South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly being watched

 The Earth's magnetic field is quite complex. The first thing to note is all magnetism we know of comes from moving electric charges and electric currents. For something like a planet, the question then becomes where are the currents? 

The Earth has a solid inner core, but then a molten iron outer core - that is the key. As my students are well aware, metals are special because they have free electrons moving throughout (the 'electron sea'). Normally these free electrons are moving randomly through the metal. But then, we need to remember that the earth rotates. The rotation causes the molten iron to flow in one direction, and suddenly we have a circular current of electrons, and this contributes to the magnetic field. 

Fluid dynamics is complex and very challenging mathematically. Turbulence happens, and because Earth is spherical, that geometry introduces different rotational velocities in different regions of the molten iron. The complexities of flow and the electric currents that result causes the Earth's magnetic field to be dynamic - it is constantly changing, and on occasion when turbulent regions develop, and sometimes the flow locally can be opposite the main flow, irregularities exist within the global magnetic field. This is likely what is happening in the outer core to cause the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. It has grown over the past few decades, and is a region where the magnetic field has already 'flipped' polarity. At some point, perhaps in the coming centuries, the global field may undergo another reversal, where our compass needles will point opposite where it points today. We'll see how this plays out! 

The Top 50 and Top 10 Finalists for the Global Teacher Prize, 2025

 This program, run by the Varkey Foundation in the United Kingdom, has become known as the 'Nobel Prize for Teaching.' Any teacher on the planet can apply or be nominated, and ultimately one teacher wins a $1 million award! Each year, thousands of teachers apply, and the Top 50 teachers in the world for that year are determined and named Top 50 Finalists. Someone from that group will win the prize, but all 50 will be part of the Global Teacher Prize Ambassador Program. 

The Top 50 Finalists cohorts can be found here for each year it has been run. Note that from the Top 50, a group of Top 10 Finalists is selected, and one of them will be the winner. Go here to find 2025's Top 10 Finalists. Yours truly is in the first group of finalists from 2015. The photo below is the group of American teachers from our summit and conference in Dubai, from 2018; it was about one month after the Parkland shootings that we had this meeting, to talk about school safety. 

Climate change - 2024 hottest year on record, and first to be 1.5-degrees C above preindustrial period

 Well, the goal of the Paris Climate Accords (signed in 2016) was to prevent global temperatures from going above 1.5-degrees Celcius, but in 2024 the world has exceeded that level for the first time. If you are into climate science and the data behind all this, check out the 2024 Climate Summary published by Copernicus Climate Change Service. 

The last 10 years have been the 10 hottest years on record, which goes back some 150 years or so. Another telling set of measurements has been surface temperatures of our oceans, which have been rising annually, as well (note the attached graph, and how the last two years really stand out). Ocean temps are important because the hotter the water gets, the more evaporation occurs, and this fuels storms such as hurricanes/cyclones around the world. This is why storms are more powerful, on average, than in the past. 

I personally worry about losing another 4 years of any progress regarding climate change, as the new administration's energy policy goes back to an old, archaic and dangerous chant of "Drill, drill, drill." Without US leadership, it is more unlikely the rest of the world will be able to do much. But let's keep reminding the world climate change is real, it is already causing major problems in every region of the world and costing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage and human life (as I write this, the Los Angeles area is burning, with loss of life and tens of billions of dollars in losses, for example)