Without the sun, there would be no life on Earth. It provides light, warmth, and energy for us. It’s also responsible for our weather.

But like the weather here on Earth, the Sun too has a weather. Sunspots come and go, and solar flares eject enormous amounts of mass and radiation out into the universe. And sometimes, these ejections - or solar storms - even hit the earth. But they don’t happen regularly, making it difficult to predict them.

Usually, they’re quite small, and the only real effect are auroras and a bit of radio interference. But if the flare is big enough, it can cause more trouble. Satellites don’t enjoy the protection of Earth’s atmosphere, so they are more vulnerable to being disrupted by a solar flare, possibly interfering with things like GPS.

But some flares are even larger and therefore more dangerous. They are so powerful that their effects could penetrate our atmosphere. And if that happened, it would cause widespread disruptions, destroy the electric grid, and interfere or even outright destroy most electronic devices.

And we know that such flares have hit the Earth. In March of 1989, one such storm hit the Earth, disrupting radio signals¹, satellites in orbit lost control, and caused a 9-hour long blackout in Quebec, Canada.

The most powerful solar storm recorded happened in 1859, and is known as the Carrington Event. It was so powerful that it gave telegraph operators electric shocks when they touched their telegraphs. If such a storm hit Earth today, it would wreak havoc, since we are so much more reliant on electronics.

So, the question is then: how afraid do we need to be? We know that a solar storm of similar strength to the one in 1859 happened in 2012, and missed Earth by only 9 days. Which is why astronomers are watching the Sun closely, trying to answer just [how often do severe solar storms pummel the Earth](https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/how-often-do-severe-solar-storms-pummel-the-earth “Bad Astronomy

How often do severe solar storms pummel the Earth?”).

Return to Service

Last time, I wrote about the troubles Boeing is still having with the 737 MAX. But even if they fixed all its issues today, how long would it take until the 737 MAX would actually fly again? (YouTube).

Leap in Time

Every four years, February gets an extra day (usually). But why do we have leap days?

Random Cars

There’s no shortage of studies that compare commuters using cars vs. those who use bikes or other methods of transportation. The main problem with these studies is that they’re not randomized: They use existing demographic data, and thus cannot control for the reasons why someone uses a car (or not). But then Beijing provided the perfect test environment by accident: They randomized who was allowed to get a car. And so scientists got to work: Does owning a car hurt your health?

Free & Unwanted Advertising

“Influencers” is a relatively new job description, and something that only exists thanks to our globalized, connected world. But that same world is also enabling “fast fashion” — and they use the influencers to market their products, whether they want to or not: Companies are stealing influencers’ faces.

Sink or Swim, Technocratically

The US of A used to have thriving middle class. Then the management consultant company McKinsey came along and destroyed the middle class in the name of efficiency.

2019 in Review

You can be forgiven if you thought that 2019 wasn’t a particular good year. Trade wars, surveillance capitalism, wars, refugee crisis, a growing gap between the rich and everyone else, and so on. But there were also glimmers of hope: 99 Good News Stories You Probably Didn’t Hear About in 2019. Related: The 52 things most interesting things Kent Hendricks learned in 2019.

📖 Weekly Longread 📚

“Eira Thomas’s company has used radical new methods to find some of the biggest uncut gems in history”: The Woman Shaking Up the Diamond Industry

🦄 Unicorn Chaser 🦄

From wood fires to electric lights: A visual history of light.