Buckle up, and enjoy
This article is an adaptation of our weekly Science newsletter that was originally sent out on May 19, 2021. Want this in your inbox? Sign up here.
By Victoria Jaggard, SCIENCE executive editor
No one who’s met me would accuse me of spending too much time in the sun. But while I do slather on the SPF and take refuge under a parasol, I remain fascinated by the physics at work inside the closest star to Earth. Our sun is what’s called a G-type star, a flavor of stellar object that is relatively calm and unremarkable. We’re fortunate: Plenty of exoplanets have been spotted around red dwarf stars, which are much more tempestuous, sending out solar flares and higher levels of radiation that probably make those alien worlds less hospitable to life as we know it.
But our sun also goes through cycles of activity that can see its damage potential spike every 11 years or so—and if at least one team of scientists is right, we may soon be in for a doozy.
According to a joint NASA-NOAA committee, we’re now entered solar cycle 25, and the sun is once more ramping up its activity levels. The peak should arrive in 2025, our Nadia Drake reports, with an increase in sunspots, flares, and outbursts of charged solar material called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. For now, experts are debating how strong this particular peak will be, with one group saying it might be among the most intense since record-keeping began. The forecast has important consequences for everyone on the planet. If a CME takes aim at Earth, it can spark a geomagnetic storm, which can wreak all kinds of havoc on power grids, plane routes, and navigation and communication technologies.
To be fair, geomagnetic storms can also be quite beautiful. Solar particles hitting Earth’s atmosphere are what produces auroras, and a proper storm can supercharge those polar light shows, making them both more dramatic and visible at lower latitudes. Plus, this time around, our stormy star will almost certainly be putting on a show for people lucky enough to witness a total solar eclipse in 2024. The path of totality will span much of North America, which means, like the “great” eclipse of 2017, it’ll be visible from a lot of populated areas.
The moment the moon blots out the sun is the only time most of us on Earth will be able to see the corona (pictured at top). That’s our star’s faint upper atmosphere, which is otherwise lost in the bright orb’s glare. And that close to solar maximum, the corona should be alive with activity. I’m no sun-worshipper, sure, but you can bet I will be planning a trip back to Texas to catch this event with my own (properly protected) eyes.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Beyond motion sickness: First, researchers found that virtual reality headsets can cause cybersickness—the same feeling as motion sickness. Now, as more people engage in protracted scrolling of items on their digital devices, the same thing seems to be happening to them. Their numbers included Seattle’s Jack Riewe, who turned—too much—to the internet at home while wildfires hit the region. Riewe was “weighed down, dizzy, [and] nauseous,” he told Nat Geo. He is far from alone.
TODAY IN A MINUTE
Better than bacon? There’s a way now to make seaweed, once it’s smoked and fried, taste like bacon. An Oregon company is dabbling in dulse (rhymes with pulse), a protein-rich seaweed that many northern Europeans have been eating for centuries. That’s one of several “breakthroughs” highlighted in the June edition of National Geographic.
Letting the sun power airports: That’s an idea that Australia is pursuing, and it has applications elsewhere. The upside of installing solar farms in airports: Plenty of space. The downside: Lots of rules, Wired magazine reports.
‘Covert magma pockets’: That’s the term for small underground areas around a volcano that pack energy—and sometimes explosive power. These hidden pockets, undetectable on even the most studied volcanoes, are potential lava bombs, Robin George Andrews reports for Nat Geo. A new study says these secret reservoirs, found in Iceland, Hawaii, and Kenya, may extend to volcanoes worldwide.
World Bee Day: I can’t celebrate tomorrow’s big buzzy day without remembering one of my favorite science stories about these pollinating wonders. Here’s the headline: “Flowers can hear buzzing bees—and it makes their nectar sweeter.”
China rover: First came NASA. Then, over the weekend, China’s space agency joined the tiny club of nations landing their own rovers on Mars. Its mission: to search for evidence of water and hints of past life, writes Andrew Jones for Nat Geo. “Because the pre-selected landing site is close to an ancient ocean shoreline, and distinct from others, the science data will uncover more secrets of Mars,” says Long Xiao, a planetary scientist at the China University of Geosciences.
Burying shame: Bold, colorful hearing aids have hit the market—offering a new opportunity to mix fashion with practicality, as with eyeglasses. Traditionally, “the hearing aid industry’s preoccupation with technological development has sidelined design, as has the longstanding ableism against deaf people, which pressures them to disguise their hearing aids,” writes historian Jaipreet Virdi, who says she once battled embarrassment in using the aids to help her hear and assist her speech-reading. She says manufacturers could learn from Lady Gaga’s stunning gold earpiece/audio monitor during the Biden presidential inauguration—and design hearing aids to reflect the desires of the deaf and hard of hearing community.
INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY
Choking air: A crop fire gets out of hand in India’s Madhya Pradesh state. Worldwide, slash-and-burn agriculture is one of the many contributors to air pollution. This image by Nat Geo Explorer Matthieu Paley, which appeared on our Instagram page, is part of a global story titled “The Deadly Cost of Clean Air,“ from April’s edition of National Geographic magazine.
THE NIGHT SKIES
Total eclipse of the ... moon: From tonight onward, the moon will offer multiple treats for sky-watchers. Tonight, look toward the western sky for the first quarter moon to pair up with the bright white star Regulus. By Saturday and Sunday evenings, the moon will have climbed toward the southern sky, landing near Virgo’s blue-white stellar beacon, Spica. And before dawn on Wednesday across the western Americas (or in the evening for Australia and southeast Asia), the moon will turn red as it undergoes a total lunar eclipse. The partial eclipse begins at 2:44 a.m. Pacific Time on May 26, when the first hint of Earth’s shadow will start to cover the moon. The total eclipse, when the moon appears to turn orangish-red, will begin at 4:11 a.m. and end at 4:25 a.m. PDT. — Andrew Fazekas
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THE LAST GLIMPSE
Rare beauty: Look at that halo of light purple petals, sloping downward while a cluster of four white, pollen-bearing stamens poke out. That flower, from one of the world’s most endangered tree species, is the first reported blossom seen on the Karomia gigas tree. Horticulturalists at the Missouri Botanical Garden expect more blooms from the three-year-old saplings. Only about 40 of the trees, related to mint, remain in their native Tanzania, Sarah Gibbens reports.
This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Have an idea or a link to share, or a story about a rare bloom? We'd love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading.
