Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Ireland most expensive EU country due to taxes and retail, says academic

NEW DATA SHOWS IRELAND MOST EXPENSIVE COUNTRY IN EUROPE IN WHICH TO BUY ALCOHOL

   

IRELAND IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COUNTRY IN THE EU IN WHICH TO BUY ALCOHOL, ACCORDING TO RECENT DATA.

An Irish academic says higher taxes, a different retail structure and market factors are the reason why Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe.

Damien O’Reilly, a lecturer in retail management in DIT, told Morning Ireland that market factors tend to drive up the cost of food. He was responding to new data from Eurostat which show that Ireland is the most expensive country in Europe in which to buy alcohol with prices at 175% of the EU average.

On average the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks in Ireland is 119% of the EU average, the fourth highest in the EU.

The EU’s statistics agency also said Ireland is the second most expensive for tobacco at 189% of the EU average, with only the United Kingdom higher at 218%.

Only Denmark (145%), Sweden (124%), Austria (120%) are more expensive.

In Ireland, bread and cereals (111% of EU average), meat (106%) and milk, cheese and eggs (128%) all cost above the EU average.

The data is based on a 2015 price survey covering 440 products across Europe.

Donall O’Keefe of the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) said the high price of alcohol in Ireland is directly related to the unfair excise rate and that this is a direct tax on jobs, tourism and consumers.

“Excise is a tax on jobs, it is a tax on tourism and it is a tax on Irish consumers,” he said.

The Eurostat figures also show Ireland had the second highest per capita GDP in the EU in 2015 at 145% of the EU average.

Luxembourg had the highest per capita GDP in the EU at 271% of the average, while Bulgaria (46%) had the lowest.

However, when it comes to Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) – which measures the material welfare of households – Ireland was at 95% of the EU average.

Mr O’Reilly said that the reason Ireland’s dairy products cost so much even though there is a large dairy industry here is because 90 per cent of the milk produced in Ireland is for export.

“A lot of it is then re-imported as finished product which drives up the cost,” he said.

He also said supermarkets in Ireland have higher margins than elsewhere in Europe and that Irish shoppers are attracted to brands when they could buy cheaper own brands.

He said Irish shoppers tend to go for “higher quality foods”

EU may rule on Apple tax case next month

EU FOUND AGAINST IRELAND IN INITIAL FINDINGS ON APPLE IN 2014

   

MINISTER FOR FINANCE MICHAEL NOONAN SAYS THERE IS SPECULATION THAT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IS TO DECIDE NEXT MONTH ON WHETHER APPLE’S TAX DEALINGS IN THIS COUNTRY BREACHED STATE-AID RULES.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan says there is speculation that the European Commission is to decide next month on whether Apple’s tax dealings in this country breached state-aid rules.

“The speculation now is that the Commission may make a decision sometime in July,” Mr Noonan said in an interview with Bloomberg in Luxembourg. “But we don’t know that with certainty. It’s the general feel around Brussels that they’re walking toward a July decision.”

Initial findings by the commission in 2014 said that Apple’s Irish tax arrangements were improperly designed to give the iPhone and iPad maker a financial advantage in exchange for jobs in the country. In a worst-case scenario, JP Morgan analysts estimate Apple could end up having to pay a $19 billion (€16.7 billion) in back taxes, though the expectation is that any negative ruling would end up with a much smaller bill.

The Government has repeatedly said that it will appeal any negative finding to the EU Court of Justice.

In the past, Apple has said it doesn’t use “tax gimmicks”, while the Government has repeatedly said that no State-aid rules were breached in this case.

Jobs lost shock as receivers shut McCormack Stores in the North West

     

SOME 208 JOBS HAVE BEEN LOST AND 15 BUSINESS LOCATIONS CLOSED ACROSS THE NORTH WEST FOLLOWING A RECEIVERSHIP ORDER BY BANK OF IRELAND AGAINST MCCORMACK OILS.

The news that the stores at Leitrim Village, Drumshanbo and Manorhamilton had been closed down with immediate effect was met with shock and astonishment by staff and members of the public.

