No longer whistling in the dark: Scientists uncover source of perplexing waves

Magnetic reconnection, the snapping apart and violent reconnection of magnetic field lines in plasma--the state of matter composed of free electrons and atomic nuclei--occurs throughout the universe and can whip up space storms that disrupt cell phone service and knock out power grids. Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and other laboratories, using data from a NASA four-satellite mission that is studying reconnection, have develope...