magnetic

Scientists found a magnetic mineral never before seen naturally in Moon samples; Chang’e-6 brought the material back from the lunar surface, where it survived inside tiny impact-glass particles

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Scientists found a magnetic mineral never before seen naturally in Moon samples; Chang’e-6 brought the material back from the lunar surface, where it survived inside tiny impact-glass particles

About 4.25 billion years ago, the Moon possessed a powerful core dynamo with a field strength comparable to or even exceeding modern Earth’s. This magnetic field, generated by circulating molten metal, completely shut down as the interior cooled and core crystallisation ceased, leaving the Moon without a global magnetic field in the present. While it … Read more

Chang’e-6 soil from the Moon’s far side contained a form of metallic iron never seen before in natural lunar samples; trapped in tiny impact-glass grains, it may preserve a record of the Moon’s lost magnetic field

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Chang’e-6 soil from the Moon’s far side contained a form of metallic iron never seen before in natural lunar samples; trapped in tiny impact-glass grains, it may preserve a record of the Moon’s lost magnetic field

Representative Image (AI-generated) A study of soil brought back from the Moon’s far side by China’s Chang’e-6 mission has uncovered a form of metallic iron never before found in natural lunar samples. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the discovery after examining tiny particles preserved inside impact glass collected by the mission. The … Read more

In 1879, Edwin Hall discovered an electrical effect thought to need a perpendicular magnetic field; 147 years later, scientists have shown it can work with the field in-plane

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In 1879, Edwin Hall discovered an electrical effect thought to need a perpendicular magnetic field; 147 years later, scientists have shown it can work with the field in-plane

An atomic force microscopy scan of a nanometer-sized device developed by Carnegie Mellon scientists that demonstrates a new form of the Hall effect. For more than a century, the Hall effect has been taught with a simple picture that electricity flows through a material, a magnetic field pushes the moving charges sideways, and a voltage … Read more

A World War II submarine detector was later used to map magnetic stripes on the seafloor, helping scientists prove that Earth’s tectonic plates move

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A World War II submarine detector was later used to map magnetic stripes on the seafloor, helping scientists prove that Earth’s tectonic plates move

A device built to track enemy submarines during the Second World War went on to become one of the most important tools in Earth science. The fluxgate magnetometer, first developed to detect small disturbances in the planet’s magnetic field caused by metal hulls beneath the ocean surface, was later adapted by scientists to study the … Read more