Plasma in space is tangled in magnetic fields, like a spring. A new equation helps predict how these fields will bend around black holes and stars—and perhaps bring us closer to controlled nuclear fusion.
🎯 Created for fusion reactors, the Grad–Shafranov equation also governs Earth’s magnetic shield that protects us from the solar wind.
🎬 In Interstellar, the visualization of the black hole Gargantua relied on this equation: its accretion disk glows thanks to magnetic fields calculated using Grad–Shafranov.