On the half of the earth that's daytime, the sun's magnetic field presses against earth's magnetic field. About every 8 minutes, a portal opens up, and charged particles flow from sun to earth (called a Flux Transfer Event or FTE). The portal is shaped like a cylinder, wide as the earth.

The solar wind does not offer a steady flow of energetic particles as once believed; instead, the earth expriences magnetic reconnection in these clock-like energetic bursts.

FTEs were discussed today at a meeting of physicists, the 2008 Plasma Workshop, in Huntsville, Alabama.

I wonder how FTEs interact with the biophysics of life. How does the human body experience these pulses?

Sources:
Science@NASA (2008, November 2).
Magnetic Portals Connect Sun And Earth.
ScienceDaily.

European Space Agency (2006, October 4).
Details Of Solar Particles Penetrating The Earth's Environment Revealed. ScienceDaily.

Photo is from a greeting card I received of Dale Chihuly's work. I don't have the card available right now, but it seems it may have been a Portal card:)