A recent study has shown that the planet's magnetic field has weakened almost 40% over the last 2500 years or so. The rate of decline has increased over the last 250 years after a relatively stable period for the 250 years before that. You may recall that I posted on polar reversals back in December. Periodically, about every 300,000 years or so, the magnetic field of Earth reverses so that the north and south magnetic poles switch positions. The "north" end of a compass needle would then point south.
Some scientists believe that this decay may signal the beginning of the next polar reversal. We are overdue as the last one was almost 800,000 years ago. What would this mean to our electronic technology? Would it still work? Would electric motors and generators function? No one knows - this has never happened while we have been a species. A scientist quoted in the article seems to assume that the reversal would happen over a period of centuries, but I'm not sure we even know that.
Sounds like the basis for a good science fiction novel to me.
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