Prof. Matthew Evans speaks with Ari Daniels of PRI’s The World about the successful detection of gravitational waves. "It’s as if we had an enormous hearing aide, which let us pick up the sounds that the universe has been producing — we just have been deaf to these sounds up until now," Evans says.
In an article for The Boston Globe, David Abel speaks with a number of MIT researchers involved in the successful hunt for gravitational waves. “For the first time, we’ve been able to listen to the sounds that the universe has been transmitting to us from the beginning of time,” explains Prof. Nergis Mavalvala.
Prof. Nergis Mavalvala speaks with Meghna Chakrabarti, host of WBUR’s Radio Boston, about the efforts behind the detection of gravitational waves. “This is just the start,” explains Mavalvala. “These detectors are going to get better and we are just going to listen to more and more music from the universe.”
Reuters reporters Scott Malone and Will Dunham report on the significance of scientists detecting gravitational waves. "We are really witnessing the opening of a new tool for doing astronomy," explains Prof. Nergis Mavalvala. "We have turned on a new sense. We have been able to see and now we will be able to hear as well."
An international team of scientists, including researchers from MIT, has detected gravitational waves, reports Joel Achenbach and Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. The detection inaugurates “a new era of astronomy in which gravitational waves are tools for studying the most mysterious and exotic objects in the universe.”
In an article for Ozy about MIT alumna Sabrina Pasterski, Farah Halime writes about Pasterski’s research on black holes, and the nature of gravity and spacetime, all of which “has the world of physics abuzz.” Halime notes that Pasterski, “might be the new Einstein.”
The Economist reviews Prof. Marcia Bartusiak’s new book, “Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved.” “Ms Bartusiak weaves scientific concepts to create a portrait of the scientific institution itself, showing how its norms and personalities served to shape the path taken by the idea.”
Dennis Overbye of The New York Times speaks with Dr. Sheperd Doeleman about his work attempting to capture the first picture of a black hole. “If something is dancing around the edge of the black hole, it doesn’t get any more fundamental than that,” says Doeleman. “Hopefully we’ll find something amazing.”
MIT researchers have found that the high temperature of intracluster gas, which condenses to form stars, may be hindering the development of new stars, reports Jonathan O’Callaghan for the Daily Mail. The researchers hope to use the new findings to better understand how stars form in surrounding galaxies.
Writing for Scientific American, Jennifer Ouellette features Professor Allan Adams research on black holes on her list of the 20 best physics papers of 2014. “We showed that when you throw stuff into a black hole, the surface of the black hole responds like a fluid,” says Adams.
Researchers from MIT have detected the brightest pulsar ever recorded, reports Brook Hays of UPI. “Despite its small dimensions and modest mass, the pulsating dead star is burning with the energy of 10 million suns,” writes Hays.
In an interview with Scientific American, Dr. Michael Hecht of MIT’s Haystack Observatory discusses the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the world’s most powerful radio telescope. Hecht oversees the ALMA Phasing Project and explained that the Haystack Observatory will play a central role in processing the data gathered by ALMA.
Reporting for Scientific American, Seth Fletcher writes about a new effort, led by MIT’s Shep Doeleman, to coordinate radio telescopes around the world to create a telescope powerful enough to get a picture of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.