The spate of detections in recent years has vaulted gravitational lenses from anomalies to statistically significant events that can be meaningfully studied. The uses of the information they gather will have profound effects on how humans view the universe. By examining how gravitational lenses distort light, scientists can calculate the strength of the gravitational pull of foreground galaxies in these lenses. In turn, they can calculate the mass and distribution of mass in these galaxies - effectively, weigh them and determine their shape and how they evolved. Gravitational lenses will provide astronomers with minute details about distant galaxies that could never be gained without a hand from nature.
Scientists can also measure the movement of extremely distant objects with the lenses.
This will give them an idea of the rate at which the universe is expanding, which, in turn, gives clues as to the size and age of the universe. Gravitational lenses should provide insight into dark matter - mysterious portions of the universe that emit no detectable electromagnetic radiation but do have mass and therefore gravitational pull. Perhaps most important, these natural telescopes might help astrophysicists calculate the total mass of the universe. If scientists find numerous gravitational lenses, this implies that there are more galaxies in the universe to create these lenses and therefore the universe could be infinite. Now we finally might be able to do it.