Last week, American physicists made a really, really big announcement: the discovery of gravitational waves. This find — a billion years in the making — confirms what Albert Einstein theorized a century ago in his general theory of relativity. Stephen Hawking said the discovery could "revolutionize astronomy," and the news media trumpeted the discovery as potentially shaping our very understanding of the universe we live in.
But what exactly are these gravitational waves, and why are they such a big deal? In this podcast, we'll explain what gravitational waves are, how physicists were able to detect them, and why this discovery is so monumental. We'll even hear what gravitational waves sound like. Click on the podcast above, and join this celebration of science.
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