Gravitational waves play with fast spinning stars, study suggests

Scientists observed changes in the signals coming from rapidly-spinning stars called millisecond pulsars that might point to the existence of subtle space-time ripples vibrating throughout the entire universe.

Millisecond pulsars are stellar remnants that spin hundreds of times per second, producing precise radio pulses that can act as a cosmic metronome. Scientists think that ripples in space-time, called gravitational waves, can affect these signals as they travel through space. When an international team of researchers recently detected a strange disruption to the pulsar signals, they determined this may have been a product of such an interplay.