Exploring the Relationship Between Solar Activity and Pandemic Outbreaks: A Case Study on COVID-19

March 14, 2023 / esfein / Leave a comment

This research paper investigates the potential correlation between solar activity and the occurrence of pandemics, with a specific focus on the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examines the influence of solar cycles on various aspects of life on Earth and delves into the possibility that heightened solar activity could be a contributing factor to pandemics. Five sources have been referenced and cited to support the discussion and provide a comprehensive analysis of the subject.

Solar activity, characterized by phenomena such as sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections, has long been known to have a significant impact on Earth’s climate, magnetic field, and even technological systems (1). However, recent research has suggested that solar activity may also influence the occurrence of pandemics, including the recent COVID-19 outbreak. This paper aims to explore the relationship between solar activity and pandemics, drawing upon at least five sources to substantiate the discussion.

Solar Cycles and Their Effects on Earth:

The Sun undergoes a regular 11-year cycle known as the solar cycle, during which its magnetic field undergoes a polarity reversal, and the number of sunspots fluctuates. These sunspots are associated with various solar phenomena, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which can significantly impact Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and climate (2).

Heightened solar activity can lead to disruptions in Earth’s magnetic field, which may cause a range of effects, including increased ultraviolet radiation, geomagnetic storms, and disruptions to power grids and satellite communication systems (3). It has also been suggested that variations in solar activity could affect climate patterns and weather events, such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which can impact global temperatures and precipitation patterns.

Solar Activity and Pandemics: A Possible Connection?

The potential link between solar activity and pandemics has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. Researchers have found correlations between periods of increased solar activity and the emergence of new pandemics throughout history, such as the Spanish flu in 1918 and the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 (4). The COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019, also coincided with the beginning of Solar Cycle 25, which has led some scientists to speculate about a possible connection between the two events.

One theory suggests that increased solar activity could lead to alterations in Earth’s climate and weather patterns, which in turn could create conditions more conducive to the spread of infectious diseases. For example, changes in temperature, humidity, and precipitation patterns could affect the transmission rates and geographical distribution of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever (5).

Another hypothesis proposes that heightened solar activity could directly influence the behavior of viruses themselves. It has been suggested that increased ultraviolet radiation during periods of high solar activity could cause genetic mutations in viruses, potentially making them more virulent or more easily transmissible (6).

While these theories are intriguing, it is important to note that the relationship between solar activity and pandemics remains speculative, and further research is needed to establish a definitive connection. It is also essential to recognize that pandemics are complex phenomena, with multiple contributing factors, such as human behavior, population density, and public health infrastructure, playing significant roles in their emergence and spread.

Conclusion:

The relationship between solar activity and pandemics is an emerging area of research that warrants further investigation. While correlations have been observed between periods of heightened solar activity and the emergence of new pandemics, including COVID-19, the causal relationship remains unclear. Future research should focus on elucidating the potential mechanisms through which solar activity might influence the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, as well as examining the interplay between solar activity and other factors, such as human behavior, population density, and public health infrastructure. Understanding the potential links between solar activity and pandemics could provide valuable insights into the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, which could be crucial for developing more effective strategies for pandemic preparedness and response.

Source List:

Hathaway, D. H. (2015). The Solar Cycle. Living Reviews in Solar Physics, 12(1), 4. Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/lrsp-2015-4
Lockwood, M. (2010). Solar change and climate: an update in the light of the current exceptional solar minimum. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 466(2114), 303-329. Link: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2009.0519
Pulkkinen, A., Bernabeu, E., Eichner, J., Beggan, C., & Thomson, A. W. P. (2012). Generation of 100-year geomagnetically induced current scenarios. Space Weather, 10(2). Link: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2011SW000750
Dündar, C., Dündar, H. S., & Yeşilyurt, F. (2020). Does sunspot activity affect the influenza pandemics on Earth? Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach, 8(1), 1000177. Link: https://www.longdom.org/open-access/does-sunspot-activity-affect-the-influenza-pandemics-on-earth.pdf
Mordecai, E. A., Caldwell, J. M., Grossman, M. K., Lippi, C. A., Johnson, L. R., Neira, M., Rohr, J. R., Ryan, S. J., Savage, V., Shocket, M. S., Sippy, R., Stewart Ibarra, A. M., Thomas, M. B., & Villena, O. (2019). Thermal biology of mosquito-borne disease. Ecology Letters, 22(10), 1690-1708. Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13335
Qu, G., Li, X., Hu, L., & Jiang, G. (2020). An imperative need for research on the role of environmental factors in transmission of novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Environmental Science & Technology, 54(7), 3730-3732. Link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.0c01102

Earthquake Lights: The Mystery has Been Solved

January 5, 2014 / esfein / Leave a comment

Earthquake lights remind me that everything will always be calm and okay… http://www.jimonlight.com/

‘Earthquake lights,’ or earthquake luminosity, is the name of a phenomenon that occurs just before, during, or right after an earthquake. Earthquake lights are lights that appear from seemingly nowhere, and disappear just as mysteriously. They come in many colors and forms. People have reported seeing them for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until now that scientists believe they may finally understand why strange lights are seen during an earthquake.

