Scientists have “heard” a chorus of gravitational waves rippling through the universe, in what they say is an unprecedented finding that could fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. The discovery, described in a range of newly published journal papers, suggests that spacetime is being rocked by intensely powerful gravitational waves all the time. Those waves carry a million times more energy than the one-off bursts of gravitational waves that were detected from a black hole and were themselves hailed as a major breakthrough in our understanding of the universe. The new results suggest that everything is being slowly shrunk and expanded by a new kind of gravitational wave as they pass through our galaxy. Scientists describe it as being akin to hearing a “symphony” of waves echoing through the universe. “It’s like a choir, with all these supermassive black hole pairs chiming in at different frequencies,” said Chiara Mingarelli, a scientist who worked on the new findings while an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics. “This is the first-ever evidence for the gravitational wave background. We’ve opened a new window of observation on the universe.” The new findings have been described in a range of journal articles, published in different academic journals. The research is the result of 25 years of observations from six of the world’s most sensitive radio telescopes, and have been simultaneously published by different collaborations across the world. The findings are not only notable in themselves. They also offer the opportunity to find out some of the universe’s secrets, since they can be used to find information about the binary black holes that form when galaxies merge, for instance. “These results signify the beginning of an exciting journey into the Universe, where we aim to unravel its mysteries,” Michael Keith, a lecturer at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, UK, and contributor to one of the new studies, published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. “After decades of tireless work by hundreds of astronomers and physicists worldwide, we are finally detecting the long-awaited signature of gravitational waves originating from the distant Universe.” Scientists made the discovery by analysing observations of pulsars, which are extinguished stars that can be used as reliable clocks in the distant universe. By bringing together such a large amount of detailed data, researchers were able to measure those pulsars with very high accuracy, allowing them to measure gravitational waves at a far larger scale than using detectors on Earth. “Pulsars are excellent natural clocks. We exploit the remarkable regularity of their signals to detect subtle changes in their rhythm, enabling us to perceive the minute stretching and squeezing of space-time caused by gravitational waves originating from the far reaches of the Universe,” said David Champion, a senior scientist at the MPIfR in Bonn, Germany, and contributor to the study, in a statement. For now, researchers are only able to “hear” the vast choir, rather than the individual pulsars that make up its singers. But together they are much louder than expected, meaning that there may be more or more heavy supermassive black holes to be found in the universe. Read More Astronomers find zombie planet that ‘shouldn’t exist’ Nasa to begin Moon mining within next decade Nasa rover spots bizarre donut shaped rock on Mars

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Jennifer Aniston, 54, has opened up about one unique beauty treatment – and it involves salmon sperm. In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, the actress said her aesthetician suggested trying the facial despite not knowing what it entailed. "First of all, I said, 'Are you serious? How do you get salmon's sperm?'" She told the outlet while admitting she didn't really find it effective. The beauty treatment contains the ingredient that has proven popular in the K beauty world and has since made its way into the States. It's commonly injected in Korea but is currently only approved for topical use in other parts of the world. Salmon sperm, or more specifically the nucleotide within it, is said to revive dead skin cells and aid cell turnover. Instead, Aniston opts for weekly peptide injections to combat the effects of ageing. "I do think that’s the future," she said. Aniston has previously opened up about how she feels when people say she "looks good for her age". "It drives me bananas. I can't stand it," she told British Vogue earlier this year. "That's a habit of society that we have these markers like, 'Well, you're at that stage, so for your age.' I don't even understand what it means." She went on to suggest she feels "100 per cent better" now than she did when she was in her 20s. "I’m in better shape than I was in my 20s; I feel better in mind, body, and spirit. It’s all 100 per cent better," she added. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Stephen Colbert announced the cancellation of the week's episodes due to his recent surgery

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Larry Sinclair made explosive claims about Barack Obama's sexuality during an interview with Tucker Carlson