The receivers arrived at the 15 premises located across Leitrim, Cavan, Sligo and Meath on Monday morning after 10am.

It is understood the three stores in Leitrim were open as per normal when the receivers entered the premises and told staff to close the doors and proceeded to put up the closure notice and seize assets.

In the ensuing hours other staff members arrived at the doors to be informed they no longer had jobs and were handed letters of redundancy from the receivers.

A statement from Receivers to the Leitrim Observer said, “Grant Thornton can confirm that Aengus Burns and Michael McAteer have been appointed as receivers to Excol Oil Limited which operates ten filling stations across the North West, two oil distribution facilities (McCormack Fuels Limited, Sligo and Breffni Oil Distribution, Cavan) and McCormack’s car sales and garage businesses in Sligo.”

They told the paper, “Our first priority is to brief employees at all 15 locations and process their entitlements for redundancy. The receivers are making every effort to sell the various businesses.” It is understood they do not intend to re-open the businesses and are hoping to sell them as soon as possible.

The umbrella company operated filling stations in Drumshanbo, Leitrim Village and Manorhamilton as well as in Killeshandra, Belturbet and Virginia, Co Cavan, Athboy, Co Meath and more in Castlebaldwin, Carraroe and the Mail Coach Road, Sligo.

Staff who were not at work on Monday were called to the businesses and handed letters of redundancy. It is understood the offer is the statutory redundancy of two weeks pay for every year worked. The letter explained that Bank of Ireland has appointed receivers to the business and also outlined entitlements for social welfare payments.

The businesses employed many local people, including a number of couples and workers from the same family.

Staff told the Leitrim Observer they are “devastated” and that the news came as a “huge shock” as they felt local stores were performing well.

A spokesperson for Grant Thornton told the paper he was unaware if the owners had knowledge of the order for receivership before Monday morning, as sometimes they are not notified beforehand.

The McCormack Family were contacted for a comment but they declined to speak at this time. Security remains outside all stores this week.

Local people were shocked and annoyed at the closures with many calling it “sad news” on Monday.

On Facebook, locals poured out their sadness and disbelief. Kelly Hewitt Kelly said, “It’s bloody awful. My husband worked in Manor and they were just handed stupid letters and told they have no job at all – out, that was it terrible way to be treated – we have 4 young kids to think about.”

Noeleen Moffatt commented, “Terrible News for Leitrim Village and surrounding areas. Travel to Drumshanbo, Carrick-on-Shannon or Pauline Skeffington’s Shop in Drumboylan for essential items.”

Mar Kelly sympathised saying, “Terrible for the McCormack family and their loyal staff.”

About 15 minutes of exercise may lower death risk in elderly people

NEW STUDY FINDS

   

EXERCISING IS AS IMPORTANT FOR THE ELDERLY AS IT IS FOR THE YOUTH. A STUDY HAS FOUND THAT EVEN AS LITTLE AS A 15-MINUTE WORKOUT COULD DO WONDERS FOR THE ELDERLY AND DECREASE DEATH RISK.

The study, in fact, goes on to say that it may help them cheat death, by linking it to lower death risk among the elderly, which showed how exercising lesser than the recommended number of hours might help them.

The Tech Times, French researchers analyzed a group of 1,011 French individuals aged 65 in 2001 and were followed for 12 years. They also looked at a huge group of more than 122,000 people from an international cohort who were about 60 years old and were followed for about 10 years.

The team measured physical activity via Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes every week, meaning calories spent per minute of physical activity. A MET minute every week equates to the amount of energy expended by sitting; recommended levels of exercise, for instance, are from 500 to 1,000 MET minutes a week.

It was observed that, during the study, as people exercised more, their potential death risk dropped considerably. Furthermore, those with low activity levels, recorded approximately 22% decreased death risk, while those with medium and high levels had 28% and 35% lower risks.

Tech Times interviewed study author and University Hospital of Saint-Etienne physician, Dr. David Hupin, who said that, “Age is not an excuse to do no exercise. It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment.”

