Scientists have long known that the Earth’s inner core is a hot, dense ball of metal, surrounded by an outer core of molten iron. But new research reveals that this inner core is not only spinning in a different direction, but also changing shape.

For decades, researchers have suspected the inner core might deform over time. A new study published in Nature Geoscience now supports this theory, with scientists analyzing seismic waves from powerful earthquakes.

The seismic waves show that the outermost layer of the inner core may be more flexible than the deeper layers. Riskin says tracking these changes could save our lives, as the inner core’s movement plays a crucial role in generating the Earth’s magnetic field, which shields us from harmful solar radiation. That’s why Sun’s radiation turns into northern lights and does not kill us, Riskin explains.

“Mars doesn’t have that. It used to have an atmosphere, and this solar wind just ripped the atmosphere off and blew it into space,” Raskin said. “That would happen to us if our core is not doing its job properly.”

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17·
      4 days ago

      Mars does have an atmosphere, it’s just insubstantial at about 1% of our atmosphere.
      It’s enough that we need a heatsheild to enter it and we can use it to fly a drone, but it’s too thin for parachutes alone to stop a spacecraft and far too thin for liquid water to exist.
      Our moon likely had an atmosphere after forming too, but the gravity is much lower on the moon than on Earth or Mars and with no magnetic field it could only hold onto that atmosphere for about 100,000 years.

      • peoplebeproblems@midwest.socialEnglish
        8·
        4 days ago

        It still has an atmosphere, just negligible for most purposes. Like less than 1 nanopascal. But what is cool is that it means that it’s probably continuing to be stripped, which means the Moon must be making its own atmosphere! Which makes sense as it’s largely composed of Argon. Argon is produced by the decay of radioactive potassium and calcium, typically found in ROCKS!

        space is awesome

      • toynbee@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        3 days ago

        When The Martian was new and popular, many people on TV tropes argued that the thin atmosphere made the windstorm that instigated the whole plot impossible.