All The News You Missed Overnight: A Ground-Breaking Scientific Discovery

Good morning! It’s a busy world out there. All The News You Missed Overnight gives you a guide to everything techy that happened while you were sleeping.

Gravitational Waves Have Been Discovered
After a month of rampant speculation that physicists have finally discovered gravitational waves, today we learned the truth. Lead scientists from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) assembled at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, to make a big announcement.

It’s hard to overstate just how significant the discovery of gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein — is. It’s easily the biggest science story of the year. Nobel Prizes will be awarded. Cool and collected scientists will go apeshit on Twitter in a way you didn’t realise was possible.

The Most Compelling Evidence Yet That Links Zika To Birth Defects
A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine is bolstering a potential link between Zika and microcephaly, a rare birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads. Researchers from Slovenia discovered traces of Zika in the brain tissue of a foetus whose mother became infected with the virus during the 13th week of her pregnancy.

The 25-year-old woman was working as a volunteer in northeastern Brazil at the time, but subsequently returned to Europe. Ultrasounds performed late in her pregnancy revealed a small foetal head and brain calcifications — abnormalities seen in other cases linked to Zika. After consulting with national and hospital ethics boards, the woman chose to abort the foetus.

Hayu Is A New, All-Reality Streaming Service Launching In Australia Next Month
There’s a new subscription streaming service coming to Australia. It’s called Hayu, it’s launching in March, and it will only screen reality TV like Keeping up with the Kardashians, Made In Chelsea, and Real Housewives. Only. Reality. TV. Yes, this is really happening.

Hayu — styled hayu, or hay u — will launch next month for a $5.99 monthly subscription fee, and is the brainchild of parent company NBCUniversal — the network behind a host of reality TV shows including Keeping up with the Kardashians. When it debuts, it’ll have over 3000 episodes of reality TV on tap and over 500 more will be added each year.

Also on Gizmodo:

Watch As Physicists Discuss Today’s Gravitational Wave Announcement
How Star Wars: The Force Awakens Really Should Have Ended
We Finally Know What Caused This Mysterious Crack In A Michigan Forest


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