Sparked

Earth faced a triple threat from CMEs that were hurled out by the Sun on November 5, and 6, and all of them hit the planet. This sparked a dangerous G3-class geomagnetic storm. Interestingly, the effects of the solar storm did not subside until November 7 and in fact it deteriorated just a little to a G2-class storm. Unlike G1 or G2 solar storms which are minor, G3 storms have the potential to cause drag in the upper atmosphere and push smaller satellites around, causing both disruption of signals as well as damage to…

Hailey Bieber, formerly known as Hailey Baldwin, is an American model and television personality who has been making headlines due to her pregnancy rumours. Singer Justin Bieber’s wife is sparking pregnancy rumours after dropping major hints in several images that she has shared on social media recently. However, there has been no confirmation from the couple yet about the ongoing rumours. Earlier this week, Hailey Bieber was seen donning a transparent white minidress, leading to speculations about her pregnancy due to…

As many as two solar storms are set to impact Earth! These were generated by a couple of partially Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs), spewed out by the Sun on July 4 and they are currently on their way. This solar activity, when it hits the Earth's atmosphere will likely generate geomagnetic storms on Earth. The likely date, when the first solar storm hits Earth and triggers a geomagnetic storm, is July 7. This has been confirmed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) forecasters.NOAA…

A scientist on the hunt for extraordinarily long lightning bolts has discovered that the storms capable of producing these so-called megaflashes—which can strike without warning under a clear blue sky—tend to be long-lived and travel great distances. That’s according to research published this month in Earth and Space Science, which analyzed four and a half years of satellite data to look for the characteristics of storms that produce megaflashes: streaks of lightning that stretch at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) long.…

The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption, which produced the most powerful atmospheric explosion ever recorded, also generated a record number of lightning strikes in a supercharged thunderstorm that lasted 11 hours and spread across 150 miles (240), a new study reports. The volcano, which is located in the southern Pacific Ocean, began erupting in December 2021, but its most explosive event did not occur until Jan. 15, 2022. Despite the volcano's caldera being 500 feet (150 meters) below sea level, the blast…

Earth is being continuously bombarded by solar storms, solar flares, and other solar phenomena since its very birth billions of years ago. The trend continues as we have seen multiple X-class solar flare eruptions, G3-class solar storms, super-charged CME clouds, and solar winds wreak havoc on our planet. Although this solar activity is dangerous and can cause significant damage to power grids, communication networks, and satellites, it might have also been the one thing that gave the gift of life to Earth. Yes, solar…

Everywhere they go, humans leave stray DNA. Police have used genetic sequences retrieved from cigarette butts and coffee cups to identify suspects; archaeologists have sifted DNA from cave dirt to identify ancient humans. But for scientists aiming to capture genetic information not about people but about animals, plants, and microbes, the ubiquity of human DNA and the ability of even partial sequences to reveal information most people would want to keep private…

It was the meal that changed how Angelenos eat.And it happened more than 5,000 miles from Los Angeles.When Noritoshi Kanai and Harry Wolff Jr. sat down for dinner in Tokyo one night in 1965, they had no way of knowing they were about to stumble onto an idea that would upend American dining — and their own lives.On this evening, the colleagues had more urgent concerns on their minds: how to salvage a foundering trip in Asia that was launched to find a novel food product to import to the U.S.That item, it turns out, was…

Lotfy Nathan has drawn from a deep well of sorrow and rage for this anguished drama, leading the audience to its horrible dénouement like a trail of burning petrol: the title itself means “burning” (and also, ambiguously, escaping by boat). It is inspired by the story of Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who in 2011 ignited the Arab Spring (all too literally) by setting himself on fire outside the governor’s office in the central Tunisian city of Sidi Bouzid – making it the uprising’s Ground Zero – in protest…

A menacing cloud of coronal mass ejection, erupting from a sunspot that was 20 times wider than Earth, struck our planet on March 23 and unleashed a horrifying solar storm that caught everyone off guard. Exploiting cracks in Earth's magnetic field due to the vernal equinox, this horrifying solar storm resulted in a very dangerous G4 Geomagnetic storm which caused radio communication shutdowns, GPS malfunctions, auroras and even a rare phenomenon known as STEVE. Experts later revealed that this geomagnetic storm was the…