Could aches in the human body be linked to bursts of magnetic energy from the sun? A recent research correlating physics and biology seem to give weight to this hypothesis.
The research started when physicist Simon Wing of the Johns Hopkins University saw data from his wife, Lisa Rider, deputy unit chief of the Environmental Autoimmunity Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the National Institutes of Health.
The data involved cases of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GCA), where Wing quickly spotted a pattern: increased incidences of these ailments occurred in 10-year cycles.
"That got me curious. Only a few things in nature have a periodicity of about 10-11 years and the solar cycle is one of them," Wing said.
Wing tapped another physicist, Jay Johnson of the US Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, to compile data from the prestigious Mayo Clinic and investigate further on how these ailments relate to solar activity.
The research particularly looked at incidents recorded in Olmsted County, Minnesota, where Mayo Clinic is located, that range for over 50 years.
Eric Matteson, chair of the division of rheumatology at the Mayo Clinic, was impressed by Wing's findings. Matteson believes that the increased incidents of RA and GCA during increased solar activities is "more than a coincidental connection."
Wing ultimately concluded that more incidents of RA and GCA were recorded during a time when the sun has increased magnetic activity. In particular, these diseases are more prevalent when there is an increased number of outbursts known as "coronal mass ejections" happening on the sun's surface.
These outbursts hurl millions of tons of magnetic and electrically charged plasma gas against the magnetic field that surround the planet. These occurrences are known to cause disruptions in cellular phone services and even knock out power grids.
