Data from the Japanese Hinode spacecraft have confirmed that a set of long-theorised magnetic waves help power the solar wind that drives charged particles to the frigid boundary of the solar system. Called Alfven waves, they play an important role in accelerating the solar wind to speeds of around 2 million mph, according to results published in the journal Science. "Until now, Alfven waves have been impossible to observe because of limited resolution of available instruments," said Alexei Pevtsov, a Hinode scientist in Washington, DC "With the help of Hinode, we are now able to see direct evidence of Alfven waves." Hinode was launched in September 2006, the latest spacecraft trying to unravel long-standing solar mysteries, such as the origin of the sun's huge magnetic field, and the explanation behind the fact that the sun's atmosphere is nearly a million degrees hotter than the surface.

Even babies may be good judges of character

In a study that suggests people may begin evaluating one another for trustworthiness even earlier than believed, researchers showed infants a demonstration in which different shapes played the good guy or the bad guy. Then the infants were allowed to choose one to play with. The good guy won almost every time. In the case of Circle, a small wooden character with big eyes, that would be Triangle, who helped him when he was struggling up the hillnot Square, who gave him a good shove back down. Of course, when the roles were reversed and Triangle was cast as the hinderer, the infants preferred Square. After repeated demonstrations, the infants, 6 and 10 months old, were presented with the helper and the hinderer. They almost always reached for the helper. The study appears in the November 22 issue of Nature; the lead author is J. Kiley Hamlin of Yale. A co-author, Karen Wynn, a psychology professor at Yale, said the study showed that even at an early age, people are assessing those around them. "It's important for them to make a judgment about who might be a friend and who might be a potential foe," she said.

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