The Earth’s magnetic field acts as a shield, protecting us from damaging cosmic rays and harsh solar winds. It’s as important to our survival as water and oxygen, yet it’s in a constant state of flux. New research presented this week at the Living Planet Symposium shows just how rapidly our magnetic field is changing.

Despite being invisible, these changes have significant impacts as evident by the noticeable shift in our planet’s magnetic North Pole. Fluctuations like these in the magnetic field could determine how events such as solar storms affect us in the future.

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