back to article GRAV WAVE TSUNAMI boffinry BONANZA – the aftershock of the universe's Big Bang

A team of astrophysicists has announced a sighting of gravitational waves – formed in the first trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the universe as we know it blinked into existence. The breakthrough discovery throws enormous weight behind the famous inflationary Big Bang theory. The boffins must be …

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  1. Mikel
    Pint

    Awesome discovery

    Pints all around!

    Here is an explanatory pic.

    http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn25235/dn25235-1_1200.jpg

  2. phil8192

    Congratulations to the team ...

    ... but nowadays one is more likely to get a Nobel Prize just for looking good on television and being able to read a ghost-written speech from a teleprompter, without actually having achieved anything.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. phil8192

        Re: Congratulations to the team ...

        I didn't mention any names ...

      2. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

        Re: Congratulations to the team ...

        "Barraco Barner" Hate to own up, but back in 2007, on the first few times I heard his name on the radio (before I saw it written down) I thought the man running for president against John McCain was called Barry Cobalmer. And I can still never be quite sure whether it's McCain or McClane who was in a Die Hard movies.

    2. Not That Andrew

      Re: Congratulations to the team ...

      You seem to be confusing the Peace Prize with the other ones. They are awarded by different commitees, for different critera, and "Not being G.W. Bush" is generally not one of them. Although they have occasionally made egregious errors.

  3. frank ly

    "detected"

    I thought this was an observation of distant possible effects that very closely match theoretical predictions - not a true "detection" as such. The detection would be made (if ever) by those very long interferometers with laser beams at right angles to each other, where the compression of space by a passing gravitational wave would be 'detected'?

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: "detected"

      "an observation of distant possible effects that very closely match theoretical predictions"

      That won't fit in a headline, mate.

      Also, our prof says: "It's the first detection of gravitational waves."

      C.

      1. Scroticus Canis

        Re: "detected" -"That won't fit in a headline, mate."

        True but - GRAVITY WAVES IN SPAAAAAAACE would!

        Anyway, why is everybody just talking about the Big Bang this is about Inflation after the BB.

        The skewed polarization of the CMB by gravity waves is a prediction from one of the Inflation Hypothesis models. The observation matches that prediction and thus is a 'smoking gun' for both inflation and gravity waves.

        Another box ticked for Relativity, wasn't Einstein a clever chap.

      2. Mikel

        Re: "detected"

        "Discovered" might be the word. This is the the first paper claiming an observation of gravity waves at five sigmas, which is the level required to use the word discovery in that field. There are many other implicit findings as well.

    2. asdf

      Re: "detected"

      Yep this would seem to be more indirect evidence of gravity waves (which we have plenty) but I guess measuring a change in the CMB is as good as measuring a change in matter to some. Also it is largely confirming the Big Bang which is pretty much been accepted for quite some time now. Its good to make it official and to add more evidence but a breakthrough (except perhaps for the neat measuring technology) is a bridge too far imho.

    3. passportholder
      Pint

      Re: "detected"

      That's right. Until now, gravitational waves have only been inferred by observing the motion of binary systems (a bit like watching boats bobbing up and down in the water). This research shows something a bit more like a mark a wave left when it passed by a very long time ago.

      So it is not outright detection, i.e., observing a gravitational wave passing by today, but it is very interesting none-the-less.

      Beers all round.

      1. Dave Rickmers

        Re: "detected"

        You said "today" which has a funny meaning in this context. (Just had to share a candid observation.) Are we viewing "today" 14 billion years ago, like it is happening now?

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "Beers all round"

        I find that I am much more sensitive to graviational waves after a few beers.

    4. Mikel

      Re: "detected"

      I'm going to go ahead and speculate now that we are never going to directly observe a gravity wave. It is just too weak.

      The scales - both large and small - are mind boggling. The discussion is at the level of planck lengths and planck time. We're talking about a time when the granularity of dimensionality itself leaves fingerprints.