Top professionals are twice as likely to marry as unskilled workers

A RECENT SURVEY REVEALS ‘MARRIAGE CHANCES’ BY CLASS WHICH DIMINISH RIGHT DOWN THE ECONOMIC SCALE?

     

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SUCH DATA LOOKING AT THE GAP IN “MARRIAGE CHANCES” BY CLASS HAS BEEN BROUGHT TOGETHER IN IRELAND.

Highly paid processionals are almost twice as likely to be married as unskilled workers, a report published this morning finds.

Some 65.7% of adults, aged 18-49 in the best off groups, were married at the end of last year, while 31.8% of the same age in the least well off group were married, notes the study, Mind the Gap, published by the Iona Institute Christian think tank.

The report also shows the likelihood of marrying diminishes right down the economic social scale, apart from in the second least well off group, which are described as “process, plant and machine operatives”.

Some 53.6% of adults in this class were married, according to the report which draws on data contained in the Central Statistics Office’s Quarterly National Household Survey from the end of 2015.

This is the first time such data looking at the gap in “marriage chances” by class has been brought together in Ireland. The findings reveal a phenomenon replicated in other western societies. It is an issue which receives much discussion and scrutiny in the United States.

This study maps likelihood of marriage by area, in Dublin, Cork and Galway cities, showing huge variations aligning by levels of prosperity or disadvantage.

In Dublin marriage rates range from highs of up to 59 per cent in Clontarf and Rathgar/Terenure to as low as 19% in north and south inner city.

WORST CHANCES

In Cork, they range from 60% in Ballinlough, to 17% in Shandon, Gilabbey and South Gate, while Galway adults with the best prospects of marriage are those in Rockbarton, Knockacarragh and Taylor’s Hill where rates are up to 53%. Galwegians with the worst chances are in Nun’s Island and St Nicholas, with rates as low as 19%.

Prof Patricia Casey of the Iona Institute said the inequality in access to marriage were “deeply concerning”. She said those entering marriages had better social and economic prospects, while children in lone parents households were at the greatest risk of poverty.

The Institute said it was publishing the report in the hope of sparking a debate on why some groups were not marrying.

Marriage, she said, was one of the greatest bulwarks against poverty and yet those in poverty had far less access to it.

“Why is it that the better off a person is the more likely they are to be married? Social disadvantage clearly diminishes a person’s chances of marrying and not marrying in turn increases the odds of remaining socially disadvantaged, It’s a vicious circle and one which obviously affects children.”

Irish society had shown it believed the gay and lesbian community should have access to marriage. So too should the poor, said Prof Casey.

The increasing proliferation of low-paid, insecure jobs at the lower end of the economic scale undoubtedly had an impact on people’s sense of their financial ability to enter into marriage, she added.

“There are also disincentives to marry built into the social welfare system . . . It can be more financially advantageous for two people on social welfare to remain single than to marry.”

Gravitational waves detected for the second time

Scientists spot ripples in space-time caused by two colliding and merging black holes

   

AN ARTIST’S RENDITION SHOWS TWO BLACK HOLES 14 AND 8 TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN JUST MOMENTS BEFORE THEY COLLIDED AND MERGED TO FORM A NEW BLACK HOLE 21 TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN.

Gravitational waves, ripples in space-time predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, have been detected for the second time, scientists have announced.

An international team spotted the phenomenon on St Stephen’s Day but has only now made the news public.

As with the earlier detection in September 2015, the source was found to be two colliding and merging black holes unleashing titanic forces.

The event, some 1.4 billion light years away, caused a quantity of energy roughly equivalent to the mass of the Sun to be converted into gravitational waves.

After travelling an unimaginable distance across space, the waves were “captured” by the twin Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) detectors located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, US.

Team member Dr Stephen Fairhurst, from Cardiff University, said: “This event heralds the true beginning of gravitational wave astronomy and the opening of a new window on the universe.

