Now those are two words I'd never thought I'd hear in the same sentence, but thanks to physics, the magnetic hose is now a reality:
One of the more important properties of electromagnetic waves is that they can be transmitted over almost unlimited distance. However, the same cannot be said of magnetic fields.
“The impact of magnetism in science is limited by an apparently insurmountable restriction: magnetic fields rapidly decay with the distance from the sources,” say Carles Navau at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a few pals.
That looks set to change. These guys say they’ve discovered how to transmit magnetic fields over long distances using a ‘magnetic hose’.