INVISIBLE FORCES

10 Facts About Magnetism That Will Attract Your Attention

Image: Chris Nagahama

Magnetism is one of the fundamental forces of our world, influencing everything from the structure of the universe to the behavior of living organisms. And from guiding migratory birds to powering MRI machines, the deep impact of magnetism on our everyday lives cannot be overstated.

Jump into the rabbit hole of the magnetic realm with these 10 peculiar facts that will leave you positively charged!

Image: Denise Jans

As crazy as it sounds, every few hundred thousand years, Earth's magnetic field flips completely, causing the north and south poles to switch places. This strange phenomenon, known as geomagnetic reversal, has happened hundreds of times in Earth's history. Its cause remains elusive, and there’s no way to predict when the next one might occur. However, while a magnetic reversal could certainly wreak havoc on communication systems and power grids worldwide, it wouldn’t happen overnight, as the process takes several thousands of years.

Image: name_ gravity

You might be familiar with the fact that trains and other large ferrous objects can effortlessly be made to levitate with the aid of magnetism. But did you know that even tiny creatures like frogs and small mammals can be levitated using strong magnetic fields? This is because water is diamagnetic - meaning that it repels magnetic fields - and under the influence of a sufficiently powerful magnetic field, droplets and even living organisms can be made to seemingly float.

Image: ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY 4.0

Magnetars are neutron stars with incredibly powerful magnetic fields. They can generate magnetic fields a quadrillion times stronger than that of Earth. These extreme magnets can disrupt the electron clouds of atoms from thousands of kilometers away.

It has been suggested that magnetars are the source of fast radio bursts, a strange deep-space phenomenon that resembles intentional radio signals that have puzzled scientists for decades.

Image: Chris Briggs

Several animals, including bees, sea turtles, and salmon, possess magnetoreception, the ability to sense magnetic fields. They use this ability for navigation, migration, and general orientation. Birds, in particular, use this ability to easily navigate the skies even on cloudy days or at night. Some scientists believe that even humans possess a dormant or semi-subconscious magnetic sense, but research into this exciting field is still in its infancy.

Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC BY 2.0

The Sun exerts a tremendous magnetic influence on our planet. Solar flares and sunspots, for example, are caused by intense bursts of magnetic activity on its surface. These eruptions release vast amounts of energy and can seriously affect communication systems on Earth and even weaken the protective effect of our planetary magnetic field.

Image: National Cancer Institute

Magnetism finds countless applications in medicine, with one of the most successful being MRI or Magnetic Resonance Imaging devices. MRI machines use powerful magnetic fields and radio waves to generate detailed images of the body's internal structures. Since its development in the late 70s, this non-invasive medical imaging technique has revolutionized diagnosis and treatment in healthcare globally.

Image: v2osk

Auroras, also known as the Northern and Southern Lights, are caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field. The shape and color of auroras are determined by the strength and direction of these magnetic fields. Interestingly, large geomagnetic storms can influence the latitude at which auroras can be observed. During particularly strong historical events, they have been observed as far south as the Mediterranean.

Image: Dev Benjamin

Magnetic refrigeration is a cooling technology that exploits the inherent thermal properties of magnetic fields to achieve refrigeration. While the technology has the potential to be more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly compared to traditional refrigeration methods, no commercially viable magnetic refrigerator has been made to this date.

Image: Adrian Lange

Some bacteria have tiny magnetic crystals inside their bodies, allowing them to align with Earth's magnetic field. This helps them navigate and find optimal environments for survival, such as low-oxygen habitats. However, unlike magnetoreception, this process is more akin to the movement of a compass needle, as the bacteria are forced into alignment rather than choosing to move in a certain direction.

Image: benjamin lehman

Magnetic storage devices, like hard disk drives and magnetic tape, use magnetization to store digital data. This is often accomplished by encoding a signal through small variations in electrical current that embed a proportional magnetic distribution into the storage device. Later, this distribution can be read to faithfully reproduce the original signal. Despite advancements in solid-state storage technology, magnetic storage remains a cost-effective and reliable option for large-scale data storage.

We just know that we know nothing

12 facts that people often get wrong

No one can claim to know everything, but most people go through life confident about certain things. However, some of these widely held beliefs are not actually correct, despite their popularity. Let’s have a look at some "facts" you might have gotten wrong!

The idea that insects—particularly mosquitoes—are not animals is widespread, but it’s also incorrect. In fact, insects are the most diverse group within the Animal kingdom, with more than a million species described and representing more than half of the animal population of the planet.

The mistake comes from not considering that "fruit" is not only a culinary term but also a botanical one. Botanically, a fruit is the part of a plant that develops from a flower and contains seeds. This makes tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, and many other foods that we call vegetables actually fruits in the scientific sense.

Countries have a political delimitation, while continents are divided according to geographical criteria. The Russian Federation is the largest country on Earth, bordering fourteen other countries and extending across eleven time zones. It spans across a good part of Eastern Europe, but also across the Ural mountains—one of the recognized borders between Europe and Asia—and stretches deep into northern Asia.

While cold weather isn’t harmless, it is not the direct cause of illnesses like the flu, which are caused by viruses. In colder months, people tend to spend more time indoors and often avoid ventilating rooms, creating conditions that make it easier for viruses to spread and cause illness.

Bats might not prefer to be out during bright daylight, but this does not mean that they are blind. In fact, many species have excellent eyesight, though it is adapted to low-light or nighttime conditions. On top of that, bats also use echolocation, which allows them to navigate and hunt with remarkable precision in complete darkness.

The belief that you must wait a full day before reporting someone missing is a myth popularized by movies and TV shows. In reality, the law does not require a waiting period. In fact, law enforcement agencies stress that the first 24 hours are often the most critical, so a missing person should be reported immediately.

Some man-made structures are visible from space without magnification, but despite popular belief, the Great Wall of China is not one of them. While it is quite long, being over 13,000 miles long, it is relatively narrow, and its earthy colors blend in with the surrounding landscape, making it nearly impossible to spot with the naked eye from orbit.

This one is tricky: Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth (29,032 feet)… if you measure the distance from sea level to peak. For the actual tallest mountain, the answer might vary depending on how you measure. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is the tallest at 33,474 feet—though much of it is underwater. Mount McKinley (Denali) in Alaska rises about 18,000 feet from its base to the peak, making it the tallest mountain entirely above sea level. And Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, while shorter in height, is the farthest point on Earth from the planet’s center due to the equatorial bulge.

The Earth is tilted on an axis, which causes the amount of sunlight each hemisphere receives to change as it orbits the Sun. Because of this tilt, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun and experiences summer, the Southern Hemisphere is tilted away and experiences winter—and vice versa. This is why the Southern Hemisphere celebrates Christmas during summer.

Standard medical advice is to gently guide a sleepwalker back to bed rather than waking them, but not because waking them is inherently dangerous. People tend to sleepwalk during deep sleep, so waking them up might startle them or cause confusion and disorientation.

Hair color and thickness are determined by genetics, not by shaving. Hair naturally gets thin at the ends, so when you shave it, the hair shaft appears to be thicker and darker because of the blunt cut. But it's just an optical illusion; the natural size of the shaft remains unchanged.

Coffee is a natural diuretic, meaning it can increase trips to the bathroom. However, the water in brewed coffee still contributes to your hydration and offsets its mild diuretic effect. If you consume coffee in moderation—3 to 5 cups a day, depending on your tolerance—you should be alright. However, drinking extra water on the side is never a bad idea.