A report from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1975 about the Kalapana earthquake on the Big Island of Hawaii described the earthquake lights that were seen during and immediately after the quake. The report stated that,

During and immediately after the main shock, ‘earthquake lights’ of white to bluish flashes or glows lasting several seconds were reported by a number of observers… The lights are believed to be results of earthquake-induced distortions of the atmosphere.

An earthquake-induced distortion of the atmosphere is scientific jargon for “we have no idea.”

Related Article: Science Says “Smart People Are Idiots”

Aliens have the inalienable right to hang out near earthquake sites. http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/

Earthquake lights can last for hours at a time and have been spotted many miles away from the epicenter of earthquakes. They are certainly strange, but researchers believe that a new study is the most likely hypothesis for why and how earthquake lights form.

The study, published in Seismological Research Letters, represents a whole new approach to understanding earthquake lights. The study explains that earthquake lights are a phenomenon that have been known about for hundreds of years, explaining that,

With the beginning of seismology as a science in the 19th century, many scholars devoted time to reporting luminosities associated with earthquake activity. To name a few, the Irish engineer Robert Mallet, the “founder of seismology”, published a five part catalog entitled “On the Facts of Earthquake Phenomena”… in which numerous reports on earthquake luminosities can be found. His catalog, first presented to the British Association of Science, covers the years 1606 B.C. to 1842 A.D.. Ignazio Galli, an Italian priest who graduated in Natural Sciences, published in the early 1900s a catalog of 148 seismic events associated with different types of luminosities. His catalog covers the years 89 B.C. to 1910 A.D.

Looks like both religion and science have been aware of earthquake lights for some time. The study goes on to explain the past theories for earthquake lights. There are two major past theories, and another fringe theory:

Old Theory 1: Earthquake lights are the result of intense electric fields which cause atmospheric disturbances. These fields are created through piezoelectricity, a charge that accumulates in crystals undergoing stress. Because there are a great deal of rocks in the earth that contain quartz crystal, this theory is plausible. Thrown violently about by tectonic plates, the quartz crystals release piezoelectricity and could be creating a luminescent stir in the atmosphere.

Old Theory 2: Earthquake lights are caused by local disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field within the ionosphere. These disturbances are caused by tectonic stress. A glow can be seen as the magnetic field and particles in the ionosphere recombine and reform. This theory is the least likely of the two because the described effects on the ionosphere have not been notably observed.

Related Article: Pooping Dogs Perceive Earth’s Magnetic Field

Old Theory 3: Earthquake lights are created using government technology under the authority of a project called the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, or HAARP. HAARP’s aim is to better understand the ionosphere and how it can be manipulated and used to provide better communication and surveillance for civilian and military use. Many believe that HAARP is used to create natural disasters by disrupting Earth’s magnetic field. They also think it could be a mind control device. This theory is the most likely to remain a theory for a very long time.

This is where Big Brother makes weather for the proles.

New Theory: Earthquake lights are caused by the release of negatively-charged oxygen atoms created through high intensity stress. These atoms slip through cracks in the earth and reach the atmosphere even before an earthquake can be felt. Dense groups of these atoms ionize pockets of air, creating a plasma that emits light.

The new theory on earthquake lights is the most likely to be true as it explains why the lights can be seen for up to days before the earthquake begins. Tectonic stress gradually builds up over an extended period of time, and according to the theory, so do the lights.

Despite earthquake lights occurring 85% of the time at earthquake sites that account for only 5% of all earthquakes, researchers are hopeful that the lights might one day be used as an early warning system.

Sources:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/earthquakes/destruct/1975Nov29

http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/content/85/1/159

http://jjap.jsap.jp/link?JJAP/37/5016/

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/view.php?id=22089

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2014/01/why-do-lights-sometimes-appear-in-the-sky-during-an-earthquake/

http://www.popsci.com/military-aviation-space/article/2008-06/militarys-mystery-machine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Frequency_Active_Auroral_Research_Program

Pooping Dogs Perceive Earth’s Magnetic Field

January 4, 2014 / esfein / 1 Comment

Earth’s magnetic field is the reason you’re reading this.

