What’s Up With These Crazy Northern Lights?

To hear stories three days earlier, listen on The Big Story: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Earth is teeming with unknown species, and they’re dying off faster than ever. Now biologists are battling over an old question: how to catalog life? Written by Brooke Jarvis ...  Show more

To hear stories three days earlier, listen on The Big Story: ⁠⁠⁠⁠ http://swap.fm/l/wi-bigstorypod-feeddrop Sneaking six Americans out of Iran in 1979 would take an audacious plan, false identities, and an epic Hollywood cover story. Written by Joshuah Bearman. Originally published ...  Show more

We are at the height of the Sun's activity in its eleven year cycle, known to astronomers as the solar maximum. This means that over the next several months there's going to be a lot of solar activity. It's got us thinking back to 1859. That's when astronomer Richard Carrington w ...  Show more

A solar storm pushed the aurora borealis south last month to parts of the country that don't usually get to see the northern lights. We hear why these storms are becoming more common, and why researchers are both delighted and concerned. 

The sun is currently ramping up to hit the peak of its 11-year activity cycle. In the past few days, powerful solar eruptions have sent a stream of particles towards Earth which are set to produce spectacular auroras in both hemispheres. But these kinds of geomagnetic storms can ...  Show more