New studies seem to have linked a severely weakened global magnetic field (below 6% of its average strength) to global climate changes that caused known extinctions and almost certainly altered the behaviors of humans at the time. Neanderthals also became extinct around that time, likely because of changes in the environment they could not adapt to. A second article in Science News.
Scientists are using preserved trees in bogs to study levels of certain atmospheric gases and isotopes that would change with the intense increases of radiation bathing the atmosphere and surface of the earth.
A related article to this explains the need to have better forecasts about solar storms on the Sun, which eject the solar wind and additional onslaughts of charged particles that sometimes hit the Earth. Big ejections have caused problems with everything from global communications to overcharged power grids, and satellite damage and issues with aviation.
This all fits in with what we were just studying in 4 Chem/Phys! And we need to learn from such studies because of the present decline in the earth's magnetic field, and signs of a global reversal of the field. Check out the solar flare below:
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