Time for solar physics! A discussion on Alfvén Waves

There have always been two very serious questions in the scientific community of solar physics: 1: Why is the solar corona hotter than the surface of the Sun? and 2: Why does the solar wind gain so much speed when it leaves the Sun's atmosphere? These questions are inherently complex, since the physical phenomena are not logically intuitive. Let me frame some examples. For the case of the corona: assume I provide an operational light bulb that radiates light from its surface. As one would expect, the intensity of the light should decrease as the distance increases. As simple as this seems, the solar corona, which is located millions of kilometers above the Sun's surface, does not obey this statement. The corona, which is a plasma-filled region (plasma is hot, ionized gas that interacts with magnetic fields strongly), is immensely hotter than the surface of the Sun! The Sun's surface is measured to be about 5770 K, while the corona is measured to be about 1.7 million K! Clearly there is some hidden mechanism that is eluding scientists. For the case of the solar wind, the situation is much simpler, but there is still no clear explanation for it. There exists the solar corona, a magnetically active region that moves plasma continuously. However, from this solar corona ejects the "solar wind", which is a collective of charged particles that extends out into the Solar System. The question is: how does the solar wind leave the corona and how does it gain such high speeds? What mechanism is responsible for providing the energy for such a phenomenon? Luckily for solar physics, there was a theory proposed in 1942 by Hannes Alfvén that predicted the existence of "magnetic plasma waves", which potentially solve both of these problems! Here is the core of the theory: The magnetic field lines around the Sun fluctuate incredibly, and they serve as a good medium for waves to travel on. Since plasma permeates the space around the magnetic field lines, the plasma interacts with the field and "sticks to it". Now, the magnetic field lines are like strings tied from both ends; when they are perturbed, the matter on the string will stay still, but oscillations will produce as a result. So the plasma oscillates on the magnetic field lines continuously, and these waves carry energy which transport that energy to the corona. This can trigger a heating effect, which is what is possibly observed in the corona! On top of that, these waves, coined Alfvén waves, theoretically carry enough energy to accelerate charged particles into the Solar System at speeds of 300-600 kilometers per second! This process is a jackpot for solar physics, and if more technology is introduced to study the Sun's atmosphere, this information can be confirmed experimentally. Talk about two birds with one stone!

Want Lucid Dreams? Get Some Gray Matter!

Lucid dreams have always been one of the most interesting facets of the brain. When you dream, there is always that chance of striking gold: entering a dream where the Universe is at your palms. This type of dream is one where the dreamer realizes that he/she is dreaming. Although it may sound trivial, it most certainly is not. Dreams that are lucid exercise the imagination of the brain to create realities that seem real, but aren't. You can manipulate the laws of physics to generate a simulation of  your very own macrocosm! By this point, the reader is probably thinking, "Alright, lucid dreams sound awesome, but how does one achieve these types of dreams in their sleep?" Oddly enough, lucid dreams are rare for some, but much more common for others. It turns out that a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience has been done on this topic, and the results concluded that there are certain structures of human brains that have a higher probability of attaining lucidity than others. Brains that had a greater volume of gray matter in the frontopolar cortex, on average, had more success of achieving these dreams than those that did not. So if you want to dream lucidly (more often), either try other methods or inject some gray matter directly into your brain!

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/2015/01/31/lucid-dreams/