Astronomers discover M87's jet is triggering novae

Everyone loves a good mystery, and astronomers have just uncovered a new one in a nearby supermassive galaxy called M87. Like most galaxies, M87 regularly plays host to a smattering of stellar explosions called novae, each ...

Q&A: Are we on the brink of a new age of scientific discovery?

In 2001 at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, a facility used for research in nuclear and high-energy physics, scientists experimenting with a subatomic particle called a muon encountered something unexpected.

Antarctic lava yields clues to Earth's past magnetic field

The movement of molten metals in Earth's outer core generates a vast magnetic field that protects the planet from potentially harmful space weather. Throughout Earth's history, the structure of the magnetic field has fluctuated. ...

Micromotors get supercharged with three 'engines'

Someday, microscopic robots could perform useful functions, such as diagnostic testing in lab-on-a-chip sensors, micropatterning surfaces or repairing equipment in tight spaces. But first, scientists need to be able to tightly ...

CLASP-2: Investigating the magnetic solar chromosphere

Four years ago, an international team (USA, Japan and Europe) carried out an unprecedented suborbital space experiment called CLASP-1, motivated by theoretical investigations carried out at the IAC by Javier Trujillo Bueno ...

Muon machine makes milestone magnetic map

Muons are mysterious, and scientists are diving deep into the particle to get a handle on a property that might render it—and the universe—a little less mysterious.

Table top plasma gets wind of solar turbulence

Scientists from India and Portugal recreated solar turbulence on a tabletop using a high intensity ultrashort laser pulse to excite a hot, dense plasma and followed the evolution of the giant magnetic field generated by the ...

page 1 from 3