In the first study of its kind researchers were able to prove that dogs are able to perceive Earth’s magnetic field. Although it is still unknown exactly how dogs exhibit magnetosensitivity (magnetic sensitivity), the evidence speaks for itself. Observation of defecation and urination preferences of seventy different dogs led to conclusive answers. Recent studies have even led scientists to believe that humans may have the ability to perceive Earth’s magnetic field in a similar way.

Earth’s Magnetic Field and Dog Crap

According to the researchers of the study,

Several mammalian species spontaneously align their body axis with respect to the Earth’s magnetic field (MF) lines in diverse behavioral contexts.

Dog poop will lead the way to understanding the magnetic field. motherboard.vice.com

It was this body alignment that researchers from all around the world speculated they might see in dogs. 70 dogs from 37 different breeds were chosen to take part in the study. No animal cruelty took place; the only thing the dogs had to do was number one and two. For two years scientists observed dogs defecate 1,893 times and urinate 5,582 times. Each time a dog did its business the research team took note of the geomagnetic conditions at the time, taking into account the intensity of Earth’s magnetic field at the time, as well as the direction of the dog relative to magnetic north.

Related Article: Dogs Can Predict Earthquakes by Hearing Them

The results irrefutably show that as long as the Earth’s magnetic field is calm and stable, dogs prefer to align themselves perfectly along the north-south polar axis. When the field is unstable, alignment no longer occurs. Researchers are unsure why dogs behave this way as it has nothing to do with navigation. In truth, bird and mammalian perception of Earth’s magnetic field is still a total mystery.

What is the Magnetic Field?

The magnetic field is like a Romulan force field. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/

Although the magnetic field is a wildly debated topic in various fields of science, scientists do agree on one fact: it is the only reason we’re alive. The sun ejects ionized gases filled with charged particles, called a “solar wind,” in all directions at a velocity of about 250 miles per second. This solar wind would leave Earth as barren as Mars were it not for our magnetic field.

The magnetic field is a constantly changing and shifting field of magnetic influence surrounding the planet. The field extends for hundreds of miles in one form or another. Although the evidence is still debated, most scientists accept dynamo theory, which is a theory describing the dynamo effect, as the source of the field’s origin. The dynamo effect is an explanation for the creation of planetary magnetic fields which claims that it is produced by the movement of electrical currents in the spinning liquid metallic outer core of the Earth, which is made of iron and nickel.

Related Article: Martian Spiders: Seasonal Life on Mars

The magnetic field shield!

Although we usually refer to space as a vacuum, or utterly empty, this is not exactly true. A colossal amount of plasma and ionized gas which we call a solar wind is constantly being ejected from the sun. The solar wind is slowed down from a super-sonic speed to a sub-sonic speed when it hits the bow shock, the outermost area of influence of the magnetic field. This area is also called the magnetopause. The entire area of space between the magnetopause and the Earth is called the magnetosphere, or Earth’s magnetic field. All planets except for our neighbors Mars and Venus have a magnetic field.

Fun Fact: The magnetic field deflects the ionized particles like a windshield deflects rain. A very small amount of these gases break through the bow shock and get stuck in the field. These charged particles from the sun are what cause the aurora borealis (northern and southern lights).

Related Article: MIT Discovers New State of Matter and Magnetism

Perceiving the Magnetic Field

There are three ways in which Earth’s magnetic field can be perceived:

Mechanical Reception – This is the principle behind a compass needle. A magnetic field exerts a torque on a ferromagnetic material or on a material with diamagnetic anisotropy. Only ferromagnets will be able to produce a response to a field as weak as 0.5 Gauss that is detectable against thermal motion. In animals, the use of small magnetic particles (e.g., magnetite) as magnetoreceptors has been suggested. The use of magnetite has been shown in magnetotactic bacteria that are rotated by a magnetic field because of the torque exerted on their magnetite particles.
A peek a the magnetic field. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/

Electric Induction – Movement in a magnetic field will result in an induced electric field. Elasmobranch fish have a special sensory organ to perceive electric fields with high accuracy and can use this organ also to detect magnetic fields. However, such an organ can not be found in all animals capable of magnetoreception.
Chemical Reception – Chemical reactions that involve transitions between different spin states can be influenced by magnetic fields, so that one of the possible products is favored due to the influence of the magnetic field. Usually, magnetic fields much stronger than the geomagnetic field are necessary to see a significant change in products. For a particular type of chemical reaction, radical-pair reactions, it has recently been shown experimentally that 0.5 Gauss magnetic fields produce a small, but measurable change in product ratios.

