Scientists have “heard” a chorus of gravitational waves rippling through the universe, in what they say is an unprecedented finding that could fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. The discovery, described in a range of newly published journal papers, suggests that spacetime is being rocked by intensely powerful gravitational waves all the time. Those waves carry a million times more energy than the one-off bursts of gravitational waves that were detected from a black hole and were themselves hailed as a major breakthrough in our understanding of the universe. The new results suggest that everything is being slowly shrunk and expanded by a new kind of gravitational wave as they pass through our galaxy. Scientists describe it as being akin to hearing a “symphony” of waves echoing through the universe. “It’s like a choir, with all these supermassive black hole pairs chiming in at different frequencies,” said Chiara Mingarelli, a scientist who worked on the new findings while an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics. “This is the first-ever evidence for the gravitational wave background. We’ve opened a new window of observation on the universe.” The new findings have been described in a range of journal articles, published in different academic journals. The research is the result of 25 years of observations from six of the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes, and have been simultaneously published by different collaborations across the world. The findings are not only notable in themselves. They also offer the opportunity to find out some of the universe’s secrets, since they can be used to find information about the binary black holes that form when galaxies merge, for instance. “These results signify the beginning of an exciting journey into the Universe, where we aim to unravel its mysteries,” Michael Keith, a lecturer at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, UK, and contributor to one of the new studies, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. “After decades of tireless work by hundreds of astronomers and physicists worldwide, we are finally detecting the long-awaited signature of gravitational waves originating from the distant Universe.” Scientists made the discovery by analysing observations of pulsars, which are extinguished stars that can be used as reliable clocks in the distant universe. By bringing together such a large amount of detailed data, researchers were able to measure those pulsars with very high accuracy, allowing them to measure gravitational waves at a far larger scale than using detectors on Earth. “Pulsars are excellent natural clocks. We exploit the remarkable regularity of their signals to detect subtle changes in their rhythm, enabling us to perceive the minute stretching and squeezing of space-time caused by gravitational waves originating from the far reaches of the Universe,” said David Champion, a senior scientist at the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, and contributor to the study, in a statement. For now, researchers are only able to “hear” the vast choir, rather than the individual pulsars that make up its singers. But together they are much louder than expected, meaning that there may be more or more heavy supermassive black holes to be found in the universe. Read More Astronomers find zombie planet that ‘shouldn’t exist’ Nasa to begin Moon mining within next decade Nasa rover spots bizarre donut shaped rock on Mars

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A swimmer has been attacked off the coast of Spain by a blue shark after it became "confused". Reports say that the shark "collided" with a swimmer who was standing in shallow water at Rabdells Beach in Oliva, Valencia. Specialists analysed the bite mark and found that it came from a Blue Shark. Spain has seen several sightings of the species over the summer, sparking panic among swimmers. Beaches along the coast including Rabdells, Aigua Blanca and Aigua Mota were closed by local authorities while an investigation took place following the attack last Thursday. But they were reopened the following day after the Guardia Civil were certain that there was no longer a threat posed by any animal in the water. The victim, who is an Oliva resident, said he saw a "shadow" before the attack. Speaking to Las Provincias, he said: "I didn't have time to get scared. "Noticing that blood was coming out of me, I went into the sea so as not to alarm everyone." Calmly, he walked to the nearest medical post before being transferred to Oliva Health Centre. He was treated for the injury on the side of his foot and was given a tetanus shot. According to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, the shark approached the shore after it became disorientated. Oceanogràfic’s marine biologist, Jaime Penadés, told the paper that humans are not part of a shark's diet. He also said the incident is "not at all common" and should not be "magnified". Mr Penadés added: "These species don’t want anything from us, they are looking for fish, not people." This is the first shark attack in Valencia since 2016 and the attack before then was in 1993. Shark attacks are generally rare overall, with confirmed unprovoked cases totalling 57 worldwide in 2022, according to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), which is lower than the most recent five-year (2017-21) average of 70 incidents annually. The database suggests those that end in a fatality are even rarer, numbering just five of last year’s figure, which is roughly in line with the five-year global average of six unprovoked fatalities per year. It adds there were an additional four shark-related deaths in 2022 that were classed as provoked. Read More Whale shark ‘dances’ with fish in mesmerising spectacle off Thailand coast Sea temperatures lead to unprecedented, dangerous bleaching of Florida's coral reef, experts say Woman seriously injured in ‘extremely rare’ shark attack at New York City beach Tenerife wildfires mapped as blaze forces thousands to flee Zelensky vows revenge over deadly Chernihiv ‘terror attack’ - live Talks between regional bloc and Niger's junta yield little, an official tells The Associated Press

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NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 23, 2023--

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