Earth Science
Physics in Action
Space Weather
How's the space weather today? Quiet enough for a safe trip to the moon? Quiet enough to operate your GPS navigation system accurately? So active that it would crash your power grid? Like our everyday weather, space weather can change suddenly, become violent, and interfere with our lives. Read More »
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People in Physics
David Stevenson
Over a hundred years ago, French science fiction writer Jules Verne wrote a novel called Journey to the Center of the Earth, in which a team of explorers descends below the ground, deep inside the Earth. David Stevenson has thought of a way to someday make Verne’s dreams a reality. Maybe. Read More »
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Physics Buzz Blog
When Lightning Strikes
Lightning has been flashin' around forever- and yet scientists just can't seem to figure it out. Granted, we have made progress since times of the early Greeks, who believed that lightning was a weapon of Zeus.Fast forward centuries later to Ben Franklin's kite experiment, and lightning became less of a scary God-power trip, and more like a giant electrical current.Recently in (2001 and 2002), scientists proved that lightning actually produces large amounts of X-rays. No one understands how lig.. Read more »
