Scientists Can Now Predict Disruptions Caused by the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections

People sometimes confuse CMEs with solar flares, but they are different phenomena.

Solar flares are explosions on the sun that occur when energy build up around sunspots, becoming so hot -- millions of degrees Fahrenheit -- that they produce a burst of electromagnetic radiation across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma rays.

CMEs were once thought to be the result of solar flares, but while they sometimes accompany solar flares, there is no direct relation between the two.

They occur when a large bubble of plasma escapes through a star's corona and travels through space to the earth at high speeds over the course of several hours.

If a CME collides with the earth, it can produce a geomagnetic storm, which can cause electrical power outages and damage communications satellites and electronic equipment.

Solar flares, on the other hand, affect radio communications

Sun Darkens Electronics -- Space Physicists and Atmospheric Scientists Can Now Predict Disruptions Caused by the Sun's Coronal Mass Ejections

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engineers in the growing unmanned aircraft industry are working on drones that look like insects and the helicopter-like maple leaf seed.

Researchers are even exploring ways to implant surveillance and other equipment into an insect as it is undergoing metamorphosis. They want to be able to control the creature.

AeroVironment has a history of developing such aircraft.

Over the decades, the Monrovia, Calif.-based company has developed everything from a flying mechanical reptile to a hydrogen-powered plane capable of flying in the stratosphere and surveying an area larger than Afghanistan at one glance.

It has become a leader in the hand-launched drone industry.

Whats coming is a new generation of aircraft with the agility and appearance of small birds.

Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or so-called whirly bird, loaded with navigation equipment and imaging sensors. The spy plane weighs .07 ounces.

On the far end of the research spectrum, DARPA is also exploring the possibility of implanting live insects during metamorphosis with video cameras or sensors and controlling them by applying electrical stimulation to their wings.

The idea is for the military to be able to send in a swarm of bugs loaded with spy gear.

News from The Associated Press

Already developed were flies, bees being flow remotely, controlled by electrodes inserted in their brains.