(Jake Anderson) Life on Earth would likely not exist without the geomagnetic field that encases the planet. The product of iron convection churning deep within the planet’s outer core, the magnetosphere creates a literal force field that prevents solar winds from breaking down our atmosphere and allowing radioactive particles to besiege the surface. It has functioned in perpetuity for over 3 billion years, but every few hundred thousand years or so, the poles flip, weakening the field and leaving the Earth vulnerable to charged particles. The last magnetic pole flip took place during the Stone Age, 780,000 years ago. New evidence suggests the next reversal may be close…

Source: Geophysicists: Earth’s Magnetic Poles Could Be About to Flip | Stillness in the Storm