www.space.com/28423-cosmic-inflation-signal -space-dust.html How folks figure they've accounted for everything that might affect the readings of such sensitive measurements is too much like over-eager wishful thinking. I've experienced the eagerness to accept early experimental results and simulation results that support desired conclusions. It's a very bad mistake. Ask the folks who failed to account for the space dust. | |||
| Ourdee |
My favorite clip: | |||
| Damnut |
Some reading material. My company is mentioned on the second page.
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