      You know the observable universe is big and heavy - hundreds of billions of galaxies a hundred billion lightyears across. Imagine you had two of them right next to each other. They would affect each other by gravity, right - at least at the edges? Now shrink the pair so small that trillions of the pair lined up would not span the width of a single proton and they're still right next to each other so the gravity is so much more intense by proximity. One of these is our observable universe, and one of these is a mass that has now fallen outside our "light cone". Now move the second one 16 degrees across what will someday be our sky in 1x10^-44th of a second. That is the scale of gravity wave we're talking about. Entire observable universes worth of energy density swinging whole degrees across the sky because at a scale that small, that is the indivisible increment of a meaningful distance.

      It is horrifyingly beautiful.

  4. Chemist

    "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

    Not really a good way of describing it I think. The 'expansion' was driven by a 'phase-change' in spacetime itself AFAIK.

    Great science (I hope)

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

      "Not really a good way of describing"

      How would you describe it?

      C.

      1. Franklin

        Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

        One quick and dirty way that gets the idea across, if crudely, is "space was unfolding so fast that objects in space would seem to recede from each other at greater than the speed of light." If, you know, there were "objects" during the inflationary period (which there weren't) or you could see them (which you couldn't).

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

          "would seem to recede from each other at greater than the speed of light"

          Not seem. They did. And still do.

          The speed of light is only a limit on objects as they move through space. The movement of space itself, however, can make the speed of light seem slow. Nothing can move through space faster than light. Space however can move as fast as it wants as it has no mass. Even now parts of the universe that are very far apart from each other are moving apart faster than light.

          1. Vociferous

            Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

            > Not seem.

            Yes seem. No object is moving at more than light speed, which is a good thing as that is impossible.

            Let's say you're walking forward inside a train moving at 200 km/h. Inside the train, in your reference frame, your walking speed is 2 km/h like it's always been, but to an observer outside the train it might seem as if you're walking at an incredible 202 km/h.

            An example: the most distant galaxy found is roughly 30 billion light years away, but the universe is only 14 billion years old, and light clearly can't move faster than the speed of light in vacuum -- so how could the light have reached us? Because the universe, the ruler you're measuring the distance with, is expanding.

            1. David Webb

              Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

              Well that just done my head in, how do we know one is 30b light years away when the light couldn't possibly have reached us?

              1. Palf

                Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                Coz it surfed on FTL spacetime. Whheeeeeeeeeee!

            2. Anonymous Blowhard

              Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

              "Let's say you're walking forward inside a train moving at 200 km/h. Inside the train, in your reference frame, your walking speed is 2 km/h like it's always been, but to an observer outside the train it might seem as if you're walking at an incredible 202 km/h."

              But if the train was moving at c (the speed of light) relative to an observer, it would seem to the observer that you're both moving at c; even though to you you're moving forwards along the train to the observer you're frozen still.

              Relativity has wierd effects, but none of them (AFAIK) produce a measurable "greater than c" velocity for an object.

              1. Vociferous

                Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                > But if the train was moving at c (the speed of light) relative to an observer, it would seem to the observer that you're both moving at c; even though to you you're moving forwards along the train to the observer you're frozen still.

                Relativity has wierd effects, but none of them (AFAIK) produce a measurable "greater than c" velocity for an object.

                You're taking issue with a simple example where a changing reference frame lead to odd conclusions. If you can suggest a better everyday analogy in which changes in the dimensions of space produce easily observable effects, I'm all ears -- I admit I struggled. I toyed with a rewrite of the 'rabbit and the tortoise' paradox, which is based on manipulating time, but it didn't make things clearer.

                The expansion of space itself is both why we can see objects further away than the age of the universe, and why the light from them is redshifted (the wavelength of the light has been increased by the expansion of space itself). If you could backtrack the light, you'd find that even though it has covered 30 billion light years in 14 billion years, it has never moved faster than c. Neither the object nor the light is moving at greater than c, it's the reference frame, space itself, which has changed.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                "Relativity has wierd effects, but none of them (AFAIK) produce a measurable "greater than c" velocity for an object."

