One of the biggest impacts will be on animals that use the magnetic field for navigation - such as turtles and birds. The exact impact of this flip isn't known as it hasn't happened in 780,000 years, however geologists and astronomers do have some idea. The Earth's magnetic field regularly flips poles every few hundred thousand years. With the Earth's magnetic field having weakened by around nine per cent in the past 170 years, researchers warn that the next apocalyptic polar flip 'may be just around the corner'. The British author famously wrote in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy that '42' was the answer to life, the universe, and everything. The researchers dubbed this danger period the 'Adams Transitional Geomagnetic Event', or 'Adams Event' for short – a tribute to science fiction writer Douglas Adams. The trees revealed spikes in atmospheric radiocarbon levels, caused by the collapse of Earth's magnetic field and changing solar winds.īut preceding the flip was a weakening of the magnetic fields, causing electrical storms, crimson skies, widespread auroras and lethal cosmic radiation that frazzled our early ancestors and the Earth's wildlife. A reversal of the magnetic poles 42,000 years ago triggered catastrophic climate change and may have wiped out Neanderthals, a new study shows.Īustralian researchers have analysed the radiocarbon record from ancient trees in New Zealand that were alive when the magnetic poles flipped.
