Bioethics
Exploring Bioethics, NIH
image from commons.wikimedia.org
Topics to discuss: ethics, values, morality, empathy.
| Getting Started Technical information regarding the use of this Web site |
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Teacher’s Guide Lesson plans and implementation support |
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About NIH & the Department of Bioethics Information on the National Institutes of Health and Department of Bioethics |
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About EDC Information on the Education Development Center, Inc. |
https://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/webversions/bioethics/default.html
Also
Learning Standards: Eurogames/Designer Games
Common Core ELA Literacy
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1
Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom’s taxonomy |
Skills |
Evaluation |
Logical argument, assessment, prediction |
Synthesis |
Arrangement, Collection, Manage, Planning |
Analysis |
Appraising, calculating |
Comprehension |
Classify, explaining, locating, recognizing, selecting |
Knowledge |
Memorizing, defining, listing |
From Mayer, Brian, and Christopher Harris. “TABLE 2.1.” Libraries Got Game: Aligned Learning through Modern Board Games. Chicago: American Library Association, 2010. 17. Print.
AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Standards Frameworks for Learners
Inquire/Share: exchange learning products with others in a cycle that includes:
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Interacting with content presented by others.
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Providing constructive feedback.
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Acting on feedback to improve.
Board Games: A direct alignment of modern board games with the new AASL Standards for the 21st century learner
(School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES)
1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as context for new learning.
Most games utilize some form of a theme, using it to develop a setting or back story that provides some context for the gaming experience. By students already having knowledge of elements utilized within the game they are able to bring information with them to the table. That information provides a starting point from which they can engage in the inquiry process; building and strengthening new knowledge along the way
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format in order to make inferences and gather meaning.
Students actively participate in the gaming experience, taking in information that can manifest itself in a variety of formats within a game. Rather than evaluating these sources in isolation, games require students to construct meaning through obvious and inferred informational sources and then synthesize a strategy for action based on the combined effect of all learned factors.
1.1.9 Collaborate with others to broaden and deepen understanding
Games naturally elicit social interaction and so, can provide a comfortable platform for students to engage in collaboration. With individuals discussing and working in teams, students have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of not only the content and skills involved with the activity, but of each other as well.
1.2.5 Demonstrate adaptability by changing the inquiry focus, questions, resources or strategies when necessary to achieve success.
Because board and card games are an interactive activity, actions are not always predictable and the decisions needed are rarely the same with repeated plays. As a result, situations can and will change as a game progresses, requiring students to be flexible in the approaches and actions they take as they work towards achieving goals within the game.
1.26 Display emotional resilience by persisting in information searching despite challenges.
Games offer positive experiences which can teach persistence and help students to learn that it is alright to fail. They walk away knowing that they can learn from their mistakes and still grow as learners. This is a hard lesson to impart in an environment where so much matters, but games succeed by providing an opportunity where students can fail and still continue on to succeed within a single learning experience
1.3.4 Contribute to the exchange of ideas within the learning community.
Students can participate in the game experience by offering advice and leadership during cooperative play or giving feedback and suggestions after decisions are made while engaged in competitive activities. Student contributions can also take place away from the table as they discuss strategies as they relate to the game.
1.4.1 Monitor own information-seeking processes for effectiveness and progress, and adapt as necessary.
Games often have a learning curve that builds towards proficiency. Initial plays are explorations in the system, becoming familiar with the theme and mechanics of the game. However, students have the potential to excel within a game through a continual process of self-monitoring and adaptation of how they are utilizing information during their experience.
1.4.2 Use interaction with and feedback from teachers and peers to guide own inquiry process.
By participating within learning communities, students have the opportunity to develop their inquiry skills through feedback and interaction with their teachers and peers. With guided game play, teachers can utilize selected gaming resources to introduce new skills or reinforce specific ones that need attention. Students can also serve as peer mentors, initiating other students who are unfamiliar with a game and providing advice on how to interpret and interact with information throughout the gaming experience.
2..2.1 Demonstrate flexibility in the use of resources by adapting information strategies to each specific resource and by seeking additional resources when clear conclusions can not be drawn.
The game experience itself also demands flexibility in where information is gathered and how it is utilized. Potential sources of information include other players, the game itself, past play experiences, and suggested strategies for play. How much each source factors into the player’s decisions varies with each game. Additionally, factor in that many games offer a variety of paths to victory and you now have a very fluid learning environment.
2.3.1 Connect understanding to the real world.
Games can then be used as springboards for conversations surrounding important topics of the day. If the game is well designed, the students will not simply be learning about these topics but will experience and interact with them.