Perception of the magnetic field allows an animal to perceive their direction, altitude, and location in an environment. Magnetoreception allows an organism to create a regional map of the area they live in, as well as incredibly precise navigation. It’s like having an internal compass, gps, and google maps all at the same time. I like to think of perceiving the Earth’s magnetic field as having a video game-like mini map on your existential interface.

Animal Perception of the Magnetic Field

There is only one organism with a magnetic field perception scientists are sure they fully understand. The organism is a bacteria called a magnetotactic bacteria, and it has a very remarkable sense of the magnetosphere.

Inside magnetotactic bacteria cells there are organelles which contain magnetic crystals. The fixed magnets in the bacteria force it into polar alignment. This occurs with cells even if they are dead.

Although many can do it, scientists still have no unanimously accepted explanation for how the magnetic field is perceived by animals. The ability has been observed in a wide variety of species. According to a study published in the journal of comparative physiology,

A magnetic compass is widespread among animals, magnetic navigation is indicated e.g. in birds, marine turtles and spiny lobsters and the use of magnetic ‘sign posts’ has been described for birds and marine turtles.

Although in most cases we don’t know how, or why some animals have the ability to perceive the magnetic field, we are certain it is widespread. A great example of an animal with a magnetosensitivity we mostly understand is the chicken, an animal we all know and love. Hens have tiny magnets in their beaks which help them navigate. It is standard practice to cut the end of the beak off to avoid pecking. Doing this, however, also greatly disrupts a hen’s ability to navigate. Maybe that’s why chickens always seem so confused.

Related Article: Immortal Animals and the Human Link

Another classic example I’m sure you’ve heard of is the homing pigeon. This is a perfect example of an animal that proves time and time again it can perceive the magnetic field, and in fact depends on it for its precise navigation and homing ability. In fact, bird migration as a whole greatly depends on perception of the magnetosphere. The cause of the ability still eludes scientists though.

Too much declination to read the magnetic field right now! misadventuresofwidowhood.blogspot.com

Human Perception of the Magnetic Field

Some studies have claimed that magnets in the bones of human sinuses allow for magnetosensitivity to take place in humans. Magnets in the cells of our eyes have been found as well.

There is currently a project which attempts to emulate the experience of magnetic navigation as a sensory experience. Feel Space uses a belt which emits ongoing vibrations which train the wearer to recognize when they are aligned north to south, or in other directions. Could magnetosensitivity be a sixth sense humanity unlocks for itself? For those brave enough to try it, you could always implant magnets into the tips of your fingers in order to ‘feel’ changes in electromagnetic fields around you.

Sources:

http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/10/1/80/abstract

http://www.frontiersinzoology.com/content/pdf/1742-9994-10-80.pdf

http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/dynamos2.htm

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/29dec_magneticfield.html

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1002/1002.1860.pdf

Planetary Magnetospheres

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/magnetic.html

http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/magsense/

http://www.strangehorizons.com/2001/20010702/living_lodestones.shtml

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=magnetoreception

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15886990

http://jeb.biologists.org/content/210/13/2300.full

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9317262

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6823284

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13809144

http://gizmodo.com/5895555/i-have-a-magnet-implant-in-my-finger

Galaxy Geysers

January 12, 2013 / esfein / Leave a comment

phys.org

Astronomers have discovered intensely powerful geysers of energy pouring out of our galaxy’s center. These geysers are so powerful and expansive that the astronomers believe they may even play a major part in maintaining the galaxy’s overall magnetic field.

Astronomers from all over the world have now verified the discovery of the geysers and have concluded that the geysers of power are generated from the collective energy of 100 million years of exploding stars at the center of the galaxy. The energy outflows travel at supersonic speeds of 1000 kilometers per second and are mind-blowingly impressive in magnitude and power.

The research team’s leader, CSIRO’s Dr Ettore Carretti states that:

These outflows contain an extraordinary amount of energy — about a million times the energy of an exploding star.

The outflows take up 2/3 of the night sky seen from Earth and measure 50,000 light-years (five hundred thousand million million kilometres) from top to bottom, which is half the diameter of the entire Milky Way galaxy. Luckily for us, we are 30,000 light years away from these bastions of energy, far enough away that they don’t pose even a remote threat. They just look incredibly cool.

Sit back and enjoy the cosmic fireworks.

Sources:

http://www.csiro.au/Portals/Media/Our-Galaxys-geysers-are-towers-of-power.aspx