[0hijinks]

> Small M-dwarf stars ... operate through convection ... likened to what we see in a boiling cauldron of water.

> Larger stars like the Sun show a mix of radiative transfer – photons being absorbed and reabsorbed as they make their way to the surface – and convection.

> That enhances M-dwarf flare activity as their plasma is twisted and rotated, producing magnetic fields that snap open only to reconnect.

This is the first post I've seen targeted toward generic geeks that explained it that way. It makes total sense, is really cool, and I'm glad they wrote this article.

[pfdietz]

M dwarf stars, being fully convective (at least, the ones lighter than 0.35 Msun), cycle their entire material content through their cores. This is unlike the Sun, where the core is effectively isolated from overlying layers, and will run out of hydrogen while those outer layers still contain a great deal of it.

As a result, and due to their low luminosity, M dwarf stars can go on burning hydrogen for a very long time, perhaps as long as 12 trillion years for a 0.1 Msun star, much longer than the universe has existed so far.