ScienceDaily: Computers & Math News

Violent activity on our Sun leads to some of the most extreme space weather events on Earth, impacting systems such as satellites, communications systems, power distribution and aviation. The roughly 11 year cycle of solar activity has three 'seasons', each of which affects the space weather felt at Earth differently: (i) solar maximum, the sun is active and disordered, when space weather is stormy and events are irregular (ii) the declining phase, when the sun and solar wind becomes ordered, and space weather is more moderate and (iii) solar minimum, when activity is quiet. Scientists found that the change from solar maximum to the declining phase is fast, happening within a few (27 day) solar rotations.

A research team has discovered magnetic phenomena in antiferromagnets that could pave the way to developing faster and more efficient data storage.