Witnesses to the past why scientists find corals in the alps. And the sound of music what it does to the brain. These sounds are the order to versions of faint signals detected by to observatories in the u. S. In twenty fifteen. The sensational discovery was decades in the making the experimental proof of Gravitational Waves. And the church from deep in the cosmos promptly gannett three researchers the twenty seven thousand nobel physics prize. We are a few on facebook and twitter to post you associations with the topic of Gravitational Waves without looking it up first. Take the fan shot some see and wondered if they might be the basis for the formation of planets and stars. States tweeted that the ripples in the fabric of space time due to the collision of black holes and he knew theyve been discovered but in largo the power of trees he thinks theyre cool. But describe them on facebook as similar to the ripples you get when you throw a stone into water except that they propagate at the speed of light as einstein predicted. Thanks for all those remarks. The detection of Gravitational Waves has opened up a new era for astrophysicists what makes it exciting. As were walking through the forest we can only see the bushes and the trees. But as soon as we stop listening we can hear all of this population of birds that are all around us that we couldnt see before. The same is with the waves we could look at stars galaxies planets but now with the ways we can study objects that we just couldnt see before. Them all is an astrophysicist at the Albert Einstein institute in pottstown. The scientists here develop models to improve the detection and analysis of Gravitational Waves. And when they were first detected in september twenty fifteen. Was in his office its a day he says hell never forget it was such a surprise it was so so shock to get for the very first time a wave saw loud. Right when we turned it down it was a lot of princetons it took us a while to make sure that it was actually real work because the two nonspecialists these might just look like a few squiggly lines but to scientists they tell a dramatic tale of two black holes that spiraled into each other at high speed until they merged. That produced the first Gravitational Waves that were directly detected by researchers. The next breakthrough came in august twenty seventeen researchers were able to see for the first time the death spiral of two compact neutron stars. Data from the wave detectors made it possible to determine where in space the dramatic encounter occurred. That enabled around one hundred telescopes worldwide to focus in on the star collision of a moment the discovery ushered in a new age in astronomy its multi miss injuries to me the era of most the most interest for me has begun in august looking at the sky looking at the universe across ovals possible mediums the gether. Einstein would have been thrilled he predicted Gravitational Waves one hundred years ago but doubted they would ever be found. Vivia ramon explains that physicists back in einsteins day didnt know of any celestial objects heavy enough to produce such waves. This is one of the observatories where the initial detection of the waves was made in two thousand and fifteen and two years later the nobel prize was awarded for the discovery three pioneering researchers received the accolade ray weiss kip thorne and barry barish. For an achievement that took decades of work after so many years of very hard work so after such a long time having this for completion this very prestigious recognition is just that stick. More than one thousand specialists around the world played a part in the groundbreaking discovery. The institute in potsdam has been providing computer simulations that show which signals the physicists should look for in their measurements. I find it truly fascinating to work in this field and i have to say it was already very exciting before but now that we have always detections is just tremendous we get really almost on a daily basis it feels good to probe the universe and ask questions that we couldnt even dream of asking before. The next challenge will be to shed light on the mystery of dark matter a so far unseen substance believed to hold galaxies together. The source of this mass could be black holes detectable by the Gravitational Waves. In some cases the gravitational wave signals are converted into auto built chirps and the researchers hope to hear many more of them soon the detectors will be fitted with new technology and neighboring new discoveries what we want to do next is be able to identify those sounds a lot of them not just identify what is a bird what is a car but what type of birds how big is a particular bird how old is it flying away is it hungry what is it telling us all of those future questions will be able to answer. During filming tomorrow today fan sensing questions about Gravitational Waves for astrophysicist video kamal. Youll find his answers on their website. As well as on twitter and facebook. And keep your comments coming we love to hear from you. Once upon a time three hundred million years ago the land mass on earth was connected in the supercontinent pangea. It broke upon us around two hundred million years ago to form the continents we know today. That take this admission spread and covered the regions where the alps now stand europes highest Mountain Range. Thats where scientists are hunting down the fossilized weaknesses of that time when the alps and. The brown neck south of munich may not be the most spectacular mountain and the varia to take a look under the surface and take a trip back in time over two hundred million years through the planets history. Its a journey that martin knows and alexander not slow embark on regularly theyre essentially professional time travellers here in the limestone alps they search for prehistoric fossils silent witnesses to the sea that once existed here. Must we use the internet restored to these remnants of the tech this ocean news so this is a coral colony and is to reserve branches of coral cements why station it with you on here we have a Cross Section which is why they look around and see you and we think they were part of a small reef just a few meters in diameter and. All the rock in this section of the else was formed by organisms the limestone was produced by both corals and miniscule algae over the course of millions of years it built up on the seabed to form a three kilometer thick layer. When the african tectonic plate began to drift towards europe one hundred million years ago the seabed broke apart and was subjected beneath africa. As the two continents collided the layers of rock were pushed upwards