{"id":202996,"date":"2026-03-23T21:41:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/202996\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:41:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:41:17","slug":"inside-the-national-maglab-flamingo-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/202996\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the National MagLab | Flamingo Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Flamingo<\/p>\n

Floridians have a lot to argue about\u2014the insurance crisis, culture wars, college football rivalries\u2014but there\u2019s one thing almost all of them probably agree on: the mysterious superpowers of the MagLab. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory<\/a>, as it\u2019s officially known, enjoys a popular reputation as the state\u2019s ace hurricane-buster, a perception based solely on an imagined clash over elemental forces and a belief that the infinite promise of scientific innovation can thwart the reckless and destructive power of nature.<\/p>\n

Most entertain the fantasy: Every hurricane season, when the Big Bend stares down the eye of a roiling monster storm that wobbles east or west at the last minute\u2014sparing the capital the worst of its winds\u2014people exult in relief and shout to the glory of the mighty MagLab and its giant magnets, once again coming to the rescue and knocking certain doom off its course.<\/p>\n

And if it\u2019s meme-able, there must be something to it. An account on X named @The_TLH_Magnet flaunts weather maps of heavy gusters with captions like \u201cI ate a mesocyclone for breakfast. It tasted like victory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Easy as pushing a button.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good urban legend,\u201d concedes Tim Murphy, one of the lab\u2019s deputy directors, who greets me in his office on my first visit to the site. The 300,000-square-foot campus is a high-tech cluster of buildings tucked away in a leafy industrial park in southwest Tallahassee along a road named after Paul Dirac, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who was one of the founders of the quantum mechanics field and a Florida State University (FSU) professor from 1972 until his death in 1984.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"900MHzThe 900MHz 105mm ultra wide bore magnet is the strongest MRI in the world used for small-animal imaging. Photography courtesy of National MagLab.<\/p>\n

Since 1999, the lab has been home to the world\u2019s strongest magnet when it comes to continuous magnetic field. MagLab\u2019s signature hybrid magnet clocks in at 45 tesla (the unit measuring magnetic field strength). Standing at 22 feet high and weighing 35 tons, the magnet combines two types of magnets by wrapping a superconducting magnet rated at 11.5 tesla around a resistive magnet rated at 33.5 tesla. Girded by pipes of varying circumference, meters, metal tanks, wires and scaffolding, the lab space holding the magnet looks like the one from \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d on steroids.<\/p>\n

To use the magnet, the MagLab researchers first run 740 gallons of liquid helium through the superconducting magnet to cool it down to -456 degrees Fahrenheit\u201480 degrees frostier than the coldest day on Uranus. The complementary magnet sucks down 4,000 gallons of coolant a minute to keep temps down. At peak operation, it uses 33 megawatts of power\u2014enough juice to light up a small town, which feels appropriate, since the magnet uses four miles of superconducting wire. Price tag: $14.4 million. Take one of the monthly public tours and you can\u2019t miss it. There\u2019s a sky blue sign on the wall with an arrow and the words \u201cWorld\u2019s Strongest Magnet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

MagLab owes its existence to Jack Crow, a physicist who, in 1990, became the director of the Center for Materials Research at FSU. Under Crow\u2019s leadership, FSU submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a new national laboratory dedicated to magnetic research. Crow, whose life-sized bust graces the facility\u2019s lobby, made a compelling proposal to his former employers, the NSF. FSU\u2019s proposal won, beating out the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the NSF had hosted a magnetic lab since 1960. The foundation awarded funding to FSU, as well as the University of Florida and Los Alamos National Laboratory\u2014both of which host their own smaller magnetic lab outposts. Vice President Al Gore gave the keynote at the October 1994 dedication, while Florida political legends Gov. Lawton Chiles and U.S. Senator Bob Graham sat behind him. \u201cIt\u2019s the story,\u201d Gore said, \u201cof the triumph of vision and faith over cynicism.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re living in a world that we don\u02bct really understand all the rules of, so it\u02bcs important to figure that out.\u00a0
\u2014Tim Murphy<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an inspiring backdrop for what the MagLab has expanded into over its three-decade history: a nucleus for global innovation where rigorous scientific endeavor pushes toward revolutionary advances in everything from the development of more powerful MRI machines in the health care field to energy and the environment with the creation of more heat-efficient materials for use in AI data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like a lot of newbies on their first visit,\u00a0 I had to bring up the weather. Entertaining as it is, the presumption of the lab\u2019s hurricane-busting powers obscures its actual accomplishments. \u201cThere are some folks who will actually take that seriously,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cThe energy scales are wrong. We can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

But what they actually do at MagLab is at least as head spinning, although it doesn\u2019t easily break down into everyday shorthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PhysicistPhysicist Yawen Fang studies electrons in superconductors. Photography courtesy of National MagLab.<\/p>\n

Magic of\u00a0Quantum Mechanics<\/p>\n

The place is remarkably quiet for all the heavy machinery. Most of the audible excitement comes from a group of local school kids responding to an educational demonstration of magnetic properties that cause a small puck to levitate and fly in a circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DNA<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, my brain is still awhirl with the fantastical and extremely fictional visions of movies like Christopher Nolan\u2019s black hole-hopping \u201cInterstellar,\u201d in which humanity\u2019s very existence hinges on Matthew McConaughey bending time and space to get access to the fifth dimension.<\/p>\n

