Category Archives: Magnetism

Faster Than Light – The Science of Superluminal Singularities

A cartoon illustration of a female scientist (The NaturPhilosopher) piloting a blue flying‑saucer spaceship through outer space, humorously referencing Einstein’s cosmic speed limit. She has long brown hair and wears a white lab coat while gripping the controls, looking concerned as she passes a green sign reading “MAX SPEED LIMIT LIGHT C.” To her right, a mischievous dark cloud creature with sharp teeth and an evil grin zooms past holding a sign that says “SPEED! 3C.” Stars, galaxies, and cosmic scenery fill the background, symbolizing the universal speed limit and the impossibility of exceeding the speed of light. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie with AI

Conventional wisdom has been telling us for a while that: Nothing travels faster than the speed of light. True? No, actually. False. Although it does depend on your definition of “nothing”…

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The Casimir Effect In Excruciating Detail: Because Even The Vacuum Has Boundary Issues

A cartoon illustration of researchers at Philips Research Labs discussing the Casimir Effect, with its inceptor Dutch scientist Henrik Casimir presenting a diagram of two plates on a chalkboard in 1948.

Zero Point Energy seems pretty counter-intuitive.  After all, when is a physical vacuum not in fact a vacuum?  But we do have experimental evidence that it does in fact exist. BEHOLD the Casimir Effect!!

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Seriously Strange Metals: The Quantum Rebels of Condensed Matter Physics

"Strange Metals and the Quantum Ocean", an illustration. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie with AI

In the classical world of materials science, metals are well-behaved. Their electrons follow predictable rules, their resistivity scales with temperature in a quadratic fashion, and their behaviour is neatly captured by Fermi liquid theory. But in the quantum realm…

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Eliminating the Impossible – The Complex Electro-Chemistry Behind the Hessdalen Lights

Hessdalen Lights II: A composite picture (in negative colours) showing the Hessdalen light phenomenon and people gathered at a lookout point to observe at night. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie

A Norwegian valley.  Strange lights observed by many witnesses.  It has been called “Norway’s Roswell”.  But what makes the remote valley of Hessdalen so different from other locations?

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Identifying the Unidentified – The Hessdalen Light Phenomenon, Norway

Hessdalen Lights: A composite picture showing the Hessdalen light phenomenon and people gathered at a lookout point to observe at night. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie

The Hessdalen Valley of Norway.  Just 15 kilometres across.  Low population density.  But why is there a blue box perched high up on the hillside, with cameras covering the valley?  What’s going on in this secluded valley?! 

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The Brief Flight of the Russian Woodpecker Over The Horizon – And More About Phased Array Radars…

North east of Ukraine, close to the Russian border, is the site of the Duga radar, also known during the 70s and 80s as the Woodpecker – one of the most extraordinary engineering structures ever built.

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Engineering A Star – Nuclear Fusion, Tokamaks and Stellarators

An artist's impression of an atom trapped in a containment field made up of Greek-style columns.  Artwork: NaturPhilosophie
A Stellar Reactor

Greifswald, Northeastern Germany, 2016.  Physicists at the Max Planck Institute have been racing to find a way of producing sustainable, clean energy with a stable nuclear fusion reactor. The challenge? Re-creating the Sun’s powerhouse on a much, much smaller scale.

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Digital Forensics and The Case of the Dead Dodo

A humoristic montage illustration for the post "Digital Forensics and The Case of the Dead Dodo" showing The Simpsons' character Moe Szyslak with his hunting rifle on the look-out for the bird. Unbeknownst to him, the Dodo is behind his back thinking "D'Oh!!!" Artwork: NaturPhilosophie

The very latest technology in scanning and 3D printing is now providing vital clues and evidence in murder.  And as it happened, scientists can now ascertain that World famous flightless extinct bird… the Dodo… died… AFTER BEING SHOT… in the back of the head…

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Charming New Particle Xi-cc++ Discovered at CERN

Abstract artist impression of the particle newly discovered at CERN in psychedelic colours. Artwork: NaturPhilosophie
The Xi-cc++ Particle

CERN’s LHCb collaboration has announced the discovery of a new “charming” particle, thought to be instrumental to the strong force – the Xi-cc++.  Another particle.  So…?

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Between the Lines of the Herculaneum Papyri using X-Ray Imaging Techniques

A photographic montage showing a calcinated Herculaneum papyrus scroll on a Greek scriptures background.
Scrolling Back the Past at Herculaneum

Once a chic resort on the Bay of Naples, Herculaneum was favoured by the finest of Roman’s elite society, who spent the hot Italian summers there… until a catastrophe struck one afternoon in 79 AD.  The Villa dei Papiri, excavated centuries later, was found to contain the only library to have survived from the Classical World – a unique cultural treasure, which the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly destroyed, and yet preserved all at once.  How do you read what is essentially a charred book? 

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