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Antarctic Craters Reveal Asteroid Strike

Posted by michael on from the rock-of-ages dept.

dhuff writes "Scientists using satellites have mapped huge craters under the Antarctic ice sheet caused by an asteroid as big as the one believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65m years ago."

1 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Curious by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Does the magnetic field being reversed actually affect anything important?"

    It doesn't matter what direction the field points, what matters is that there is a magnetic field around the Earth. During the time it takes for the field to flip, the field becomes very weak. That causes two problems. Some animals use the magnetic field for navigation. More importantly, the field is a shield protecting us from cosmic high energy particles. According to a story in the NY Times (covered on /.), Earth's magnetic field has weakened 10-15% since we started measuring 150 years ago. Maybe our grandkids will have to wear lead undies.

    -B