probably to heights of up to six thousand meters. Erosion by wind and weather gradually wore down the highlands to the size of mid range mountains. And then the alps began to rise again the pressure from this clash of continents also pushed the former seabed upwards. Along with the petrified legacy of past marine organisms even todays paths that lead up the brown neck opened up a window to those distant times you know it is not just there on fossils everywhere. So its a mass of molluscs. On the road to be launched to. A large number of the specimens laws around here are just fragments of mollusks. The accumulation of shells here probably came about due to a primordial storm. Some of the finds give the researchers a fairly accurate idea of the era theyre currently digging in. These ammonites are between two hundred and two hundred four million years old further up the mountain the two paleontologists focus on an inconsiderate q. S. Layer of material in the surface of a path and uncover. A minor sensation the ground is strewn with tiny snail shells species that were previously unknown and fish scales further evidence of a reef teeming with life. The brown that also bears signs of a dramatic event in our planets history two hundred million years ago the transition from the triassic to the Jurassic Period was marked by a mass extinction probably unleashed by volcanic eruptions. Conditions in the shallower areas of the primordial test this ocean changed dramatically. What do you see in this is a steep hillside from the early Jurassic Period. Or the ribbon habitants disappeared together with the corals in addition to a monarchs and certain mollusks died out so what were looking at here are the remnants of a major ecological crisis. But some test this ocean species did survive perhaps because they lived in the seas deeper sections instead of the shallower waters. Its a question thats of acute interest to stephan kyi and from the Swedish Museum of Natural History in stockholm. The shine on this mare or rocky see is a plateau in the back to scotland alps here he finds layers of stone that were once home to masses of brachiopods another group of hard shelled animals. And one of these valves open up a little they reveal arms covered in fine hairs called cilia and when water streams into the shell they serve as a filter separating particles of food from the water not us but. There are a range of similar finds across the line in stone alps their sheer numbers cant be a coincidence so what explains their prevalence steffen killed believes that the brachiopods were dependent on one particular source of nutrition in the depths of the testis ocean methane. Oregon in the us state of oregon we found mass occurrences of the same brachiopods in deep water sediment from the same area called we were able to confirm that this was connected to a former methane deposit as the methane emerged from underground it would be ingested by bacteria which grew in numbers and the brachiopods in turn ate the bacteria we suspect this also happened here in the el. Primeval times methane deposits were as they still are the oases of the deep Sea Creatures at home in this habitat have always adapted to the extreme surrounding environment. Which could explain why the brachiopods lived on species and shallower waters underwent mass extinction. The first definite keel has to prove that brachiopods also fed off methane here in the alps. He collects samples to examine the land the creatures left their mark here with their limestone shells and their secretions researcher hopes to have solved the mystery in a few months time. And there are probably a number of other unknown ecosystems to be uncovered in the alps each contributing its own chapter to the story of how the Mountain Range was born. Every who supplies travel thousands of kilometers today when to go it is except for the basing of wings. In contrast to that migration from germany sent in a question. Elizabeth from cologne wants to know why do migrating birds call to each other during their flight doesnt that cost them too much energy. Every autumn there is frenzied activity at the gathering in resting places these cranes coming from Northern Europe have thousands of kilometers still to go before they reach their Winter Quarters wild geese also head to warmer climes in the winter when they begin their long journey they all honk loudly this vocalization is an important form of communication. Much communication between animals goes on heard by humans elephants exchange signals in the infrasound part of the sound spectrum the tones are so low frequency that our ears cant pick them up. Manta rays send acoustic messages underwater by beating their wing like fins we dont hear those signals either. Thats in contrast to the noise the migratory geese and cranes make during their long journey. The birds constantly call back and forth that helps them keep track of their young in the air and tells them whether the lead bird needs to be relieved calling costs energy but saves energy for the formation overall. By the way the calls of a single crane are roughly as loud as those of a human weighing in around sixty decibels. If you have a science question go to our website and send it in if we answer it on the show you get our d. V. D. With a light hearted look at some of avid einsteins greatest theories. The most important thing is to never stop asking questions. The if. It was sick it was world music to the is that the mind. Scientists are finding out how it acts on the brain. The music is not only a powerful Emotional Experience it also has an influence on the structure and development of the Neural Networks in our heads. Matilda was born three months prematurely now at the age of two weeks shes a subject of a study conducted by researches from the university of zero there seeing if music can help her development three times a week for a bed comes to matilda. She wants to find out how music affects the brain imprint your baby. Until it is a buzzy at us for sheens stored in mind behind its far theory is based on various studies that showed how music stimulates many parts of the brain at the same time and above all that this musical learning as its called starts even before birth by ford it will begin so preterm babies should be very receptive to musical learning as was accomplished. When. It comes to matilda the baby visibly relaxes lifts her hands. And she opens her eyes. Researches are testing their theory on sixty babies using Music Therapy with thirty babies and not using it with thirty others this baby is fifteen weeks old he was also born prematurely. Bag has been regularly humming and singing to him today was actually the