BBC Science Focus Magazine – June 2023
English | 93 pages | pdf | 169.96 MB
Welcome at BBC Science Focus Magazine June 2023 Issue
Earth’s core is a strange place. Sadly, there are no prehistoric beasts, underground rivers or ancient hominids waiting to be discovered, as Jules Verne imagined in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But there are still plenty of mysteries hidden in its depths.
And since we can measure the influence of Earth’s core up here on the surface, no one need build a drill-bit-shaped vessel to head down there either. Bummer.
In truth, the behaviour of the planet’s heart affects us all. For a start, the days have been getting longer for us surface-dwellers. It probably doesn’t feel that way for most of us, but since 2020 the average length of a day – the time it takes for Earth to rotate on its axis – seems to have been growing. Scientists think something unexpected, deep within the centre of the planet, might be slowing its spin, causing the days to extend – albeit by microseconds.
In a similar vein, Earth’s magnetic field, which is generated by our molten iron core and protects us from the Sun’s most lethal radiation, is changing too. Over the last 200 years the global average strength of the field has fallen by nine per cent. A spot over South America, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, where our planet’s magnetic shield is weakest, is moving and
waning at an even faster rate, causing satellites in the vicinity to fail as a result of the extra radiation bursting through from space.
These are just a couple of the surprising discoveries that have been made over the last few years thanks to an influx of new technologies and techniques for studying what’s going on deep in the heart of the planet we call home.
Enjoy the whole cover story over on p66.
Download from: