Latest Magnetic field Stories

All-optical switching promises terahertz-speed hard drive and RAM memory Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, and the University of Crete in Greece have found a new way to switch magnetism that is at least 1000 times faster than currently used in magnetic memory technologies. Magnetic switching is used to encode information in hard drives, magnetic random access memory and other computing devices. The discovery, reported in the April 4...

Electric rocket engines known as Hall thrusters, which use a super high-velocity stream of ions to propel a spacecraft in space, have been used successfully onboard many missions for half a century. Erosion of the discharge channels walls, however, has limited their application to the inner solar system. A research team at Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif., has found a way to effectively control this erosion by shaping the engine's magnetic field in a way that shields...

Scientists at ICFO develop a technique for MRIs on a molecular scale Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), in collaboration with the CSIC and Macquarie University in Australia, have developed a new technique, similar to the MRI but with a much higher resolution and sensitivity, which has the ability to scan individual cells. In an article published in Nature Nanotech, and highlighted by Nature, ICFO Prof. Romain Quidant explains how this was accomplished using...

Although scientists have been aware that magnetism and electricity are two sides of the same proverbial coin for almost 150 years, researchers are still trying to find new ways to use a material’s electric behavior to influence its magnetic behavior, or vice versa. Thanks to new research by an international team of researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, physicists have developed new methods for controlling magnetic order in a particular class of...

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new analysis of over 56 years of data has revealed that sockeye salmon use a magnetic map to return to their spawning grounds after years at sea. The findings of this study were published online in the journal Current Biology. "To find their way back home across thousands of kilometers of ocean, salmon imprint on the magnetic field that exists where they first enter the sea as juveniles," said Nathan Putman of Oregon State...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online An astronomer wrote in the journal Physical Review Letters about a new mechanism for the magnetization of the early universe. Before stars formed, luminous matter consisted only of fully ionized gas of protons, electrons, helium nuclei and lithium nuclei which were produced during the Big Bang. “All higher metals, for example, magnetic iron could, according to today’s conception, only be formed in the inside of stars," Dr....

April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The Maori of New Zealand have been cooking in earth ovens, called hangi or umu, since at least the 1200s. These ovens are fire pits, scooped out of the ground. A fire is built and large volcanic stones are laid over the fire. When the fire burns down, the food is wrapped in leaves, placed in baskets and laid on the rocks with wet fern fronds. A layer of earth is scraped over the food, sealing in the heat and steam. The stones inside...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Scientists writing in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) said the magnetic gravity fields of Earth are going through some changes. Earth's magnetic field is generated by flows of liquid iron in the outer core. The Earth's magnetic field protects us from cosmic radiation particles. By understanding these processes in the outer core, scientists are able to have a better grasp of the terrestrial shield....

JUPITER, Fla., Oct. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Jerry Jacobson, biophysicist and inventor, announced today the results of studies on the effect of extremely low intensity electromagnetic fields on the restoration of forelimb grip strength, and radial nerve ultrastructure in mice with induced motor neuropathy. After administration of neurotoxin, mice persisted to exhibit a 56% decrease in grip strength; and radial nerve electron micrographs showed axonal demyelination, inactive...

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astronomers have measured the largest-ever magnetic field around a massive star and reported their findings in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The team used the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) at The University of Texas McDonald Observatory and the Canada-France Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) on Hawaii's Mauna Kea to determine that the star's magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than the Sun's. The magnetic...