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The North and South magnetic poles swap places every 300,000 years, in a process that takes as much as 5,000 years. But evidence from an ancient lava flow suggests the poles were once moving 53 degrees per year. More »
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Photographer Richard Kelly managed to snap this incredible picture of an aurora over Manitoba, Canada. That ghostly glow is charged particles from the sun, captured by magnetism from the Earth's poles and lit up by oxygen. [via EPOD] More »
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Are our oceans magnetic - and, if so, are they dragging Earth's magnetic fields around with them when they move? That's a theory proposed by one American scientist... and described as "garbage" by others. More »
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If you've ever wondered why the air seems thinner at either of Earth's poles, then the answer may have something to do with our planet's magnetic field, and the fact that it just may be stealing our oxygen. More »
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One of the many mysteries of Mars is how the planet lost its magnetic field 4 billion years ago. Evidence suggests the planet once had a magnetic field just like Earth's, created by a churning molten dynamo in the planetary core. But what could have caused that core to stop spinning, and stop generating a magnetic field, over a period of a mere few millennia? A group of geophysicists may have the answer: a massive meteor impact. More »
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