“The different masses and observable spins that we witnessed in the Boxing Day event show that we’re starting to collect vital information about the population of black holes that exist in the universe.

“Future gravitational wave observations will allow us to understand how black holes form from the death of massive stars, and test whether they are really as predicted by Einstein’s theory.”

THE THEORY OF GENERAL RELATIVITY?

Gravitational waves are predicted in Einstein’s Theory Of General Relativity, which shows how gravity arises from mass curving space and time.

They are ripples in space-time that propagate as waves. Anything in their path, from humans to whole planets, is made to stretch and compress slightly as the fabric of space-time is distorted.

Each of the Ligo detectors, consisting of an incredibly sensitive system of mirrors and lasers, is also made to “wobble”. But the effect is really tiny.

The amount of movement is thousands of times smaller than the width of the nucleus of an atom.

Scientists hope gravitational waves will offer a completely different view of the universe, allowing them to study events that might be hidden from traditional optical and radio telescopes.

An illustration of this was seen in results from the December 26th detection, presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, US.

By analysing the signal, the scientists were able to tell that the colliding black holes were 14 and eight times more massive than the Sun.

They orbited each other at least 27 times before merging into a more massive spinning black hole 21 times the Sun’s mass.

Using two detectors spotting the waves 1.1 milliseconds apart made it possible to determine the source’s rough position in the sky.

‘KEY QUESTIONS’

Prof Sheila Rowan, director of the University of Glasgow’s Institute for Gravitational Research, who took part in the discovery, said: “We know from this second detection that the properties being measured by Ligo will allow us to start to answer some key questions with gravitational astronomy.

“In future we will be able to study this and better understand cosmic history, aiming to fill in the ‘missing links’ in our knowledge.”

The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Dr Chad Hanna, from Pennsylvania State University in the US, who co-led the detection team, said: “We now have far more confidence that mergers of two black holes are common in the nearby universe.

“Now that we are able to detect gravitational waves, they are going to be a phenomenal source of new information about our galaxy and an entirely new channel for discoveries about the universe.”

The Ligo Scientific Collaboration consists of more than 1,000 scientists from 17 countries.

Each Ligo site has two tubes, both 4km long, arranged in an L shape.

A laser is beamed down each tube to monitor very precisely the distance between mirrors at each end.

If a gravitational wave is present, it will alter the distance between the mirrors by a minute amount.     

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Tánaiste Joan Burton has questions of accuracy on a poll predicting she will lose her General Election seat?

  V  

the TÁNAISTE AND LABOUR LEADER JOAN BURTON SAYS SHE FACES A “CHALLENGE” GETTING ELECTED BUT QUESTIONED THE ACCURACY OF A POLL PREDICTING SHE COULD LOSE HER DUBLIN WEST SEAT IN THE ELECTION.

Putting on a brave face after the Millwared Browne poll put her fighting for a Dáil place in the four-seat constituency, Ms Burton also said she was looking forward to tonight’s first televised leaders debate on TV3.

She said: “In relation to tonight’s debate, I’m actually looking forward to it. I think it is important that voters and the people of Ireland get to hear the vision of each of the party leaders over the next five years.”

Ms Burton though questioned the accuracy of the poll’s prediction for Dublin West, which says her vote will be halved compared to the 2011 election.

“It is a smaller size sample [of people], therefore the margin of error is over 4%. Secondly, it indicates a very high number of undecided votes.”

The Social Protection Minister said that she had said repeatedly that a lot of people would not make up their mind until very close to polling day, as had been evident in shock results in the US and British elections.

The poll found that outgoing Health Minister Leo Varadkar looks set to top the poll with 20%, holding the lead position jointly with Sinn Féin’s Paul Donnelly.

Fianna Fáil’s resurgent support also looks set to put their candidate, Jack Chambers, in the Dáil, who will finally take back the seat formerly held by the late finance minister Brian Lenihan. Chambers, the poll claims, is on 17%.

Ms Burton admitted that, just like Brian Lenihan in 2011, she now faces a similar challenge to hold her seat in Dublin West.

