A mind-bending discovery about our universe
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 July 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Compared to the chaos of Earth, outer space can seem serene. But, thanks to a recent discovery, we now know that the very fabric of the cosmos is being pushed and pulled by gravitational waves — waves powerful enough to distort space-time.
Read more:
Victoria Jaggard is a deputy health and science editor at The Post. She reported on the breakthrough research proving the existence of a gravitational wave background.
Now, we know that low-frequency gravitational waves from objects such as supermassive black holes can alter space-time. It won’t change your daily lives. You’ll still have to go to work on Monday. But scientists believe this discovery could rewrite our understanding of the universe.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Outer space. |
| 0:04.6 | When I think about it, the feeling that I get is of this quiet, deep expanse. |
| 0:10.4 | A place that feels very different than our bustling and very busy and chaotic planet. |
| 0:18.4 | But a new discovery about the fabric of space time has totally upended that picture in my |
| 0:23.2 | head. |
| 0:24.2 | So imagine for a moment that as you're sitting here looking around the room, everything |
| 0:29.5 | around you, including your own body, is ever so subtly being pulled and stretched by |
| 0:36.1 | waves moving through the fabric of the cosmos. |
| 0:40.6 | That's Victoria Jaggard, a deputy health and science editor at the post. |
| 0:44.5 | And she's been reporting on this major scientific breakthrough. |
| 0:48.4 | Scientists now have compelling evidence of the existence of this thing called a gravitational |
| 0:54.2 | wave background. |
| 0:56.0 | And this finding has astrophysicist buzzing. |
| 0:59.8 | It's not going to change the price of potatoes in the morning. |
| 1:02.5 | It doesn't cure any deadly diseases. |
| 1:06.2 | Your everyday existence isn't necessarily going to change. |
| 1:10.4 | But I think it's amazingly cool whenever we can have one of these moments where we're |
| 1:16.9 | basically rewriting our fundamental understanding of how the universe works. |
| 1:26.8 | From the Newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:30.2 | I'm Ella Hay-Ezzati. |
| 1:32.2 | It's Friday, July 7th. |
| 1:34.2 | Today we are going to space. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Washington Post, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Washington Post and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.