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Physicists with the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) made the groundbreaking announcement that they have detected the gravitational waves. David Reitze, the executive director of the LIGO Laboratory, stated that after 10 years of efforts, the twin detectors in their laboratory “heard the gravitational 'ringing'” that is a result of collision of two black holes that are 1.3 billion years away from our planet. Read more about their research here.

The world is at the brink of polio eradication. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the use of vaccine strains that are currently in use. There have been cases where the virus has been able to survive in the guts of people with a compromised immune system and has been shed by them through feces. Hence, the WHO plans to stop using it post the eradication of the disease in favor of vaccines that use inactivated virus. However, researchers from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in Potters Bar, UK, have developed an attenuated strain which according to them is safer than an inactivated strain. Read more about their research here.

Researchers at the Institute of Biology III and the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) collaborated with researchers from Karlsruhe and London, England, to study how bacteria can perceive light and react to it. The research team found that cyanobacteria use their microoptic properties to detect the source of light and can then move toward the source of light in precision. Read more about their research here.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus as a global health emergency on 1 Feb. Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the WHO, stated that the Zika virus was given the designation of emergency in order to ensure that people are alerted to the problem, and governments and non-profit organizations mobilize funds to take prompt action to stop the outbreak. Many research teams across the world are attempting to create a vaccine that would prevent and cure person who has come in contact with the virus. Read more about this here.

The use of antiperspirants and deodorants has increased greatly. Therefore, researchers from North Carolina State University, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, North Carolina Central University, Rutgers University, and Duke University wanted to understand whether using these products affects the microbial ecosystem on the skin. Read more about their research here.

How cancerous tumors form has been a topic of interest for cancer researchers. Now a new study conducted at the University of Iowa (UI) offers important information underlying tumor formation. A team of researchers studied the 3D recordings of movements of cancerous human breast tissue cells in real time. Read more about their research here.

A group of researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology studied the reasons behind the loss of bone mineral density experienced by astronauts in a spaceflight. They reared Medaka fish aboard the International Space Station for 56 days and examined their jawbones and teeth to observe any effects of microgravity. Read more about their research here.

Why do snowy winters seem peaceful? According to David Herrin, an associate professor in the UK College of Engineering who studies acoustics, snow is capable of absorbing sound just like any commercial sound absorbing materials. The porosity of snow and its low density enables it to soak noise. Read more about this here.

The All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), a project that comprises small telescopes worldwide to observe the universe for any bright objects, has detected an extremely luminous body that is 3.8 billion light years away from the Earth. Read more about this here.

Paclitaxel is a highly effective drug that is commonly used to treat breast, lung, and pancreatic cancer. However, due to the high dose required, patients experience severe side effects such as muscle pain, hair loss, etc. A team of researchers led by Elena Batrakova from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, have found a way of reducing the amount of drug required to treat cancer by half. Read more about their research here.