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Article: Physicists seek knotty problem.... (researchers at Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain, believe knotted magnetic fields behave like ball lightning)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 7, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THERE is a neat model of science, refined by philosophers over the centuries. Discover problems. Then, carefully sifting the evidence, seek their solutions. This fine model of thought is, however, quite silent on what to do when you have a solution to which there is no problem.
Antonio Ranada and Jose Trueba, of the Universidad Complutense, in Madrid, Spain, have long had a theory of how knotted magnetic fields would behave, but it was of almost purely theoretical interest. In the current issue of Nature, they announce that there may be a natural phenomenon which fits it: ball lightning.
Despite nearly two centuries of puzzling, no good explanation has emerged ...