Del Genio studied more than 3, 000 individual cloud "snapshots" collected between 1994 and 1997 at the Department of Energy's Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Southern Great Plains field station.

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This move avoided any chance that the urologists might have bought their own radiation equipment--a trend sweeping the field.

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Synchrotron radiation is caused when electrons are accelerated by a magnetic field.

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Earth's magnetic field helps to deflect much of that harmful radiation.

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This is already having consequences in space, creating glitches in satellites that rely on the field to protect them from solar and other space radiation.

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However, such instruments are blinded by the intense infrared radiation emitted by flames, which overwhelm the sensitive detectors and limit their use in the field.

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Another possibility would be to figure out how to generate a magnetic field around the spacecraft that mimics the one that protects Earth from the worst cosmic radiation.

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Mr Wechlin adds that, during charging time, people stay inside the buses - something he says is absolutely safe, as the strength of the magnetic field produced is within the limits recommended by the International Commission on non-ionizing radiation protection (ICNIRP).

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And water would be all the more exciting on Ganymede because it is the largest moon in the solar system (larger even than the planets Mercury and Pluto) and, like earth, it has a permanent magnetic field that protects part of its surface from bombardment by certain sorts of life-destroying radiation.

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