Gravitational waves discovery now officially dead

[knocker]

 

A team of astronomers that last year reported evidence for gravitational waves from the early Universe has now withdrawn the claim. A joint analysis of data recorded by the team's BICEP2 telescope at the South Pole and by the European spacecraft Planck has revealed that the signal can be entirely attributed to dust in the Milky Way rather than having a more ancient, cosmic origin.

 

http://www.nature.com/news/gravitational-waves-discovery-now-officially-dead-1.16830

[chrisbell-nottheweatherman]

Rather embarrassing for the team that thought they'd found evidence of those gravitational waves.  Having read news updates in New Scientist on this research, it seems that they published before ensuring that their data was not artefactual in nature.