Archiv: Homo Neanderthalensis


21.02.2021 - 13:05 [ ScienceNews.org ]

50 years ago, scientists named Earth’s magnetic field as a suspect in extinctions

Excerpt from the November 21, 1970 issue of Science News

21.02.2021 - 12:40 [ Science Magazine ]

A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago

(19.02.2021)

We find that geomagnetic field minima ~42 ka, in combination with Grand Solar Minima, caused substantial changes in atmospheric ozone concentration and circulation, driving synchronous global climate shifts that caused major environmental changes, extinction events, and transformations in the archaeological record.

21.02.2021 - 12:35 [ CNN ]

Reversal of Earth’s magnetic poles may have triggered Neanderthal extinction — and it could happen again

(19.02.2021)

Some 42,000 years ago, in an event known as the Laschamp Excursion, the poles did just that for around 800 years, before swapping back — but scientists were unsure exactly how or if it impacted the world.

Now, a team of researchers from Sydney’s University of New South Wales and the South Australian Museum say the flip, along with changing solar winds, could have triggered an array of dramatic climate shifts leading to environmental change and mass extinctions.