                The key word is measurable. For instance if you launched two objects in opposite directions at light speed, clearly they are travelling apart at twice the speed of light relative to each other. There is just no way of observing that from one object to the other...

                1. Chemist

                  Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                  " For instance if you launched two objects in opposite directions at light speed"

                  SR allows a 3rd observer to 'see' 2 objects moving together or apart at >c but from the perspective of one object the other can never be moving (towards or away at >c). It's one of the problems with trying to understand relativity by analogy with everyday experience.

                  In the LHC the protons beams each reach close to c relative to the machine but from their perspective only collide at <c

                  1. Anonymous Coward
                    Anonymous Coward

                    Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                    As it already says above "There is just no way of observing that from one object to the other..."

                    1. Chemist

                      Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                      "As it already says above "There is just no way of observing that from one object to the other...""

                      There is if the objects are closing

                    2. Chemist

                      Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                      "As it already says above "There is just no way of observing that from one object to the other...""

                      The two objects don't move apart at >c that's the whole point. 2 objects traveling at say 0.99c each mutually away from an observer at a point will still only see each other separating at <c.

                      The observer will see them traveling away from the starting point at -0.99c & 0.99c That's the kind of thing that makes relativity seem so counter-intuitive

                      If nothing with mass can reach c in any ref. frame then the observer can only see each object as moving with velocity less than c and the same applies to the objects whether they are moving away or towards each other.

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

              "Yes seem. No object is moving at more than light speed, which is a good thing as that is impossible."

              No - ARE. Light cannot move IN SPACE fast than light speed. But Space CAN move (expand) faster than light speed as it has no mass. QED - very distant objects can and are actually be moving apart faster than the speed of light relative to each other as space expands, even if it impossible to directly observe it.

              1. Vociferous

                Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                > Space CAN move (expand) faster than light speed as it has no mass

                Space does not move. Space is the dimensions of the universe: length, breadth, height, time (plus the little squiggly ones). They're the axles on the graph in which objects in spacetime are plotted. They can change, but to say that e.g. "length" moves is nonsensical.

                1. TheVogon

                  Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                  "Space does not move. Space is the dimensions of the universe: length, breadth, height, time (plus the little squiggly ones). "

                  Space does effectively move - we know that the universe is expanding - and that we can see light from distances further away than we should be able to if space was not moving.

                  We also know that the Big Bang for instance exceeded the speed of light during it's initial expansion - that is only possible if space also moved.

                  1. Vociferous

                    Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

                    > Space does effectively move - we know that the universe is expanding - and that we can see light from distances further away than we should be able to if space was not moving.

                    No, that's confusing the apparent effects on objects in spacetime with spacetime itself. Spacetime isn't an object, it's the set of coordinates, axles in a graph, we use to describe the position of objects in the universe.

        2. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Chemist

        Re: "expansion of space briefly exceeded the speed of light "

        "How would you describe it?"

        I thought I just did - certainly not as 'exceeding light speed - it has no meaning in this context

  5. Daedalus
    FAIL

    Correction, Mr. T

    Inflation doesn't explain why we have detected temperature differences. It explains why the temperature of the universe is uniform (that's "no differences") in all directions.

    1. Vociferous

      Re: Correction, Mr. T

      AFAIK inflation theory explains the temperature differences as being caused by quantum fluctuations in the temperature of the very early universe, being inflated to multi-galaxy-cluster size when the universe inflated.

      1. Scroticus Canis

        Re: Correction, Mr. T - @Vociferous

        No, much, much smaller than a galaxy cluster. From nearly bugger all (proton size) to about the size of a decent grapefruit. Note that the BB had already expanded to proton size before inflation kicked in; the expansion from nowt to proton took nearly three times as long as inflation lasted.

        The CMB shows that there are warmer and colder regions (still all bloody close to 0K) mixed together but this temperature motteling is uniform in all directions. Inflation smoothed it out to be so. Average CMB temperature is equivalent to 2.7K IIRC.

  6. JDX Gold badge

    " throws enormous weight behind the famous theory of the Big Bang."

