Earth’s magnetic field sustains life on our planet, protecting us from solar winds, radiation and extreme changes in temperature. But around 591 million years ago, it almost collapsed.

Geophysicist Daniel Lathrop wants, among other things, to use it to predict when the Earth’s magnetic field will next reverse. Over the course of our planet’s history, the field has flipped ...

The team found that the North Pole wandered over Europe when the magnetic field's poles started to flip positions, a natural process that has happened around 180 times over Earth's geological history.

Like Earth, Mars once had a strong magnetic field that shielded its thick atmosphere from the solar wind. But now only the magnetic imprint remains. What's long baffled scientists, though ...