3.1.2 Participate and collaborate as members of a social and intellectual network of learners.
Whether in the classroom or online, games facilitate the sharing of concepts and strategies through collaboration amongst players and an active reflection on personal performance. These moments of interaction and collaboration are not confined to sporadic moments of socialization, but instead transpire throughout the course of the game.
3.2.3 Demonstrate teamwork by working productively with others.
Cooperative games are a specific subset of gaming that uses teamwork as the primary driving factor for game play. Most cooperative games pit the students against the game, allowing little room for mistakes. Without communication and that unless they truly work together they will never be able to achieve success.
3.4.1 Assess the processes by which learning was achieved in order to revise strategies and learn more effectively in the future.
Effective games, inspire students to mentally revisit the events of their gaming experience, asking themselves key questions such as: “How did I do?” and “How can I be more effective the next time I play?” These questions provide guiding answers that help students grow as learners. Organizing the results for reflection, students are able to develop a direction for improvement in future games.
4.1.7 Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.
User driven resources like Board Game Geek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com), provide students an outlet to post and read information about the games they enjoy. Additionally, they have the ability to provide feedback and share their opinions through reviews, ratings and tags. These resources can serve as a research base for the student’s interests, allowing them the opportunity to begin the inquiry process before they sit down and start playing a game. Students can research the best strategies or look for clarification on a poorly translated rule set. The exchange of information can continue after game play as students discuss and share their experiences with their peers.
http://www.gvlibraries.org/sites/default/gc/aaslalignment.pdf
Particle Physics lesson
Your job: Produce a document, with pictures, putting together what you have learned today. Ways that you can do this:
* Handwrite
* Create a PowerPoint presentation
* Google Docs (typing or voice-to-text)
* Create a poster – pencils, colored pencils, pens, markers.
Intro
Inside atoms we have protons, neutrons and electrons. Now we learn that protons and neutrons are not “solid”. They are built from smaller subatomic particles!
The particle zoo
http://hetdex.org/dark_energy/particle_zoo.html
Animation: Atoms to Quarks
https://www.learner.org/courses/physics/visual/vis_bytype.html?type=animation
Videos: Out Of Sight – Building From Quarks To Atoms to Molecules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZMmZ_2BnI
CERN: Two protons collide and create new particles
https://home.cern/resources/video/physics/atlas-physics-process-animations
CK-12 Chemistry Fundamental Particles
https://www.ck12.org/chemistry/fundamental-particles-in-chemistry/lesson/Fundamental-Particles-MS-PS/
At the end of this website launch and explore the “CK-12 Interactive”
Advanced topics
Quarks are particles within protons and neutrons.
Labs (Physics)
Physics labs
Image from Imaginary Numbers Are Real, Welch Labs
Build projects/Engineering
Hovercraft build project
Mousetrap racers
Catapult and trebuchet build projects
Traditional physics labs
How to write a lab report
How to measure mass
Kinematics
Finding Pi, circle lab
Reaction time lab
Magnetism
Magnetism labs
Gravity
Why Is There a Tidal Bulge Opposite the Moon?
Forces & Newton’s laws
Mechanical equilibrium lab
Inertial balance lab
Finding the coefficient of friction lab
Virtual labs
PhET
Science Sims @ CCNY
BU Physics ~ Duffy HTML5 sims
HTML 5 Physics Lab Simulations: The Physics Aviary
Open Source Physics sims
The Physics Classroom interactives
Coding labs
Programming Labs for Physics
Science catalogs/supplies
Science catalog & supplier list
Programming Labs for Physics
These labs were designed by Prof. Chris Orban for Physics 1250 at The Ohio State University at Marion. They are useful at the high school and college level. No calculus knowledge or prior programming experience is required.
The nice part about these programming labs is that there is no software to install. The compiling and executing and visualization is all done within your web browser! This is accomplished using a programming framework called p5js.org which is very similar to C/C++.
Introduction to the p5.js programming framework
Related video:
The Physics of Video Games! STEM coding.
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Epistasis
The following intro comes from – Biology 110H Basic Concepts, Stephen, haeffer; Variation in Dominance, Multiple Alleles, Epistasis, Pleiotropy, and Polygenic Inheritance, Penn State.
Sometimes a gene at one location on a chromosome can affect the expression of a gene at a second location (epistasis). A good example of epistasis is the genetic interactions that produce coat color in horses and other mammals.
In horses, brown coat color (B) is dominant over tan (b).
Gene expression is dependent on a second gene that controls the deposition of pigment in hair.
The dominant gene (C) codes for the presence of pigment in hair, whereas the recessive gene (c) codes for the absence of pigment.