    AFAIK it specifically supports the theory that the universe began by expanding at an increasing - even exponential - rate before settling into the standard model of decelerating due to gravity?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: " throws enormous weight behind the famous theory of the Big Bang."

      AFAIK, last time we checked, it's accelerating. Though I'm happy to be corrected. Gravity is being overcome by something. Which is still a puzzle.

      1. Chris T Almighty

        Re: " throws enormous weight behind the famous theory of the Big Bang."

        It's accelerating now, but it was decelerating due to gravity for the first half or so of the universe's lifetime, I believe.

  7. Florida1920
    Linux

    They knew they had the real deal when they decoded the waves and read the message: "So long, and thanks for all the fish."

    Tux, 'cause penguins like fish too.

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Happy

      Nah, it read: "We apologise for the inconvenience"

  8. Ilsa Loving
    Trollface

    This research is wrong!

    I don't know anything about science, but this research goes against my core believes and therefore it is wrong!

    You'll just have to keep doing it over again until you get it right (ie: Your results say what I want them to say).

    Regards,

    Way too many people who think their opinion is as valid as your facts.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: This research is wrong!

      Interestingly, it's only other scientists and couch based scientists that disagree. Most people are happy with the conclusion the observations demand.

      Not saying this observation demands any particular conclusion mind. As it's still a single data point of sorts.

  9. Palf

    OK - now we know that FTL spacetime expansion is real, it's time to roll our sleeves up and build that space drive!

    Pass the hacksaw, Mabel...and careful with that axe, Eugene.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Vociferous

      > now we know that FTL spacetime expansion is real, it's time to roll our sleeves up and build that space drive!

      There have been proposed FTL travel methods which are based on manipulating spacetime.

      (Needless to say, it's easier said than done)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      We already know it's pretty easy. All you need is an object with zero mass or infinite energy...

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Lots of common particles have zero mass. They don't travel FTL.

  10. Mike Flex
    Facepalm

    "This is something that's not just a home run, but a grand slam," said Marc Kamionkowski"

    Is that a good thing, or a bad thing? Really, it would be handy if alien tongues were translated into proper English. I'm left not knowing if this discovery is the dog's danglies, or his dinner.

    1. Patched Out

      Grand Slam

      For non-Americans: In baseball, a "home run" is when a batter hits the ball far enough within an area defined by lines drawn from home plate (being the vertex) to the first and third bases (foul lines) into an area that is not retrievable (either the outfield or "over the fence") in the time it takes him to run around the three bases of a the baseball diamond and return to home plate.

      A "grand slam" is when first, second and third bases are occupied by previous batters at the time that a fourth batter hits a home run, thus allowing all four players to run to home plate and score.

      So yes, a grand slam is very good.

      1. Martin Budden Silver badge
        Trollface

        Re: Grand Slam

        Sounds just like rounders.

  11. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    “This has been like looking for a needle in a haystack, but instead we found a crowbar”

    Gordon's been, then.

  12. JustWondering
    Pint

    Well, I've thought about this and ...

    OW!! Beer me!

  13. Allan George Dyer

    Check the small print...

    Sounds like the first detection was before the cutoff date, so the confirmation date shouldn't matter. Does Ladbrokes invalidate bets if there's a delay in getting the photo-finish result?

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: Check the small print...

      "After getting the first results in the team then spent three years going over its data to make sure that there was no other possible explanation for what they were seeing. They report a confidence level greater than 5 sigma, meaning the odds are less than one in 3.5 million that they are wrong.

      Sadly, that long checking process has left a lot of scientists somewhat out of pocket. In 2004 British bookmaker Ladbrokes offered 500-to-one bets that gravitational waves wouldn't be discovered by 2010 and so many scientists rushed to lay down money that the odds were cut to 10 to one."

      Three years ago from now would still be after 2010, so no payout. Unless I've missed where it said detection happened more than three years ago?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Check the small print...

