South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly being watched

 The Earth's magnetic field is quite complex, and includes global reversals where the north and south magnetic poles flip-flop. While scientists have studied it for centuries, the complexity still holds mysteries about the magnetic field. 

The first thing to note is all magnetism we know of comes from moving electric charges and electric currents. For something like a planet, the question then becomes where are the currents? 

The Earth has a solid inner core, but then a molten iron outer core - that is the key. As my students are well aware, metals are special because they have free electrons moving throughout (the 'electron sea'). Normally these free electrons are moving randomly through the metal. But then, we need to remember that the earth rotates. The rotation causes the molten iron to flow in one direction, and suddenly we have a circular current of electrons, and this contributes to the magnetic field. 

Fluid dynamics is complex and very challenging mathematically. Turbulence happens, and because Earth is spherical, that geometry introduces different rotational velocities in different regions of the molten iron. The complexities of flow and the electric currents that result causes the Earth's magnetic field to be dynamic - it is constantly changing, and on occasion when turbulent regions develop, and sometimes the flow locally can be opposite the main flow, irregularities exist within the global magnetic field. This is likely what is happening in the outer core to cause the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. It has grown over the past few decades, and is a region where the magnetic field has already 'flipped' polarity. At some point, perhaps in the coming centuries, the global field may undergo another reversal, where our compass needles will point opposite where it points today. We'll see how this plays out! 

In science, nature always is harder and more complex than what our textbooks tell us, so there are always magnificent mysteries waiting to be solved! Have some fun and take on one of those mysteries that fascinates you!

                                       From Science Alert, 1/29/25

Science never rests - New idea questions whether universe is expanding

 Science is a process that never sits still. Unlike something like religion, which tends to deal in doctrine and more absolute or unbendable ideas and rules, scientific theories and models and ideas must change if contradictory observations and experimental evidence are discovered. And sometimes new ideas emerge that are just different, and look at problems with a different lens. 

This is the case with some new ideas proposed by theoretical astrophysicist Lucas Lombriser from Vienna. He has been thinking about the expansion of the universe, and the measurements that suggest the expansion rate of the universe is actually accelerating - to explain this, astronomers have been suggesting things like 'dark energy' to explain that acceleration, despite having no idea what dark energy actually is. Lombriser proposes there is not even a need for an expanding universe, which goes against the thinking in the field for the past century. Something like this is exciting, and keeps science alive and moving forward. His idea is that an expanding universe is basically an illusion, caused by the time evolution of the mass of particles (like protons and electrons), which is also a new idea. But according to Lombriser's mathematical model, if particle mass is not constant, then the consequence is gravity changes, and things like the expansion of the universe, dark energy, and perhaps dark matter, are not even necessary! 

There is no experimental test, yet, for any of these ideas, so we must all consider them but not run too fast with them. I suspect many researchers over the coming decade will be thinking about all this and trying to find any sort of observational or experimental clues that support or deny any pieces of this new model. This is how science is supposed to work. We must be patient and see what Nature is trying to hint to us! If correct, though, WOW! This would make for a paradigm shift in astronomy, and I am sure many other theories and observations would need to be questioned and viewed through this new lens. I love science and this wonderful, and sometimes frustrating, process! 

These 7 initial discoveries in 2024 that need independent confirmation

 Science News has a good article for 7 science discoveries this past year that could become BIG DEALS, should additional work confirm and strengthen them. Have fun with it, and remember that in science research, replication and independent confirmation of one's work is a necessity before the scientific community will begin to put real weight behind the discovery. 

Science is an organic, always evolving process that attempts to figure out how the world and universe work, based on physical evidence and observations, and we shouldn't want to take a single study's conclusions as 'fact' without independent studies and confirmations.

Hydraulic jump research - a personal favorite for high school students

 One of my favorite 'basement research' experiments is anything investigating hydraulic jump. There are so many ways a student can 'tweak' an old experiment to make it their own, that it makes for an effective subject from which to get numerous projects/studies. 

This is an article that mentions numerous types of studies that have been done, and that we can be clever with to build upon and get new ideas for our students to investigate! There are good references, as well, where details about experiments can be found. And don't forget, new ideas and how to pursue them can always be gained using AI platforms, such as ChatGPT. 

Astronomy photo techniques can help tell if a photo is a Deepfake

 Scientists have found a feature of photos that can be added to a list of things to determine if a photo is authentic or a deepfake. Deepfakes are electronically created photos or videos, using AI, that are nearly impossible for untrained eyes to determine if the photo/video is of something real or made-up. There are countless examples online, and perhaps the most deepfaked person is former President Obama. 

Using techniques and information learned primarily from astronomers, and how they take and analyze photos of distant galaxies, it turns our that for photos of humans the key is to check out the eyes. In real photos, generally the reflections of light in the eyes should be the same. AI has not learned this correctly - YET - so presently one can check the colors and reflections of eyes, and that can help determine if it is a fake or not. 

This is especially important right now, heading into fall elections, when different individuals and groups are trying to smear candidates and get disinformation to go viral online. Deepfakes have become so easy to create that the average person looking at ads and content would likely not be able to tell the difference, making it SO challenging to determine what's real or not. Here is another article if interested.                               Diagram from BioID.

How the Illinois Cancer Center uses AI to help in its mission

 I want to occasionally provide students and teachers examples of evolving fields in STEM, and quite literally every field of STEM has been using and will only be increasing the use of advanced AIs in their research. This article gives an example of AI being used in all aspects of cancer research at the University of Illinois. 

From drug development to trying to do molecular detection of cancers, and simulating pathways of tumor development and how it spreads in the body, AI and computational research is revolutionizing many areas of STEM.

Research Program: Lumiere Research Scholar Program

A FYI that was received: 

Create an independent research paper. Work with top researchers 

The Lumiere Research Scholar Program helps high school students work one-on-one with a scholar on an independent research project. At the end of the program, you'll develop an independent research paper that you could use for college admissions or future studies. Our mentors are PhD scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT,  Stanford, Yale, Duke and LSE. The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard.  

 

The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure! To learn more, you can reach out to our Head of Growth and Partnerships, Maya Novak-Herzog, at maya.novak-herzog@lumiere.education or go to lumiere-education.com.

The early bird deadline for application to the Fall cohort is July 30th, 2024.

 

Link to the application: Lumiere Research Scholar Application.