If a horse is homozygous recessive for the second gene (cc), it will have a white coat regardless of the genetically programmed coat color (B gene) because pigment is not deposited in the hair.
The figure above demonstrates this scenario. Several of the white horses have genotypes for brown or tan coat color in the first gene, but are completely white because they are homozygous recessive for the gene controlling pigment deposition.
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Great resource here – “The term epistasis describes a certain relationship between genes, where an allele of one gene (e.g., ‘spread’) hides or masks the visible output, or phenotype, of another gene (e.g., pattern). Epistasis is entirely different from dominant and recessive, which are terms that apply to different alleles of the same gene (e.g., ‘bar’ is dominant to ‘barless’ and recessive to ‘check’).”
Click Epistasis, Genetic Science Learning Center, Univ of Utah
Epistasis: Gene Interaction and Phenotype Effects
By: Ilona Miko, Nature Education 1(1):197
Epistasis: Gene Interaction and Phenotype Effects. Nature education.
Understanding Modern Physics. Electromagnetism to Relativity
I’m linking to some rather excellent lessons on modern physics from the School of Physics – The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
website – newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/einsteinlight/index.html
From “The Elegant Universe”, PBS series NOVA. 2003.
| 1. GALILEO – Mechanics and Galilean relativity (Multimedia above right, smaller html version here)
Related Links |
| 2. MAXWELL – Electricity, magnetism and relativity (Multimedia above right, smaller html version here)
Related Links |
| 3. EINSTEIN – The principle of Special Relativity (Multimedia above right, smaller html version here)
Related Links
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| 4. TIME DILATION – How relativity implies time dilation and length contraction (Multimediaabove right, smaller html version here)
Related Links
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| 5. E = mc2 – How relativistic mechanics leads to E = mc2 (Multimedia above right, smaller html version here)
Related Links |
| 6. BEYOND RELATIVITY. (Multimedia version, or smaller html version)Related Links |
How did we develop modern physics?
For thousands of years humanity has studied the heavens and the Earth, searching for unifying principles that explain how our universe works.
By time of the scientific revolution we discovered patterns of interconnected principles – these principles apparently explained all phenomenon ever observed in our universe.
This tested, reliable description of our universe has come to be known as classical physics. By any measure, classical physics has been an extraordinary success. It includes the laws of optics, electromagnetic radiation, motion, gravity, and thermodynamics.
By the late 1800s classical physics had been so successful at describing nearly everything observed, that many scientists had come to believe that we had discovered all that could be known. Many speculated that physics was nearly at an end.
The universe followed a set of comprehensible, classical laws, which worked like clockwork. There were only a few problems to be worked out, which people assumed would have some sort of classical solution.
Scientists soon discovered, however, that these loose ends couldn’t be explained by any of the known laws of physics. No amount of ingenious thinking could find a way to explain these odd phenomenon.
Phenomenon that couldn’t be explained with classical physics
Electrons should not be able to orbit forever around an atom’s nucleus: they should lose energy, and spiral into the nucleus, causing all atoms to collapse in a nanosecond Yet this obviously doesn’t happen.
Light was proven to travel in the form of waves, yet other experiments proved that it travelled as discrete particles (“photons”). How could it be both at the same time?
The failure to detect the luminiferous ether (a.k.a. classical ether)
Radioactive elements would spontaneously break down into lighter weight elements? How could one element magically transmute into another?
When elements are heated, they give off only certain frequencies of light (“spectra”). Why would some frequencies be given off, but not others?
There should be a simple relationship between how much atoms vibrate (the energy they have) and the amount & color of light that they emit. Yet every classical analysis resulted in infinities?! No study of this offered rational results. This meant that at a very basic level, everything we knew about matter and energy was somehow wrong?! This was known as the The ultraviolet catastrophe
Electrons around an atom could absorb or release certain amounts of radiation, of multiples of these amounts, but not any amount in between.
How could particles have one amount of energy, a higher amount, but not an amount in-between? That’s like saying that a car can travel at 50 mph or 100 mph, but not at any speed in-between?! Cars would magically jump from 50 to 100 mph, without any speed in-between. Wouldn’t this be nonsense? Yet for electrons it was observed to be true.
Three Failure of Classical Physics, Dr. Bradley Carroll
This was inexplicable. No classical explanation could explain any of this. Between 1880 and 1920, there was a tremendous intellectual revolution that literally changed how we understood what the universe is. The ideas discovered, taken together, are what we now call modern physics: Quantum mechanics and Relativity.
What does this mean?
Our everyday perception of reality is entirely wrong! Yet … do apples now fall up when dropped? Does electricity no longer flow in circuits? Of course not.