Ms Burton’s problem lies in the fact that voters polled put her fighting with an outside chance for the fourth and final seat with AAA-PBP candidate Ruth Coppinger in Dublin West.

However, it claims that Coppinger, boosted by the retirement of Joe Higgins here, is currently 5% ahead of the Tánaiste in the race for the fourth seat.

Burton, the Millward Browne poll says, is trailing at just 10%-half of what the popular TD had achieved during the 2011 general election.

Ms Burton lost her seat before in 1997 but has been a solid performer ever since in general elections.

A key to her retaining her seat will be transfers, which are likely to come from Mr Varadkar, as well as whether she can gain support on the Navan Road and Cabra, transferred under boundary changes into the constituency.

If the Labour leader were to lose her seat, the result could be one of the biggest political casualties of election 2016.

Voters have gone to the poll here on three occasions over the last five years.

Irish Water staff will lose jobs or be redeployed?

So sAYS GERRY ADAMS:

   

IRISH WATER STAFF WILL EITHER LOSE THEIR JOBS OR BE REDEPLOYED IF SINN FEIN TAKES POWER, GERRY ADAMS HAS SAID.

The party president and Louth TD said the utility would be abolished based on whatever is cheapest for the taxpayer and pensions and redundancies would be worked out on an individual basis.

“The principle is very, very clear – scrap Irish Water, scrap water charges. It’s a punitive, unnecessary tax,” he said.

Pressed on Sinn Fein’s plans to abolish the utility while contracts are in place with four companies, including water metering by the Denis O’Brien-owned Siteserv, Mr Adams said a government led by his party would act on the best legal advice.

“We are lawmakers, if we get a mandate we will change the law to serve the common interest,” he said.

“Our objective is very, very clear and this is an absolute red line issue – this and the family home tax – we will scrap both of those.”

Mr Adams also said there would be no way to refund people who have already paid Irish Water bills.

The party leader was interviewed on RTE Radio 1’s This Week where he was also asked to detail other key manifesto pledges including introducing a living wage for low paid civil and public servants.

He said he did not know if this would have a knock-on effect for wage claims for people at higher levels.

Mr Adams also said he was committed to new laws which would force companies to recognise unions and negotiate with employees based on collective bargaining.

“We stand for the national interest in the common good. We stand by working people. We stand by those people who are disadvantaged and that means we may have to take on these people in the upper echelons,” he said.

Mr Adams said his party’s plans for a universal healthcare system, free at the point of entry, would take two terms in government to establish.

Standards watchdog gets a complaint over Lucinda Creighton legal fees

RENUA LEADER SAYS SHE’S A TARGET OF ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED LIES’ IN MIDST OF ELECTION

        

THE STANDARDS IN PUBLIC OFFICE COMMISSION (SIPO) HAS RECEIVED AN ANONYMOUS COMPLAINT IN RELATION TO RENUA LEADER LUCINDA CREIGHTON. A CLAIM IN RELATION TO THE SAME MATTER – MS CREIGHTON’S ALLEGED RECEIPT OF A ‘BENEFIT IN KIND’ – HAD ALREADY BEEN REJECTED BY THE COMMISSION LAST YEAR.

The complaint, the detail of which Ms Creighton last night flatly denied, was submitted on Friday, February 5. It is understood that the board of SIPO will consider the matter at its next meeting, which is scheduled to take place next month.

The Renua leader said the claim that she had failed to declare a ‘benefit in kind’ during her time as a minister of state was “vexatious and frivolous” and had already been rejected by the commission when it was the subject of a complaint from the same anonymous individual last September.

Ms Creighton said it was a matter of grave concern to her that in the midst of a general election, SIPO, “a body set up to protect ethics in politics is being used for dirty tricks”.

Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin will take the gloves off this week in an all-out battle to win the support of former Fianna Fail voters

In their original complaint to SIPO, the individual in question claimed that the Renua leader had received what they believed to be a ‘benefit in kind’ through the alleged receipt of either a partial settlement, discount or forbearance on the payment of legal fees she had incurred with Simon McAleese Solicitors in the course of defending an action for defamation brought against her in 2012 by property developer Michael O’Flynn.