        Yes the three years confirmation mentioned is confusing but if any scientist detected this before 2010 then they better get down the bookies. Just because you didn't have confirmation back then doesn't mean what you detected only becomes a gravity wave at the time of confirmation. It was and will evermore have been a gravity wave detected pre 2010.

  14. Winkypop Silver badge
    Devil

    Yay for boffins!!

    Science: Eleventy Billion!

    Religion: 0

    1. thomas k.

      Re: Yay for boffins!!

      Yes, grats for the hard work and dedication which produced these results.

      Yet, just as we ask believers "what was before God?", we must ask the boffins "what was before the Big Bang?"

      1. Richard 12 Silver badge

        "Mu"

        The question makes no sense, because the Big Bang was the beginning of time itself, and thus there was no "before" because there was no time for it to be in.

        This is based on the Big Bang being a "perfect" singularity, so if we were to find evidence of a "before" it would mean that the Big Bang was not perfect - which would be very exciting indeed.

        Nobody has found any evidence at all though.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "Mu"

          I'm a mathematician rather than a scientist (I believe in /real/ proof ;) ), but I'm curious: "before" is just implying outside in one particular dimension (time) which you say doesn't exist outside of the Universe, and I get that. Does it in any way make sense to ask what could be outside the Universe (in any "dimension")?

          There are lots of references to what "size" the universe was at various different stages, and the expansion of space, it all seems very enclosed. I'm quite happy with the idea of a geometry being self-contained and non-infinite but... embedded within further dimensions it does kind of make sense to consider things not in that geometry.

          1. Vociferous

            Re: "Mu"

            > "before" is just implying outside in one particular dimension (time)

            The problem is that it implies an earlier point in time, like "lower" implies a lesser altitude and "shorter" implies less distance. But in our universe there is no point in time earlier than zero, just like there is no distance shorter than zero. The question then becomes "are there other universes", which brings you solidly into the realm of free speculations like the Multiverse theory and the 'the universe is a computer simulation' theory.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: "Mu"

              > The problem is that it implies an earlier point in time, like "lower" implies a lesser altitude and "shorter" implies less distance. But in our universe there is no point in time earlier than zero, just like there is no distance shorter than zero.

              This is not disputed.

              > The question then becomes "are there other universes"

              Does it? How is that argued?

              1. Vociferous

                Re: "Mu"

                > Does it? How is that argued?

                Well surely an observer experiencing time and being outside our universe, has to be in some other universe?

                1. Anonymous Coward
                  Anonymous Coward

                  Re: "Mu"

                  > Well surely an observer experiencing time and being outside our universe, has to be in some other universe?

                  Who said anything about an observer experiencing time? We're talking about "outside" our universe -- why do we even think what's outside is another universe?

                  I think "surely" is not going to convince me!

          2. Acme Fixer

            Re: "Mu"

            Search for "multiverse."

        2. Acme Fixer

          Re: "Mu"

          "How big is Infinity?" Asking about space, instead of time.

      2. Acme Fixer

        Re: Yay for boffins!!

        As in Men In Black, it was the trinket hanging from the collar around that talking dog's neck.

    2. Clive Harris

      Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

      Err ..Not so fast. A while ago I came across an interesting argument by a maverick Israeli physicist (I forget his name). I didn't understand all the details but essentially he calculated the spacetime dilation resulting from the extreme acceleration that the early universe encountered during this rapid inflation phase. It is well known that extreme acceleration does funny things to time and his estimate was that time would be "stretched" by a factor of approximately 10^12.

      The age of the universe is generally set at somewhere around 13 to 16 billion years, depending on who you ask.This "stretching" means that the true age of of the universe, as seen by an "outsider" (Whoever that may be), must be divided by this "stretching" factor. What do you get when you divide 16 billion years by 10^12? Well, near as dammit, it's 6 days.

      Religion: Eleventy Billion! Science: Also Eleventy Billion! (because they seem to agree!)

      Of course, if the actual age of the universe was only 13 billion years then I suppose that means God got to knock off early on the last day.

