Earth’s magnetic field is weakening ten times faster than originally predicted, according to researchers collecting data at the European Space Agency (ESA). Our magnetic field, which protects us from huge blasts of deadly solar radiation, is is weakening much faster than originally predicted.

Scientists who study the phenomenon are unsure why this is happening, but think the likely reason is that Earth’s magnetic poles are getting ready to flip.

“Such flips are not instantaneous, but take many hundreds, if not a few thousand years,” one scientist said, “They have happened many times in the past.”

It is known that magnetic north shifts.
Once every few hundred thousand years the magnetic poles flip so that compasses point south instead of north. This is not Doomsday for Planet Earth. During past polarity flips, no mass extinctions took place and there is no evidence of radiation damage. Our power and communications systems, however, may be at risk.