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A massive solar storm in May 2024 gave scientists an unprecedented look at how Earth’s protective plasma layer collapses under intense space weather. With the Arase satellite in a perfect observing position, researchers watched the plasmasphere shrink to a fraction of its usual size and take days to rebuild. The event pushed auroras far beyond their normal boundaries and revealed that a rare “negative storm” in the ionosphere dramatically slowed the atmosphere’s ability to recover. These observations offer valuable insight into how extreme solar activity disrupts satellites, GPS signals, and communication systems.
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Researchers taught young loggerhead turtles to associate certain magnetic fields with feeding, prompting a distinctive dance when they recognized the signal. After a magnetic pulse briefly disrupted their ability to feel magnetic forces, the turtles no longer performed the dance. This showed that hatchlings use a touch-based magnetic sense to determine their location. The discovery clarifies how these animals find their way across vast ocean routes.
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Ideas about Vikings and Norse mythology come mostly from much later medieval sources, leaving plenty of room for reinterpretation. Over centuries, writers, politicians, and artists reshaped these stories to reflect their own worldviews, from romantic heroism to dangerous nationalist myths. Pop culture and neo-paganism continue to amplify selective versions of this past. Scholars today are unraveling how these shifting visions emerged and how they influence identity and culture.
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Researchers have pinpointed a super-Earth in the habitable zone of a nearby M-dwarf star only 18 light-years away. Sophisticated instruments detected the planet’s gentle tug on its star, hinting at a rocky world that could hold liquid water. Future mega-telescopes may be able to directly image it—something impossible today.
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Water trapped inside tiny molecular cavities behaves in a surprisingly energetic way, pushing outward like people crammed in an elevator. When a new molecule enters these narrow spaces, the confined water forces its way out—boosting the strength of the molecular bond that forms in its place. Researchers from KIT and Constructor University have now proven this effect both experimentally and theoretically, showing that these "highly energetic" water molecules can dramatically influence how other molecules interact.