      1. Vociferous

        Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

        How would time dilation in our universe be observable to an observer in another universe? There's an event horizon between us.

        Also, if the idea is that our universe has moved so fast that it's suffered time dilation, then time runs slower in the other universe, and (assuming the figures are right) you have to multiply our 14 billion years with 10^12 to get how long the outside observer thinks our universe has existed.

        1. Clive Harris

          Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

          As I understand it (the maths is a bit beyond me, so I may not be quite right), the "inflationary" phase in the expansion of the early universe requires a brief period of NEGATIVE gravity, hence the rapid expansion. Since General Relativity says that acceleration and gravity are more or less the same thing, this means that the effect on time dilation works the other way round i.e. time slows down instead of speeding up. Also, I think the physicist was speculating on how it would appear if the Observer (capital letter intended) was outside of ALL universes, instead of just living in another "nearby" one.

          I suppose the only way you can get your head around that is by visualising the entire multiverse as a giant computer simulation. Perhaps we really are trapped inside The Matrix!

          By the way, since we have a "devil" icon, could someone come up with a suitable "opposite" one (an angel, perhaps) to cover this type of posting.

      2. Malc

        Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

        The picture looks more like a 'fingerprint' left by the Noodely Appendage.

      3. Acme Fixer

        Re: Science: Eleventy Billion! Religion: 0

        Oh, I see.... I think...

        I just got back from the O.R., and I think the anesthetic has got me in over the top of my head...

    3. Uffish

      Re: Yay for boffins!!

      I once had a conversation with a professor of astrophysics in which he said* that the study of physics was the best occupation because it disclosed the work of God.

      Just saying.

      *p.s. The professor said it more accurately and eloquently than I can recollect.

      1. Clive Harris
        Happy

        Re: Yay for boffins!!

        >>I once had a conversation with a professor of astrophysics in which he said* that the study of physics was the best occupation because it disclosed the work of God.<<

        I've always thought Engineering was best, because we're continuing the work of creation.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yay for boffins!!

      > Science: Eleventy Billion!

      > Religion: 0

      And here's how *any* subject on ElReg can be turned into the most preposterous "Us vs Them" argument. :(

      Bet you think you come across as funny, taking merit from one group to which you do not belong to attempt to demerit another group that's nothing to do with you.

      Don't be another fucking zealot mate, just live and let live. If people want to believe in God or Michael Jackson or whatever that's a personal thing and none of your--or mine--business.

  15. Mikel

    More detail

    If you are interested in the topography of gravity waves let me suggest this primer.

    http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/polar/webversion/node6.html

  16. Benchops

    "instant after that moment", "grapefruit sized", "mere moments"

    Are these measurements going in the El Reg official units of measurement?

  17. Bartlomiej Kochan
    Linux

    Dark energy / dark mass

    For the purpose of this speculation lets call it The Dark Margy. TDM

    IF Expansion of the universe was briefly faster than light.

    TDM may be what escaped from the edges of expanding universe when it slowed down.

    Dark Penguin cos I was right Linux is goin places when playing with it about 20 years ago.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hope it's right

    If they've spent 3 years checking the results, then it's probably correct and would certainly be Nobel prize material - absolutely amazing. But polarimetry is hard (I used to do it) and the ways you can cock it up are legion, so confirmation from other groups is going to be really important,

  19. Dr Patrick J R Harkin

    ANOTHER cosmological wager from Hawking?

    I'm beginning to worry that the man has a bit of a gambling problem. Come to think of it, isn't he playing poker in his ST:NG cameo?

  20. earl grey
    Pint

    Space Boffins

    Well Done!

  21. Acme Fixer

    Reminds me of..

    Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. "..with a confidence of one in umpteen gazillion to one," as the Infinite Improbability Generator lands them in the cargo hold (or wherever it was) of the spaceship.

  22. MJI Silver badge

    Embarrased

    I read the title as GRAVY WAVE TSUNAMI

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Press Releases

    I understand the need to raise the profile of scientific research amongst the public and all that, but part of me wishes the Professor King approach was a bit more common.

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