Since the universe still operates as it always has, there must be some link between the classical world and the relativistic, quantum world.
Consider Newton’s laws of motion. In Newtonian, classical physics, the momentum of a moving object equals its mass x velocity.
p = m·v
Let’s say we have an electron moving at 0.98 c (98% of the speed of light.)
What is its momentum? According to classical physics it must be:
p = m·v = (9.11 x 10 –31 kg)·0.98·(3 x 10 8 m/s)
= 2.68 x 10 – 22 kg·m/s
So does the real world match this?
In particle accelerators we use very strong magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles; we can make electrons actually travel at such ultra-high speeds! When we do so, we find that the momentum of an electron traveling at 0.98 c is five times greater than this!
This sort of thing has been tested again and again. For very high speeds, Newton’s laws of physics fail to give accurate results. Yet Newton’s laws obviously work extremely well for all practical purposes. So what is going on?
Classical laws are actually a subset of a more general law of physics, relativistic physics. Relativistic physics always gives the correct answer at all speeds, while Newton’s laws are an approximation that works well, under some circumstaces.
The relativistic formula for momentum turns out to be this:
Image from the Hyperphysics website
That looks very different from p = m·v. But look more closely. What happens when v (the velocity of an object) is much less than c , the speed of light? (And note that even 10,000 miles an hour is very small compared to c !)
In this case, v2 / c2 becomes very, very small. It becomes so small that we can treat it as zero.
Then the denominator for this equation becomes 1, and the equation reduces to the classical momentum equation! So in this sense, Newton’s laws of physics are included in relativity.
Classical laws of physics have a domain in which they are applicable (i.e. give correct results.)
Outside of this domain they don’t function.
So then we look for a wider theory that encompasses Newton’s laws, but with a wider domain of applicability.
Special relativity is the set of physical laws that include Newton’s laws of motion, but work in a wider domain of applicability.
General relativity is the set of physical laws that include Special Relativity, but work in a wider domain of applicability.
Quantum mechanics is the set of physical laws that include Newton’s laws of motion, and optics, but work in a wider domain of applicability.
Problem: The description of reality given by general relativity and quantum mechanics is incompatible. That’s bad. But within their domain of applicability, they both have been fantastically accurate! That’s good. This means that there must be an even deeper, more fundamental law of physics that includes both relativity and QM.
Quantum gravity is the postulated fundamental law that includes both QM and relativity. The search for a theory of quantum gravity is one of the great quests of 21st century science.
Quotes
“If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet.” – Neils Bohr
“We know nothing except through logical analysis, and if we reject that sole connection with reality, we might as well stop trying to be adults and retreat into the capricious dream-world of infantility.”
H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter sent to Robert E. Howard, 8/16/1932
Catapult and Trebuchet build project
A catapult is any one of a number of non-handheld mechanical devices used to throw a projectile a great distance without the aid of an explosive substance—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines.
The name is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek καταπέλτης – katapeltes, from κατά – kata (downwards, into, against) and πάλλω – pallo (to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown.) [from Wikipedia]
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Siege engine
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Onager (siege weapon)
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Trebuchet
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Ballista
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Mangonel
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Slingshot
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Aircraft catapult
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Mass driver
Ideas on how to build them at home
KnightForHire: How to build simple catapults
Quotes
Today’s Latin lesson:
“Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscripti catapultas habebunt.”
( “When catapults are outlawed, only outlaws will have catapults.” )
“Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam”
( “I have a catapult. Give me all your money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.” )
If you lived in the Dark Ages, and you were a catapult operator, I bet the most common question people would ask is, ‘Can’t you make it shoot farther?’ No. I’m sorry. That’s as far as it shoots.”
– Jack Handy, Deep Thoughts, Saturday Night Live
Build an onager, ballista or trebuchet.
Grading rubric. The project is worth 100 points.
Timeliness: Late projects lose 5 points per day.
A. Catapults use torsion (energy stored in a twisted rope or other material.) Do not merely use a stretched elastic (e.g. rubber band.)
If you build a trebuchet then you will need to use a pivoting beam and a counterweight.
B. It will have some kind of trigger or switch. (Without such a trigger, you would merely have a large slingshot.)
C. The payload range will be nearly constant (each payload lands within 15% of the other payloads.)
D. It will have adjustable firing: One setting will yield a shorter range (at least 4 feet.), while another setting yields a longer range (at least 8 feet.)
E. The weight limit is 10 pounds.
F. The longest allowable dimensions of height, length and width are 50 centimeters for each.
Scoring
100 points Machine built according to the above characteristics
– 20 points Minimum range is not met.
– 20 points Too large or too heavy.
– 10 points Firing range is not adjustable.
