A planet’s magnetic field usually protects its atmosphere from being blown away by its star. But new research suggests Mars’s weak magnetic field may have helped its atmosphere escape.
magnetic fields & magnetism
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Review of Go-To Iron Analysis Method Reveals Its Pros and Cons
Researchers validated some steps in the standard sequential chemical technique used to extract different forms of iron from rock samples but found inconsistencies in other steps.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Ryugu: A Not So Magnetic Asteroid
When the lander MASCOT, carried by Hayabusa2, touched down on asteroid Ryugu, it did not detect a magnetic field, even though meteorites that are spectroscopically similar to Ryugu have trace of one.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Deciphering Electron Signatures in Earth’s Magnetic Tail
A new analysis of spacecraft data collected near the tip of Earth’s magnetotail sheds light on how geomagnetic activity affects the motion of electrons in this region.
Posted inNews
Japan Puts Its Mark on Geologic Time with the Chibanian Age
The newly named period in the Pleistocene identifies a key moment in geological history: the last time Earth’s magnetic poles switched places.
Posted inNews
Human Brains Have Tiny Bits of Magnetic Material
Here’s the first map of the magnetic mineral magnetite in the human brain. Turns out that our brain stem may be full of it.
Posted inNews
Computers Tease Out Secrets of Jupiter’s Aurorae
Aurorae once classified by human eyes are now being sorted by machines. The change may help astronomers understand how the mysterious features are powered.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Explaining the Missing Energy in Mars’s Electrons
Electrons energized and trapped at Mars were thought to lose energy inside the planet’s magnetosheath, but new research suggests a different explanation of spacecraft data.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Thermal Convection Can Power the Geodynamo
New high-pressure experiments on fluid iron suggest thermal convection without compositional buoyancy is sufficient to drive the dynamo generating Earth’s magnetic field.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Hearing the Sun Tock
The appearance of sunspots—their number, duration, and location—suggests that the dynamics of the Sun’s outer layer is synchronized with an internal clock.