Universe's background score: Validation of Einstein's Theory

Finally, astronomers across the globe have found evidence of a "background hum" courtesy of gravitational waves. The discovery is the outcome of a collaborative effort by global scientists who used radio telescopes aimed at 115 pulsars across North America, Europe, China, India, and Australia.

Gravitational waves, first predicted by Albert Einstein, are essentially high-frequency ripples in the universe that travel unhindered at the speed of light and subtly squeeze and stretch everything they pass through. Their existence was first established in 2015 as the outcome of a collision between two black holes by US and Italian observatories.

• Pulsars are the dead cores of stars that exploded in a supernova, and the fractional differences in their timing helps detect gravitational waves
• The scientists, though, have clarified that they are yet to achieve the gold-standard five sigma level of certainty which indicates that there is a one-in-a-million chance of something being a statistical fluke. It is hoped that the gold standard will be achieved in a year's time
• It is also believed that low-frequency gravitational waves could reveal the mystery of dark matter, i.e. the evolution of black holes and galaxies

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