LIGO detects gravitational waves!

[Rynn]

This blog post was posted pre-announcement but I've found it very useful to keep in mind today:

http://stuver.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/q-h...-help.html

Q: How can gravitational waves help mankind?

@HughScot asked:
What do you hope to discover about gravitational waves that will help mankind in the future?

There are many things that we hope to observe through gravitational waves especially since they have the advantage of being able to travel through matter and come out the other side unchanged, unlike the different forms of light used in traditional astronomy. This gives us the opportunity to observe things that do not emit light, like black holes or to observe systems that would otherwise be obscured by intervening material.

But this question asks how gravitational waves will improve mankind in the future - as in what are the applications of gravitational waves. I get this question often when I am giving tours of the facility. Well, the primary use of gravitational wave observations will be to understand our Universe better. Most people's reactions to this are that our efforts can better used for other endeavors. But this view is a little short sighted. One of the things we forget is that when we understand more about the Universe in general, we know more about the world around us. We are a very small part of the Universe, but we are a part of it nonetheless.

The rest of the article is a good read too.