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For years, scientists have believed frigid craters at the Moon’s poles hold water ice, which would be both a scientific boon and a potential resource for human missions. Now, researchers have discovered a reason why the ice has persisted on an otherwise bone-dry world: Some polar craters may be protected by ancient magnetic fields. “It’s … Read more
All routes to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees run through calculus classes. Each year, hundreds of thousands of college students take introductory calculus. But only a fraction ultimately complete a STEM degree, and research about why students abandon such degrees suggests that traditional calculus courses are one of the reasons. With scientific understanding and innovation … Read more
Having never evolved wings, many species of spider instead evolved an uncanny ability to take to the skies using nothing more than a few short threads of gossamer dangling from their dainty butts. Just how this invertebrate answer to paragliding works has never been entirely clear, though historically biologists have assumed it probably has … Read more
While black holes might always be black, they do occasionally emit some intense bursts of light from just outside their event horizon. Previously, what exactly caused these flares had been a mystery to science. That mystery was solved recently by a team of researchers that used a series of supercomputers to model the details of black holes‘ magnetic … Read more
By Gege Li Tom Hegen Photographer Tom Hegen THE vivid swathes of minerals in this lithium extraction field make for a dazzling sight, but also represent a troubling aspect of our rapidly electrifying world. Taken by photographer Tom Hegen, this image of the Soquimich lithium mine in the Atacama desert, run by major mining operator … Read more
We might finally have an explanation for mysterious shadows of falling material in the atmosphere of the Sun, observed during solar flares. First spotted in 1999, these mysterious streaks of shadow – referred to as “downward-traveling dark voids” – were thought to be related to the magnetic field interactions that trigger solar eruptions. Now, solar … Read more
It’s been half a century since the Apollo missions returned from the Moon, and yet the lunar samples they brought home continue to baffle us. Some of these rocks are more than 3 billion years old and appear to have been formed in the presence of a strong geomagnetic field, like the one on Earth. … Read more
A study suggests that a small device powered by wind and rain can boost crop yield, but other researchers have cast doubt on the findings Life 13 January 2022 By Adam Vaughan Pea plants growing in a greenhouse Andreeshcheva Katerina/Shutterstock A team of researchers claims to have shown that a high-voltage electric field generated using … Read more
The movement of seawater in a tsunami generates a magnetic field that travels ahead of changes in sea level, which could help us predict and prepare for it Earth 24 December 2021 By Leah Crane The aftermath of a 2010 tsunami in Chile, which was analysed in the new study International Federation of Red Cross … Read more
Seconds count when it comes to tsunami alerts, and scientists may have found a warning sign that can be detected even earlier than sea level rises: the magnetic fields created by these gigantic rushes of waves. Even though the difference might only be a minute or two, that can save lives. Magnetic field data … Read more