BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- A lot of people were concerned the Earth's magnetic field would suddenly reverse at the end of the Mayan calendar, but that didn't happen. However, new data suggests that could happen within the next 100 years.
What that means is north on a compass would point toward what is now south and vice versa. The new data, collected by scientists from Italy, France, Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley shows such a shift happened within a 100-year time period around 786,000 years ago. Such a reversal tends to happen after a rapid period of weakening in the magnetic field, which evidence shows we are currently experiencing.