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Initial Tests Fail To Find Gravitational Waves

eldavojohn writes that though gravitational waves are "predicted to exist by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, the initial tests run by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory Scientific Collaboration (LIGO) failed to find anything. It doesn't disprove their existence although it does rule out a subset of string theory. From the article, 'For example, some models predict the existence of cosmic strings, which are loops in space-time that may have formed in the early universe and gotten stretched to large scales along with the expansion of the universe. These objects are thought to produce bursts of gravitational waves as they oscillate. Since no large-amplitude gravitational waves were found, cosmic strings, if they exist at all, must be smaller than some models predict.' The scientists working in Washington and Louisiana (in tandem to rule out flukes) will now move on to Advanced LIGO which will analyze a volume of space 1,000 times larger. If they don't find any gravitational waves in that experiment, the results will be more than unsettling to many theorists."

5 of 553 comments (clear)

  1. I think I see the problem. by tygerstripes · · Score: 5, Funny

    Have they tried turning it off & back on again?

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    Meta will eat itself
  2. Re:Everybody knows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gravity sucks.

    It always lets us down

  3. Re:Success! by offrdbandit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Any experiment that doesn't result in a large explosion is a failure.

  4. Re:what to do, what to do by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yep. OK, enough with ID vs evolution, let's move on to the other battlefront of the science vs faith war. Climate change!

    Global warming, schmobal schmwarming! Temperatures have gone done for the last 10 years (facts here [wikipedia.org]), so everything is just fine, it's just evil liberals who hate our benevolent oil companies because they're in the pocket of Big Ethanol. Discuss.

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    You just got troll'd!
  5. Re:Here's some pedantry for ya by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, I'm having a party tonight and I want to make sure it wraps up by 1 o'clock. Could you stop by at about 12:55 and bore everyone out of the place for me?