– 10 points Uses a stretched elastic material (e.g. rubber band) as the only source of power. (Not applicable for trebuchets, of course.)
– 10 points No trigger.
– 5 points Payload range is not constant
Catapult animations
Redstone projects.com: Catapult animations
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Earth’s magnetic field
The Earth has a magnetic field. Sometimes called geomagnetic.
When we use a compass, we make use of this field.
Combining a compass and a map allows us to navigate over the landscape.
We’re tempted to view the Earth as a big rock with a giant bar magnet stuck through it.
English scientist William Gilbert observed 400 years ago that Earth behaves like a giant bar magnet.
It is as if there is one magnetic pole up in the Arctic (near the geographic north pole) and another pole down in Antarctica (near the geographic south pole).
What do we mean that the magnetic pole is “near” the geographic pole!? Aren’t they the same thing? Contrary to popular belief, nope. Not the same.
The geographic poles are the places that the Earth spins around.
The spinning is absolutely real. (But there’s no actual axis, as the image shows.)
The north and south places where the Earth is spinning around are called the geographic poles.
But as we see here, the magnetic north pole is south of the geographic north pole.
More than that, the magnetic pole slowly moves over time?
This is a huge clue that our magnetic field doesn’t come from some giant bar magnet.
No, my friends, something more flexible and changeable is clearly making this magnetic field.
Image from commons.wikimedia.org, Magnetic_North_Pole_Positions.
Red circles mark magnetic north pole positions as determined by direct observation, blue circles mark positions modelled using the GUFM model (1590–1980) and the IGRF model (1980–2010) in 2 year increments.
How is our planet’s magnetic field generated?
Earth has a molten metal core, surrounded by a highly metallic shell of magma.
Photo by RK (c) 2019
Like in a wire, electrons move through this metal.
image from Francisco Esquembre , Universidad de Murcia; Maria Jose Cano; lookang http://weelookang.blogspot.sg/
And as we learn in our unit on electromagnetism, the motion of electrons creates a magnetic field!
The Earth itself is slowly spinning, so we end up with slow-moving mantle and core currents within the Earth.
So now we have currents of moving metal inside a giant spinning sphere!
These currents affect the flow of electrons, thus affecting the resulting magnetic field.
How strong is this planetary magnetic field?
Earth’s magnetic field is weak compared to gravity.
For a compass to be able to show tiny effects of Earth’s magnetism, we have to minimize the effects of these other forces. That’s why compass needles are
* lightweight (so gravity has less effect on them)
* mounted on frictionless bearings (less resistance for the magnetic force to overcome)
http://www.explainthatstuff.com/how-compasses-work.html
Where the Earth’s magnetic field comes from
By Chris Rowan
The Earth’s magnetic field may approximate to a simple dipole, but explaining precisely how that dipole is generated and maintained is not simple at all.
The field originates deep in the Earth, where temperatures are far too high for any material to maintain a permanent magnetisation.
The dynamism that is apparent from the wandering of the magnetic poles with respect to the spin axis (secular variation), and the quasi-periodic flips in field polarity, also suggest that some process is actively generating and maintaining the geomagnetic field.
Geophysicists therefore look to the most dynamic region in the planetary depths, the molten outer core, as the source of the force that directs our compass needles…
The Earth’s interior generates a magnetic field. It reaches out into space.
This magnetic field protects us from some types of radiation.
Earth’s North geographic pole has a South magnetic field
The “north” pole of a compass – by definition – is pulled to a “south” magnetic pole.
If we hold a compass in our hands, and call the part pointing to the land of Polar bears “north”, then we’d have to call the part attracting it “south.”
Magnetic field reversals
The magnetic field of the Earth is not stable; it has flip-flopped throughout geologic time.
Evidence: (to be added)
“In the meantime, scientists are working to understand why the magnetic field is changing so dramatically. Geomagnetic pulses, like the one that happened in 2016, might be traced back to ‘hydromagnetic’ waves arising from deep in the core1. And the fast motion of the north magnetic pole could be linked to a high-speed jet of liquid iron beneath Canada2.”
Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why. Nature Jan 19
Geomagnetic acceleration and rapid hydromagnetic wave dynamics in advanced numerical simulations of the geodynamo, Aubert, Julien, Geophys. J. Int. 214, 531–547 (2018).
An accelerating high-latitude jet in Earth’s core. Livermore, P. W., Hollerbach, R. & Finlay, C. C. Nature Geosci. 10, 62–68 (2017).
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App: The solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field
http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multimedia/edu/PlanetaryMagneticFields.swf
Learning about Earth’s magnetic field: ESA’s Swarm mission
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