Scientists understand that Earth's magnetic field has flipped its polarity many times over the millennia. In other words, if you were alive about 800,000 years ago, and facing what we call north ...

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Push two magnets together and you'll set off an avalanche of activity, forcing atoms on each magnet to align their polarity with the intruding magnetic field.

Wobbly Polarity Is Key To Preventing Magnetic Avalanches On Disk Drives Date: July 17, 2007 Source: University of California - Santa Cruz Summary: New research brings models of magnetic avalanches ...

Fluctuations in the magnetic field caused by the movement of metallic material in the outer core have brought about full reversals of the magnetic field's polarity in Earth's past.

Who made the great discovery that if allowed to move freely a magnet pointed north and south is not known, but Peter Peregrinus describes the dual polarity of magnets.

As we approach solar maximum, something strange is happening to the sun's magnetic field. We explore this flip in polarity in more detail and look at the effects it could have on Earth.