Static electricity is so commonplace that it can come across as simple. Other teams are investigating how surface area and velocity during impact might govern charge transfer, and how the breaking ...

A nematode (C. elegans) jumps onto a bumblebee along an electrical field to hitch a ride. Credit: Chiba et al., 2023 Japanese scientists working with nematodes (C. elegans) noticed one day that ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Imagine, for a moment, that you’re a honeybee. In many ways, your world is small. Your four delicate wings, each less than a centimeter ...

Watch as tiny pieces of foil magically dance and float inside a bottle! This fascinating experiment demonstrates the invisible force of static electricity and shows how electrical charges can move ...

In 1832, Charles Darwin witnessed hundreds of ballooning spiders landing on the HMS Beagle while some 60 miles offshore. Ballooning is a phenomenon that’s been known since at least the days of ...

An electric charge (like a proton) creates an electric field in the region around it. This field points away from positive charges and decreases in strength as it gets farther away from the charge.

While it may be an unfamiliar sensation to humans, electroreception is relatively commonplace in the animal kingdom. Sharks, bees and even the platypus all share this ability to detect electric fields ...

Static electricity often just seems like an everyday annoyance when a wool sweater crackles as you pull it off, or when a doorknob delivers an unexpected zap. Regardless, the phenomenon is much more ...

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