Magnetism

Latest about magnetism

This image illustrates Jupiter's magnetic fields at a single moment in time.

Hidden Winds on Jupiter May Be Messing with Its Enormous Magnetic Field

By Rafi Letzter published

Jupiter's magnetic field has changed since the 1970s, and now physicists think they know why it's happening.

Jupiter
Potbelly sculptures on display near Guatemala's Pacific coast.

Ancient Guatemalan Sculptors Knowingly Crafted Magnetic 'Potbelly' Statues

By Tom Metcalfe published

The giant heads and distorted bodies are magnetized in particular spots.

Archaeology
An ordinary proton or neutron (foreground) is formed of three quarks bound together by gluons, carriers of the color force. Above a critical temperature, protons and neutrons and other forms of hadronic matter "melt" into a hot, dense soup of free quarks

What Makes the Strong Force So Special?

By Paul Sutter published

The Force is (super) strong with these quarks.

Particle Physics
goemagnetism simulation

Turbulent Blobs in Earth's Core May Explain Sudden Jerks in the Magnetic Field

By Brandon Specktor published

Here’s one explanation for why Earth’s magnetic field undergoes weird geomagnetic jerks every decade or so.

Planet Earth
solar rain gif

Fountains of Plasma Rain Might Explain One of the Biggest Mysteries of the Sun

By Brandon Specktor published

This strange structure could explain what happens during solar rain.

The Sun
This image comes from a computer simulation of a skyrmion bag containing three skyrmions. White represents magnetic field lines pointing up, black represents lines pointing down, and other colors represent other directions.

Physicists Stuffed a Ghostly 'Skyrmion' Full of 'Antiskyrmions'

By Rafi Letzter published

The ghostly 'quasiparticles' have barely any material existence, but physicists are still managing to manipulate them into uncanny shapes.

Physics & Mathematics
A magnetic field surrounds our planet and protects it from solar radiation. Our brains might be able to tune into it.

Scientists Find Evidence That Your Brain Can Sense Earth's Magnetic Field

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

The Earth's magnetic field might be influencing the brain.

Mind
Water molecules detach from the surface of the moon when it gets too hot and float to colder areas of its surface and thin atmosphere.

Water Molecules Bounce Around the Moon. Here's Why.

By Yasemin Saplakoglu published

It's too hot to sit still

The Moon
cigar galaxy wind

NASA Weighed the Wind Billowing Out of the Cigar Galaxy, and It's Unbelievably Massive

By Brandon Specktor published

There's a mighty wind a-blowin' out of the Cigar Galaxy, and it could teach astronomers how the first stars formed.

Cosmology
Aurora lights from space

Earth's Magnetic Field and Wandering Poles

By Rachel Ross published

Earth's magnetic poles are rather inconsistent.

Planet Earth
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