The familiar phenomenon has puzzled researchers for centuries, but experiments are finally making sense of its unruly behaviours.

A growing body of research is shifting how scientists explain static electricity, pointing to surface contamination and contact history rather than the inherent properties of materials as the primary ...

There’s a shocking lack of understanding of the physics underlying this commonplace phenomenon, but researchers are on the case.

If you’ve ever felt a shock after rubbing your hair with a balloon or shuffling across a carpet, you’ll know that static electricity can be a real pain. But for the scientists who study it, the pain ...

Niusha Shafiabady does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond ...