A cloaked alien invasion force is approaching Earth and coming up on Mars. The first officer looks through a viewfinder and says, “Captain, the fourth planet’s atmosphere is behaving strangely. As though it were trying to block incoming energy.” The captain takes a moment, then his (already big) eyes get wide and he exclaims, “It’s a defense shield! The Earthlings are hiding on the fourth planet and are prepared to attack us! Abort the invasion!” The first officer responds, “Aye aye, Captain!” While the tale above is clearly fictionalized (aliens probably don’t say “Aye aye”), it briefly describes a unique atmospheric phenomenon called the Zwan-Wolf effect and occurs when the solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field, the latter of which shields the Earth from harmful space radiation. But now, a team of researchers have identified the Zwan-Wolf effect occurring on Mars.…