Our planet’s magnetosphere has seen dramatic shifts across its history—even total reversals—but this recent wrinkle doesn’t ...
In 1845, Michael Faraday discovered what’s known today as the Faraday Effect—which describes how light and electromagnetism ...
Researchers have developed a precision magnetometer based on a special material that changes optical properties in response ...
A rare magnetic phenomenon, once thought confined to the sun’s outer atmosphere, has been seen to twist its way through Earth ...
Florida State University researchers have created a new crystalline material with unusual magnetic patterns that could be ...
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Amid the roilings of the Milky Way, immense pockets of gas coalesce into clouds where stars are born. In this process, there is a hidden ...
How does a magnetic compass work? Well, it’s all down to basic physics and human ingenuity. The key component of a standard baseplate compass is its magnetized needle, which is allowed to spin freely ...
The vestibular system, a set of structures in the inner ears that helps with balance, may grant the birds their special ...
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. All the magnets you have ever interacted with, such as the tchotchkes stuck to your refrigerator door, are magnetic for the same reason.