At the very least, I wondered, is there anyone racing to save the world?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we all are in a way\u2014or at least we think we are,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to understand how things work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

That means about 1,500\u20132,000 researchers from around the world visit the MagLab every year. Most will spend a week, employing the lab\u2019s array of magnets for research and technological advancement in the fields of health, the environment and energy\u2014all to aid in what Murphy describes as \u201csolving the mysteries of the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s try to unpack that last part.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the world that we live in, the Newtonian world, is based (on) quantum mechanics, and we don\u2019t understand a great deal about quantum mechanics,\u201d Murphy says. The theory, which has evolved since Max Planck introduced its founding concepts some 125 years ago, is best described as an
explanation of the behavior of atoms and particles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re living in a world that we don\u2019t really understand all the rules of, so it\u2019s important to figure that out,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, it\u2019s challenging to give the public an easy handle on all that. Condensed matter physics or materials science, for which the MagLab engages some of the planet\u2019s deepest thinkers, \u201cdoesn\u2019t have a really good story like astrophysics, space science (or) high-energy physics (where) we\u2019re recreating conditions at the beginning of the universe,\u201d he continues. Astronomy, for instance, has the cosmic web\u2014the seemingly infinite backbone of the universe. \u201cWe don\u2019t have those good stories to snag people\u2019s interest, which has been a long-term failing for condensed matter physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might be why so many people embraced the hurricane idea. All those magnets, they must be up to something.<\/p>\n

And they are. Some of the potential breakthroughs promise world-altering impacts on everyday life but don\u2019t sound quite so dramatic. The copious accomplishments documented online include recent projects analyzing the positive effect of whale poop on ocean ecology, the discovery of a new DNA structure and the impact made by wildfires on soil composition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the big things that\u2019s happening now is with data centers,\u201d Murphy says, referring to the massive computing centers that are driving the AI boom as they burn up astonishing amounts of power. Projections from the International Monetary Fund expect worldwide electricity consumption for AI and data centers to triple by 2030. But research into what are known as topological materials would lead to reductions in consumption by lowering the current resistance of materials conducting electricity. \u201cSomething simple like this has tremendous benefits for technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

As public funding for scientific endeavors faces severe DOGE-era cutbacks, there is more urgency for researchbinstitutions to make clear, as Murphy frames the question, \u201cwhy should we be spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars doing this?\u201d His answer is at everyone\u2019s fingertips: the phones in our pockets. \u201cAll the technology in that smartphone, from a physics perspective, is old,\u201d he says. \u201cAll those materials (are from the) 1950s, 1960s, 1970s \u2026 that came about from work that was done in the \u201920s, \u201930s, \u201940s and \u201950s. What we\u2019re doing now, if it\u2019s going to be in a consumer product, you\u2019re looking at five, 10, 15 years down the road. As we keep going, that time gets shorter, but being able to forecast that is pretty difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NationalOver 500 in-house researchers study at MagLab. Photography courtesy of National MagLab.<\/p>\n

Tomorrowland, Tallahassee<\/p>\n

\"MagLab<\/p>\n

My visits evoke a good bit of wonder and also take me back to the 1960s when, as a child, I would hang out with my father, a technician at FSU\u2019s nuclear physics lab, home to the EN Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator\u2014one of only two in the United States at the time. The lab had all the bells and whistles out of a 1950s sci-fi movie, from the blinking, wall-sized control banks to the massive, room-filling cylinder of the accelerator itself. My dad\u2019s pals were engineers who designed nuclear generators for third-world countries and invented things like the air-bearing turntable. The Space Race was on, and I even scored the autograph of an FSU chemistry professor named Anthony Llewellyn, who had been taught to dive by none other than Jacques Cousteau and trained at NASA for future Apollo missions. The missions never ended up happening, and Llewellyn dropped out of the program after a year. While none of this impelled me toward a career in the sciences\u2014I barely made it out of 12th-grade physics with a C\u2014my proximity to this world showed me that my hometown played a crucial role in exploring the New Frontier. All these decades later, it\u2019s reassuring to see that Tallahassee has maintained its scientific edge.<\/p>\n

On an afternoon in early December, I joined physicist Ali Bangura, a director in the lab\u2019s DC (direct current) Field Facility, to observe some visiting scientists at work. The DC Field Facility is the largest of MagLab\u2019s four user facilities located at FSU. The facility houses 14 magnets and 15,000 square feet of cooling technology, enabling scientists to make cutting-edge discoveries. At the moment, the researchers using the facility are from Sandia National Laboratories, which is part of the National Nuclear Security Administration. While Sandia\u2019s origins lie in the Manhattan Project, America\u2019s top-secret endeavor to invent the atomic bomb, the laboratory\u2019s mission today is wide-ranging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"45The 45 Tesla hybrid magnet takes up two stories and is the world\u2019s strongest continuous-field magnet. Photography courtesy of National MagLab.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re here to measure two-dimensional electron gas,\u201d explains Bangura, who goes on to outline their research, which involves a material known as graphene\u2014a honeycomb structure of carbon atoms and the thinnest two-dimensional material that exists. Used in everything from touchscreens to water purification, graphene is prized for its conductivity and strength, which exceeds that of copper and steel. The material was first isolated in 2004 by a pair of scientists who later won the Nobel Prize for their discovery, but graphene\u2019s potential as a miracle material has only just begun to be realized.<\/p>\n