The case was settled after two days of hearings in the High Court with Ms Creighton issuing an apology to Mr O’Flynn for remarks she made at the MacGill Summer School in July 2010, in which she expressed her disquiet over the developer’s participation in a Fine Gael golf fundraiser at the K Club.

Apologising for those comments, Ms Creighton described Mr O’Flynn as “an upstanding developer” and said he had “not done any wrong”.

As part of the settlement, Ms Creighton also agreed to make a contribution towards the payment of Mr O’Flynn’s legal fees.

The bill for her own legal representation – the subject of the complaint to SIPO – is understood to have been substantial.

Having already considered the claims being made against Ms Creighton last September, SIPO decided the complainant had not provided any evidence to sustain it, and that there were no grounds on which to pursue the matter further.

Contacted by the Sunday Independent for comment, Ms Creighton bluntly dismissed the complaint, describing it as a “tissue of politically motivated lies”, which she noted had now been resubmitted to SIPO, having already been rejected and dismissed by the commission.

The Renua leader said there were “reasons” for SIPO’s rejection of the claim that she had received a ‘benefit in kind’ which should have been declared.

She said: “Costs accruing from a personal legal action do not fall under political expenditure or political donations legislation.”

While members of the Oireachtas are not obliged to declare items which fall outside the areas of political expenditure or political donations legislation, Ms Creighton made it clear that she had paid the legal fees she had incurred in the O’Flynn case in full.

“The case also fell on the simple grounds that all bills were paid in full and can be proven to have been paid in full. There was no discount. Any attempt to portray an alternative story is deceitful and duplicitous,” she said.

“It is a matter of even graver concern that SIPO could be politicised by this or that someone or some party is attempting to politicise SIPO.

“A body set up to protect ethics in politics is being used for dirty tricks. The party or individual involved in such actions do not possess a conscience. Questions have to be asked as to whether this individual can be allowed retain the veneer of anonymity.”

A new saliva test could diagnose cancer in just 10 minutes

EARLY RESULTS SHOW ‘LIQUID BIOPSY’ HAS ‘A NEAR PERFECT’ ACCURACY, SCIENTISTS NOW CLAIM?

     

A 10-MINUTE SALIVA TEST FOR CANCER THAT SCIENTISTS CLAIM COULD REVOLUTIONARY DIAGNOSIS OF THE DISEASE HAS NOW BEEN UNVEILED. 

A 10-minute saliva test for cancer that scientists claim could revolutionise diagnosis of the disease has been unveiled.

THE “LIQUID BIOPSY” TEST LOOKS FOR FRAGMENTS OF GENETIC MATERIAL IN A TINY DROP OF SALIVA.

Early results from lung cancer patients suggest it has “a near-perfect” accuracy, according to the scientist whose team developed the system.

Prof David Wong, of the University of California at Los Angeles, said: “We need less than one drop of saliva and we can turn the test around in 10 minutes. It can be done in a doctor’s office while you wait.

“Early detection is crucial. Any time you gain in finding out that someone has a life-threatening cancer, the sooner the better.

“With this capability, it can be implemented by the patient themselves in a home check, or dentist or pharmacy.”

THE AVAILABILITY?

He said he hoped the test, due to be tested in trials with lung cancer patients in China later this year, could be available in the UK by the end of the decade.

Prof Wong said that eventually it could be used to diagnose a range of different cancers.

He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC.

The team came up with the test after discovering that saliva contained fragments of the genetic messenger molecule RNA, which is linked to cancer.

“Down the road it might be possible to test for multiple cancers at the same time,” said Prof Wong.

Here is why the discovery of gravitational waves is such a big deal for us all

     

On the right is a a computer simulation showing gravitational waves during a black-hole collision. The discovery has major implications for science.

SCIENTISTS WORKING AT THE LIGO EXPERIMENT IN THE US HAVE FOR THE FIRST TIME DETECTED ELUSIVE RIPPLES IN THE FABRIC OF SPACE AND TIME KNOWN AS GRAVITATIONAL WAVES. THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT THE FINDING IS ONE OF THE MOST GROUND BREAKING PHYSICS DISCOVERIES OF THE PAST 100 YEARS. BUT WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

To best understand the phenomenon, let’s go back in time a few hundred years. In 1687 when Isaac Newton published his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he thought of the gravitational force as an attractive force between two masses – be it the Earth and the Moon or two peas on a table top. However the nature of how this force was transmitted was less well understood at the time. Indeed the law of gravitation itself was not tested until British scientistHenry Cavendish did so in 1798, while measuring the density of the Earth.

Fast forward to 1916, when Einstein presented physicists with a new way of thinking about space, time and gravity. Building on work published in 1905, the theory of general relativity tied together that what we commonly consider to be separate entities – space and time – into what is now called “space-time”.

Space-time can be considered to be the fabric of the universe. That means everything that moves, moves through it. In this model, anything with mass distorts the space-time fabric. The larger the mass, the larger the distortion. And since every moving object moves through space-time, it will also follow the distortions caused by objects with big mass.

One way of thinking about this is to consider two children, one heavier than the other, playing on a trampoline. If we treat the surface of the trampoline as the fabric then the more massive child distorts the fabric more than the other. If one child places a ball near the feet of the other then the ball will roll towards, or follow the distortion, towards their feet. Similarly, when the Earth goes around the sun, the huge mass of the sun distorts the space around it, leaving our comparatively tiny planet following as “straight” a path as it can, but in a curved space. This is why it ends up orbiting the sun.

If we accept this simple analogy, then we have the basics of gravity. Moving on to gravitational waves is a small, but very important, step. Let one of the children on the trampoline pull a heavy object across the surface. This creates a ripple on the surface that can be observed. Another way to visualise it is to consider moving your hand through water. The ripples or waves spread out from their origin but quickly decay.

Any object moving through the space-time fabric causes waves or ripples in that fabric. Unfortunately, these ripples also disappear fairly quickly and only the most violent events produce distortions big enough to be detected on Earth. To put this into perspective, two colliding black holes each with a mass of ten times that of our sun would result in a wave causing a distortion of 1% of the diameter of an atom when it reaches the Earth. On this scale, the distortion is of the order of a 0.0000000000001m change in the diameter of the Earthcompared to the 1m change due to a tidal bulge.

What can gravitational waves be used for?

Given that these ripples are so small and so difficult to detect, why have we made such an effort to find them – and why should we care about spotting them? Two immediate reasons come to mind (I’ll leave aside my own interest in simply wanting to know). One is that they were predicted by Einstein 100 years ago. Confirming the existence of gravitational waves therefore provides further strong observational support for his general theory of relativity.

In addition, the confirmation could open up new areas of physics such as gravitational-wave astronomy. By studying gravitational waves from the processes that emitted them – in this case two merging black holes – we could see intimate details of violent events in the cosmos.

However, to make the most of such astronomy, it is best to place the detector in space. The Earth-based LIGO managed to catch gravitational waves using laser interferometry. This technique works by splitting a laser beam in two perpendicular directions and sending each down a long vacuum tunnel. The two paths are then reflected back by mirrors to the point they started at, where a detector is placed. If the waves are disturbed by gravitational waves on their way, the recombined beams would be different from the original. However, space-based interferometers planned for the next decade will use laser arms spanning up to a million kilometres.

Now that we know that they exist, the hope is that gravitational waves could open up the door to answering some of the biggest mysteries in science, such as what the majority of the universe is made of. Only 5% of the universe is ordinary matter with 27% being dark matter and the remaining 68% being dark energy, with the latter two being called “dark” as we don’t understand what they are. Gravitational waves may now provide a tool with which to probe these mysteries in a similar way that X-rays and MRI have allowed us to probe the human body.