I believe that the recent discovery of gravitational waves has been described in enough detail by reporters and bloggers around, that my own contribution here would be pointless. Of course I am informed of the facts and reasonably knowledgeable about the topic, and my field of research is not too distant from the one that produced the discovery, so I could in principle offer something different from what you can find by just googling around. But I have a better idea.
What I think you cannot read elsewhere are the free thoughts I had as I listened to the announcement by the VIRGO collaboration. So maybe this may be a different kind of contribution, and of some interest to you.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- They may dream of becoming doctors, and helping people like themselves.

But for young people with disabilities, that dream may die when they check the admissions standards of most medical schools, according to a new study.

Even if the schools would actually consider their application, and offer them assistance as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, they wouldn't know that from looking at many schools' websites, the researchers find.

PHILADELPHIA -- (Feb. 11, 2016) -- When it comes to our immune system, dendritic cells serve as a sort of lighthouse for T-cells. These specialized immune cells break down cancer cells into smaller pieces known as antigens. Once this happens, they can signal white blood cells that are now able to recognize these matching antigens in cancer cells and respond appropriately.

Scientists have developed a new approach that could eventually be used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy, using CRISPR/Cas9 to correct genetic mutations that cause the disease.

Social animals are strongly motived to seek out the company of others, especially after periods of isolation, because their brains are wired to find it rewarding. A study in mice published February 11 in Cell now reveals a neural circuit that mediates social seeking behavior driven instead by a loneliness-like state. By shedding light on the neuroscience of isolation, the findings could help our understanding of social anxiety and autism spectrum disorders.

Smile! It makes everyone in the room feel better because they, consciously or unconsciously, are smiling with you. Growing evidence shows that an instinct for facial mimicry allows us to empathize with and even experience other people's feelings. If we can't mirror another person's face, it limits our ability to read and properly react to their expressions. A Review of this emotional mirroring appears February 11 in Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

The human brain is wired to pay attention to previously pleasing things -- a finding that could help explain why it's hard to break bad habits or stick to New Year's resolutions.

In the new issue of Current Biology, Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists demonstrate for the first time that when people see something associated with a past reward, their brain flushes with dopamine -- even if they aren't expecting a reward and even if they don't realize they're paying it any attention. The results suggest we don't have as much self-control as we might think.

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 11, 2016--Gravitational waves were predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity in 1916, and now, almost exactly 100 years later, the faint ripples across space-time have been found. The advanced Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory (aLIGO) has achieved the first direct measurement.

"We already have indirect evidence of gravitational wave emission from binary pulsars like the Hulse-Taylor system. But this aLIGO measurement provides the first direct detection and confirms what our modeling and simulation results have been suggesting - Einstein was right," said Christopher Fryer, Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow and longtime researcher in this field.

Members of a research collaboration have succeeded in experimentally verifying the properties of crystals of chiral magnetic materials, which may lead to the development of new types of magnetic memories with unprecedented storage capacities. The collaboration "A Consortium to Exploit Spin Chirality in Advanced Materials" was established in 2015 between scientists in several countries including Japan, Russia, and the UK.

"It is a great success for our international consortium, as we achieved the result effectively by taking advantage of the organization that is composed of experts in various research fields," said Katsuya Inoue, the Japanese coordinator of the consortium and professor Hiroshima University's Graduate School of Science.

PHILADELPHIA (February 11, 2016) - Public health efforts to reduce dietary sodium intake have been hindered by an incomplete understanding of the complex process by which humans and other mammals detect salty taste.

Now, a multidisciplinary team from the Monell Center has further characterized the identity and functionality of salt-responding taste cells on the tongue. The knowledge may lead to novel approaches to develop salt replacers or enhancers that can help reduce the sodium content of food.