date he was originally do. An m. R. I. Scan shows the researches how his brain is developing. The initial results suggest that music doesnt deed stimulate infant brain development. But how does it actually work neuroscientists looks yanker has been looking into the phenomenon for twenty five years. But me going to see it is the key what im interested in is how brain activity develops dynamically over time and and the extent to which this brain activity is changed by individual experience of music as well as other factors which. Speak. For end of ones to give us we hope to be able to use our findings in the future to develop clinical applications. Goals kenya and then the one and. The monitor shows the electrical activity occurring in the brain of this study participant in a soundproof cabin she is listening to the valleys full seasons the peace of mind slopes of the autumn he spent in boston hed listen to vivaldi on long walks in the woods. Hes interested to see how the piece affects people who dont have an emotional connection with it based on the electrical signals he records can see what kind of brain activity is occurring. As abilities are keep it in mind if i compare this brain activity to my own there are similarities but there are also differences for example not only the order to the cortex is activated in both cases he was on the but also other areas that dont normally play a role in processing sounds. But in my case feel this is more pronounced. Z. And. This is what happens in lots yank his brain when he listens to the vivaldi piece. The music he would see it in my brain the music evokes a storm of activity. Activating lots of Neural Network areas that are involved in the control and generation of all. Source of information related to perception and memory what good is in four months on our newborn. If listening to music has such an obvious effect on the brain what effect does playing music have. Explored the question in earlier research and found that playing an instrument promotes the formation of new connections in the brain. And the International Space station the i s s astronauts are constantly doing experiments also on themselves for example to find out about the effects of weightlessness on the body during their month long stays in space. Down to a long term study has also started to design together basic data about human health. Thirty six year old zack ive been on this taking part in whats called the rhineland study the physical and Mental Health of some thirty thousand participants is being assessed over their lifespan to find out why some people develop diseases such as alzheimers and parkinsons while others age healthily. Every four years so i have been around who works as a vet gets a head to toe medical check. Its in the cystic best month i think its important to take part in such a study plus the medical checks are exciting when else would you get an m. R. I. Scan on a regular basis we have an aging population in the study is looking at outside why some people remain healthy as they get older and others dont mention. It Miss International researchers are working on the study theyre experts in various fields from neurology to psychology this suit a civil court of the study is to ensure that people can live longer healthier lives we want to understand the factors that. To noora degenerative disease in later life such as dementia. Which bit of a demon is also loosen the researchers look for biomarkers in the participants blood that serve as indicators of processes underway in the brain some of the blood samples are snap frozen given that theyre still did a temperature of minus ninety degrees so they can be studied at a later date for example if we want to examine them for certain facts that us or in the context of studies that are impossible yet. Both and participants undergo an hour long test of their mental agility including vocabulary concentration and powers of observation yet even glad im going to read a series of words to you please listen carefully and then repeat to me as many words as you can remember so you know what are the sneddon couldnt the tests are confidential other study participants mustnt know what to expect. And im saying i dont one with a place not work. You have to listen to lists of words that are completely random and then repeat them. So its interesting what you remember and what you dont. Know. The musculoskeletal system provides the first clues to any kind of latent brain disease the study will be assessing the participants over their entire life span any changes to their health are recorded. Live to be nice because. We look at how certain movements are carried out with parkinsons patients for example the movements tend to get smaller they sort of peter out which is why people with parkinsons tend to shuffle a bit with very small steps. The studies being conducted by the German Center for neurodegenerative diseases its aim is to identify the key to a healthy life how does the brain change in the course of a lifetime. The ultimate goal is to develop preventive measures. For boy the best of us highlight the scooter prevention is better than cure so its ideally in cases of conditions that they merge gradually this plenty of time to take measures against them. So named. Medical marathon is almost over shell be back in four years time for her next round of tests. Thats it for today next week well be looking at how drugs and robots my collaborator out in the fields. This kind of high tech agriculture could be especially helpful to is going to. Join us us with. The to. Cool. The man whose image. Passes the movie above. From the absolute the best disc objects to see expects. The best spot to physics looks. Good news w. Meet the germans new and Surprising New aspects of plays and culture in germany. Us american good news it takes a look at trimming existing chrissys to traditions every day long lives and language clear some of. Us saw a news here on the food chain the big guy im going to g. W. Dot com the germans. Learned german with. Anytime anyplace. Whether with jojo and her friends i expected him to. Or with friends all over the world. Online and interactive. German to go. Learn german for free with d w. Z your homeland because of persecution in society. Starting from scratch in an unfamiliar country five people who found a new home in a foreign land. With their stories books and music theyve built bridges to the past and the future. After the escape starting to simmer seventeen t. W. The father to. Come. Here one writes day. D. W. This is the daily news life from berlin f. R. S. Wave of unrest in the middle east after trump says theyre going to recognize jerusalem as the capital of the