When a solar flare filled with charged particles erupts from the Sun, the flux-freezing theorem dictates that the magnetic lines of force should flow away in lock-step with the particles – whole and unbroken. But scientists have observed that the magnetic lines of force sometimes break apart and then quickly reconnect in a way that […]
Researchers have found a new way to switch magnetism that is at least 1,000 times faster than methods currently used in magnetic memory technologies. The discovery, reported in Nature, potentially opens the door to terahertz (1012hertz) and faster memory speeds. The research team comprised scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Iowa State […]
For the first time, scientists have isolated individual magnetic cells in trout that the fish use to help them navigate back to their hatching ground. This latest discovery may shed light on how other creatures, including humans, are influenced by magnetic fields. Researcher Michael Winklhofer, from Ludwig Maximilians University (Munich), explained that while the magnetic […]
Light has electric and magnetic components but scientists had always believed the effects of the magnetic field to be insignificant. Now, however, University of Michigan researchers have found that under the right circumstances, light can generate magnetic effects that are 100 million times stronger than previously expected, making magnetic solar cells a possibility. “You could […]
Sepsis, a potentially lethal disease caused by a systemic microbial infection that spreads via the bloodstream, is responsible for more than 200,000 deaths per year in the U.S. alone. Existing treatments can be ineffective but researchers in the Vascular Biology Program at Children’s Hospital Boston have come up with a novel first line of defense […]
Prussian Blue, a pigment used in paints, could form the basis of new high efficiency data storage devices. French scientists have created a compound from Prussian blue that can act as a magnetic medium where each bit of binary data is stored on a molecule. Prussian Blue is not magnetic at the outset, but it […]
The evolutionary advantage that magnetic bacteria enjoy has always been something of a conundrum, but now, scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and Purdue University have shed at least some light on the mystery. Their description of how being magnetic assists the bacteria to navigate appears in theBiophysical Journal. Found in a variety of […]
Researchers believe they have developed a theory to explain how ultra-narrow wires (nanowires) show enhanced superconductivity when exposed to strong magnetic fields. The new theory, applying to wires only a few hundred atoms across, appears in Physical Review Letters. Magnetic fields are something of an enigma when it comes to superconductors. Generally, magnetic fields suppress […]
Powerful magnetic fields appear to change the physical nature of superconductivity with some quite bizarre effects, according to University of Arizona (UA) physicist Andrei Lebed. Lebed says that strong magnetism changes the basic properties of electrons flowing through superconductors, establishing an “exotic” superconductivity. If his theorem can be proved via experiment, it will advance our […]
Scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) have managed to perfectly position their 4 Cluster spacecraft so as to measure the Earth’s magnetic field spontaneously reconfiguring itself. The process, called magnetic reconnection, is a transitional phase involving the interaction of plasma filled magnetic “bubbles,” and is thought to be responsible for driving a variety of […]
