Trapping powder quickly removes all microplastics from water
2 December 2022
A cheap powder can help treat wastewater by rapidly absorbing microscopic bits of plastic pollution – and because it is also magnetic, both can then be removed with magnets
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Premium
Liquid robot can split into tiny droplets and reform into a blob
16 September 2022
A robot made from magnetic fluid can be made smaller, thinner, or directed to break up with special magnets, which could be useful for delivering drugs into the body
Robot made of sticky tape and metal powder could crawl on your organs
15 July 2022
Tiny robots made of metallic powder stuck to plastic tape and controlled by magnetic fields could one day crawl inside internal organs and repair injuries
Earth’s magnetosphere replicated in miniature using lasers and magnets
12 April 2022
The first 3D model of Earth’s magnetosphere could help us better understand how satellites cope with space weather
Strongest ever magnetic field fails to make predicted exotic particles
2 February 2022
Researchers have used the strongest magnetic field ever measured to search for exotic particles called magnetic monopoles, but they came up empty
Nearly blind mole rats use their eyes to detect magnetic fields
29 September 2020
Ansell’s mole rats are nearly blind but their eyes still come in handy. They have a sensor for magnetic fields, similar to those in birds, which the mole rats use to orient their nests
Does magnetism decay over time?
15 July 2020
Does the strength of magnetism of bar magnets and magnetic ores decay over time, like radioactivity does?
Electromagnetism
4 June 2020
The fundamental force responsible for electricity, magnetism, stable atoms and chemistry.
This week’s new questions
3 June 2020
Do magnets lose their strength over time, and why do some birds walk they way they do? Send us your thoughts and we'll publish our favourites
Exotic super magnets could shake up medicine, cosmology and computing
27 November 2019
Their unique blend of electric and magnetic properties was long thought impossible. Now multiferroics are shaking up fields from dark matter hunting to finding cancer
