Cosmic chorus fills the Earth’s magnetic field with a mysterious “hiss”

October 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have put a certain controversy to rest, by ascertaining that in ancient times, the Earth's magnetic field was structured like the two-pole model of today, which suggests that the methods geoscientists use to reconstruct the geography of early land masses on the globe are accurate. The findings may lead to a better understanding of historical continental movement, which relates to changes in climate.

September 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Atmospheric scientists from the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth's magnetosphere, a finding that could improve the safety and reliability of spacecraft that operate in the upper atmosphere. "It's like something else is heating the atmosphere besides the sun.

September 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, a team of scientists has for the first time observed magnetic monopoles and how they emerge in a real material. The research was done by scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin fur Materialien und Energie, Germany, in cooperation with colleagues from Dresden, St.

July 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists at the University of Illinois, US, have determined that a toxic molecule, 'superoxide', known to damage cells and cause disease may also play a pivotal role in bird migration, as it allows them to 'see' Earth's magnetic field. According to principal investigator Klaus Schulten, who holds the Swanlund Chair in Physics at Illinois, the discovery occurred as a result of a 'mistake' made by a collaborator.

July 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) have come up with a device called a dc metamaterial, which makes objects invisible under certain light. The device does so, according to the researchers, under very low frequency electromagnetic waves by making the inside of the magnetic field zero, but not altering the exterior field.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have performed numerical calculations that show how convective mixing flows in the Earth's liquid outer core can cause the geomagnetic dipole to collapse. For the past 160 years, the Earth's magnetic dipole has been weakening at a rate of nearly six percent per century.

June 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists at the University of Illinois, US, have determined that a toxic molecule, 'superoxide', known to damage cells and cause disease may also play a pivotal role in bird migration, as it allows them to "see" Earth's magnetic field. According to principal investigator Klaus Schulten, who holds the Swanlund Chair in Physics at Illinois, the discovery occurred as a result of a "mistake" made by a collaborator.

June 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research by scientists in the US has linked variations in the Earth's magnetic field with the ebb and flow of the world's oceans. The origin and mechanism of the Earth's magnetic field are amongst the biggest unsolved questions in the earth sciences.

June 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at NASA have mapped chorus waves, a type of electromagnetic emission generated by electrons in Earth's radiation belt. Chorus waves play an important role in both accelerating and removing the energetic radiation belt electrons that can disrupt satellite electronics and disturb communications with ground-based operators.

May 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that the Sun is slowly stealing Earth's atmosphere, with our planet's main solar defense acting as a double agent, aiding and abetting the thievery. According to a report in National Geographic News, typically hailed as a protective buffer from the sun's brute power, Earth's magnetosphere is actually helping the sun's energized particles strip away a tiny fraction of Earth's atmosphere.

May 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has brought environmentally friendly 'magnetic' refrigerators and air conditioning systems a closer to reality. Magnetic refrigeration technology could provide a 'green' alternative to traditional energy-guzzling gas-compression fridges and air conditioners.

May 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists suggest that a "supergiant" asteroid several times larger than the one that likely killed the dinosaurs struck Mars with such force that it shut down the planet's magnetic field. Based on the number of large craters present, scientists think very early Mars suffered 15 or so giant impacts within a span of about a hundred million years.

May 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has revealed new details about high-energy particles implicated in a nearby cosmic mystery. "Fermi's Large Area Telescope is a state-of-the-art gamma-ray detector, but it's also a terrific tool for investigating the high-energy electrons in cosmic rays," said Alexander Moiseev, who presented the findings.

April 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers at North Carolina (NC) State University have used a mathematical model that allows them to get a clearer picture of the galaxy's youngest supernova remnant by clearing away the distortions caused by "cosmic dust". Their new data provides evidence that this remnant is from a type Ia supernova - the explosion of a white dwarf star - and raises questions about the ways in which magnetic fields affect the generation of the remnant's cosmic ray particles.

February 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Jets of matter streaming out of stars are among the most striking cosmic phenomena, but astrophysicists were unable to explain how they achieve varied shapes. 'The predominant theory says that jets are essentially fire hoses that shoot out matter in a steady stream, and the stream breaks up as it collides with gas and dust in space - but that doesn't appear to be so after all,' said Adam Frank, professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and co-author of the paper.