Experiments to simulate Mars’ core may explain the loss of its magnetic field. It has long been known that Mars once had oceans due in part to a protective magnetic field similar to Earth’s. However, the magnetic field disappeared, and new research may finally be able to explain why. Researchers recreated conditions expected in the core of Mars billions of years ago and found that the behavior of the molten metal thought to be present likely gave rise to a brief magnetic field that was destined to fade away.

Whether it’s due to science fiction or the fact that you can see it with your own eyes from Earth, Mars has captured the imagination of people for centuries...

A revolutionary pacemaker that re-establishes the heart’s naturally irregular beat is set to be trialled in New Zealand heart patients this year, following successful animal trials. “Currently, all pacemakers pace the heart metronomically, which means a very steady, even pace. But when you record heart rate in a healthy individual, you see it is constantly on the move,” says Professor Julian Paton, a lead researcher and director of Manaaki Manawa, the Centre for Heart Research at the University of Auckland.

Manaaki Manawa has led the research and the results have just been published in leading journal Basic Resear...

Leicester space scientists have discovered a never-before-seen mechanism fuelling huge planetary aurorae at Saturn. Saturn is unique among planets observed to date in that some of its aurorae are generated by swirling winds within its own atmosphere, and not just from the planet’s surrounding magnetosphere.

At all other observed planets, including Earth, aurorae are only formed by powerful currents that flow into the planet’s atmosphere from the surrounding magnetosphere. These are driven by either interaction with charged particles from the Sun (as at the Earth) or volcanic material erupted from a moon orbiting the planet (as at Jupiter and Saturn).

This discovery changes scientists’ understanding of planetary aurorae and answers one of the first mysteries raised by NASA’s Cass...

A motorcycle crash left Michel Roccati with complete lower-body paralysis from a devastating spinal cord injury.

That was in 2017.

But now, the Italian native is walking again, courtesy of groundbreaking Swiss research that restores motor function within one day by means of carefully targeted electrical stimulation.

“At the beginning, I was unable to move the muscles of the legs, and I feel nothing,” Roccati recalled recently.

Now he can stand, walk and do stairs. In fact, “everything I have in mind to train I can do with the stimulation,” Roccati said at a press briefing hosted by Nature Medicine, which recently published the findings.

According to the World Health Organization, every year from 250,000 to a half-million people around the world suffer a seriously disabl...