Sixty-year diffusion model of Earth's radiation belt challenged

A study published in July in Physical Review Research by a team at the International Space Science Institute in Bern argues that high-energy particles in Earth's radiation belt form complex, structured patterns — not the slow, random diffusion assumed since the 1960s. Co-authors Oliver Allanson of the University of Birmingham and Miroslav Hanzelka of the Czech Academy of Sciences say limited spacecraft resolution has masked the true structure.