Cool graphene down, and it behaves a certain way; apply a magnetic field, and graphene acts completely different. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing predictive of what you end up with,\u201d Bangura says. Its unique characteristics and ability to transform potentially give graphene limitless applications\u2014from electronics and energy storage to drug and cancer treatments. Much of the work on graphene attempts to better understand and control its structure to best utilize it. \u201cThe aim is ultimately to model how this comes about and from that be able to design materials,\u201d he says. \u00a0<\/p>\n

I believe that science can help everybody.
\u2014Kathleen Amm<\/p>\n

As Bangura is outlining all this, and a lot more, the Sandia scientists are busy on the second-level platform lab where we\u2019re standing. The space has a warehouse vibe with bright overhead lighting, metal grates in the walls, fans, desktops cluttered with notepads, water bottles and gear. There\u2019s the custom whiteboard with diagrams drawn in colored marker and a large metal rack stacked with electronic devices and cables sprouting everywhere, like the nerve system of a techno club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As my eyes wander around, I notice a sign on the wall. \u201cDANGER,\u201d it shouts in bold red letters, and then in white: \u201cOXYGEN DEFICIENCY HAZARD. Leave The Area Immediately If Blue Light Is Flashing.\u201d Not to worry: Bangura assures it\u2019s only an emergency if there\u2019s a \u201cmajor quench\u201d\u2014a rapid release of heat from the superconducting magnet that causes the space to fill with helium that\u2019s expanded by a factor of 700. \u201cThe blue light would be on,\u201d says Bangura, reassuringly. \u201cWe calculate to make sure that we don\u2019t get stuck in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"researcherA researcher tests a probe, which is used to place samples inside magnetic fields. Photography courtesy of National MagLab.<\/p>\n

In fact, we are standing inside what\u2019s known as a Faraday cage. Inside, the windows are wrapped in copper mesh that blocks external energy, such as radio waves, from interfering with experiments. \u201cEverything is very clean electrically,\u201d Bangura says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The facility feels unexpectedly transparent. It\u2019s seemingly laid out for the public tours that happen once a month and the frequent sessions with Big Bend-area students. The site\u2019s annual February open house draws up to 10,000 guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI always like to say to people, \u2018This is your MagLab,\u2019\u201d says Kathleen Amm, MagLab\u2019s director, who began in May 2024 after having previously worked for GE Global Research and running the Magnet Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. \u201cYour tax dollars are paying for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amm explains that a big part of MagLab\u2019s mission to educate and to clarify public perceptions of their work. \u201cI just finished watching the fifth season of \u2018Stranger Things\u2019 \u2026 (and) national labs are always mysterious things with these weird people that work there, and God knows what they\u2019re doing.\u201d She promises there are no Demogorgons lurking, \u201cand we don\u2019t have a black hole that we\u2019re holding with magnets on top of the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amm remembers the first time she saw the lab. It was 1993, on homecoming weekend, and she had driven south from Illinois while considering transferring to the FSU physics department as a graduate student. \u201cIt was under construction,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was a very exciting time.\u201d Jack Crow became her academic co-adviser. \u201cHe was really positive and full of energy. He just had a very bold vision that he made happen, and brought the team together to deliver the vision, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

As complex as the technological details can be, that vision remains fundamentally human. \u201cI really do like the Star Trek universe,\u201d Amm says. \u201cI believe that science can help everybody. That\u2019s what we\u2019re about.\u201d<\/p>\n

High on the list of quantum leaps is the lab\u2019s work on high-temperature superconducting magnets, developing new techniques essential to the fusion industry like one called torque magnetometry, which pushes toward the commercialization and promise of unending clean energy by the middle of the next decade.\u00a0When that happens, the phrase \u201cThe MagLab did it again\u201d is sure to resonate, as it has amid countless advancements over the past 30 years. All except one, as Amm reiterates with a note of regret. \u201cWe do not control the weather,\u201d she says. \u201cI really wish we could. But I just want to say to the poor people of Perry, we would never have directed hurricanes over you twice. We would have sent them out away from all the boats and away from everybody.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more Tallahassee tales, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Illustration by Carly Berry.<\/p>\n

Steve, a Tallahassee native and Flamingo contributor since 2017, has written about film, music, art and other popular culture for publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, GQ, and The Los Angeles Times. He is the artistic director for the Tallahassee Film Festival and writes a monthly film newsletter for Flamingo, Dollar Matinee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Floridians have a lot to argue about\u2014the insurance crisis, culture wars, college football rivalries\u2014but there\u2019s one thing almost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-202996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}