By Yael Annemiek Engbers, University of Liverpool and Andrew Biggin, University of Liverpool. At the bottom of the Earth, liquid iron flows and generates the Earth's magnetic field, which protects our atmosphere and satellites against harmful radiation from the sun. This field changes over time and also behaves differently in …
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How did Earth’s tectonic plates form? You might think that this would be an easy question to answer, considering that we are now trying to pin down the details of when it happened, and if there is tectonic activity on the Moon. But our knowledge of how this planetary mechanism …
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A new study reveals that dogs are incredibly good at forging shortcuts in unfamiliar areas. The impressive ability appears to be connected to dogs being able to tap into their own internal compass, governed by Earth’s magnetic field. The dogs proved to be excellent at devising their own routes, even …
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When microbiologist Jared Leadbeater returned to his office for the first time in months after a work trip, he found something strange. A cream-colored manganese carbonate compound (MnCO3), which coated the glassware he had left in his sink, had gone dark. Something had stolen some of his electrons. “I thought, …
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In the dark of the orbital night of July 5, a NASA astronaut floated to a window on the International Space Station, looked down at the extremity of Earth and patiently waited for a cosmic spectacle. As the space station circled the Middle East, the newly discovered comet NEOWISE and …
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