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Birds can 'see' the Earth's magnetic field 18:00 30 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic It has been debated for nearly four decades but no one has yet been able to prove it is chemically possible. Now good evidence suggests that birds can actually "see" the lines of the Earth's magnetic field. Klaus Schulten of the University of Illinois, proposed forty years ago that some animals – including migratory birds – must have molecules in their eyes or brains which respond to magnetism. The problem has been that no one has been able to find a chemical sensitive enough...

Does the Earth's magnetic field cause suicides? 13:39 24 April 2008 NewScientist.com news service Catherine Brahic Many animals can sense the Earth's magnetic field, so why not people, asks Oleg Shumilov of the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems in Russia. Shumilov looked at activity in the Earth's geomagnetic field from 1948 to 1997 and found that it grouped into three seasonal peaks every year: one from March to May, another in July and the last in October. Surprisingly, he also found that the geomagnetism peaks matched up with peaks in the number of suicides in the northern Russian city...

What's Behind ‘Cloverfield' Illness? Wave of Nausea Hits Moviegoers By Michael W. Smith WebMD Medical News Reviewed By Louise Chang, MD Latest MedicineNet News Jan. 22, 2008 -- Scan the news and blogs and not only do you see that Cloverfield had a record-breaking opening weekend, but there was an unforeseen side effect: nausea. And it didn't come from the popcorn, or the writing -- but the camerawork. In Cloverfield, a giant monster attacks Manhattan. The problem -- at least for those prone to motion sickness -- is that it's all filmed through a very jerky handheld camera. "I saw...

A set of simple silicon filters could dramatically improve the quality of X-ray images produced in hospitals and at airport checkpoints. The technique provides a more detailed picture of fractured bone and could help airport security scanners distinguish plastic explosives from harmless substances. X-ray images normally reveal the way different materials, including body tissue, absorb X-ray radiation. Strongly absorbing areas are white and weakly absorbing ones black. But finer details are often lost in a fog caused by areas with intermediate radiation-absorbing ability.

BAGHDAD — When one thinks of a police force, he may think of a two-man team, patrolling through a neighborhood in their white-Chevy Monte Carlo, with blue and red lights, and the word “police” written on the side. They move throughout talking with local citizens at the diner, coffee shop, or on the streets corners. No matter what community, country or religious sect, policemen are there to “protect and serve.” Take away the type of vehicle, re-write it in Arabic, from right to left, and an average policemen in Iraq is no different. One of the biggest areas of focus...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2007 – When troops stationed in the Middle East sit down to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, the turkey won’t come in a brown field rations pouch. Defense Supply Center Philadelphia's Subsistence Division is responsible for making sure each dining facility has all the food it needs to provide a traditional holiday meal like this one in 2006. Defense Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Thanks to the efforts of the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia’s efforts, troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Dubai and Djibouti will enjoy a traditional holiday meal. “Historically, Thanksgiving dinner is one...

Birds Can "See" Earth's Magnetic Field John Roach for National Geographic News September 27, 2007 To find north, humans look to a compass. But birds may just need to open their eyes, a new study says. Scientists already suspected birds' eyes contain molecules that are thought to sense Earth's magnetic field. In a new study, German researchers found that these molecules are linked to an area of the brain known to process visual information. In that sense, "birds may see the magnetic field," said study lead author Dominik Heyers, a biologist at the University of Oldenburg. Magnetic Orientation Human-made compasses...

YPRES, Belgium - The summer plowing season in Flanders Fields is a good time for Ivan Sinnaeve. Known as "Shrapnel Charlie," he keeps alive memories of one of history's bloodiest battles by melting down the World War I shells harvested by farmers and transforming them into toy soldiers which he calls "soldiers of peace." The 54-year-old Belgian history buff has a huge following among war pilgrims visiting Flanders Fields, the battleground of 1914-1918. Sinnaeve, a retired carpenter, is busier than usual this year, the 90th anniversary of the phase of fighting called the Battle of Passchendaele which saw some of...

500-year-old bronze disc is found in fieldJul 3 2007 By Mark Davison A HORSE harness decoration thought to have belonged to a lord of the manor at Bletchingley more than 500 years ago has been unearthed in a field. Chris Andre, a member of the Reigate-based Weald and Downland Metal Detecting Club, handed the artefact to an archaeological expert for identification. David Williams, Surrey County Council's finds liaison officer, has revealed that the small circular bronze disc may have been a personal belonging of Henry Stafford, who held the manor of Bletchingley in the late 15th century, or one of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - X-ray images taken from a new international spacecraft show that the Sun's magnetic field is much more turbulent than scientists knew, NASA reported on Wednesday. They saw twisting plumes of gas rising from the Sun's corona and reacting with the star's magnetic field, a process that releases energy and may power solar storms and coronal mass ejections, which in turn affect the Earth. A turbulent magnetic field would, in theory, generate more energy than a steady-state field. "Theorists suggested that twisted, tangled magnetic fields might exist," Leon Golub, senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said...

The following are breakdowns of the current and potential candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations in 2008. The lists for each party are divided into the following categories: officially announced candidates, possible candidates who have formed “exploratory” campaign committees, political figures frequently mentioned as likely or possible candidates, and potential candidates who have officially announced that they will not run for president. The lists will be updated promptly as developments warrant. Read the latest 2008 Presidential Developments Democrats Officially announced (date of announcement) • Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) ( Feb. 10, 2007) • Delaware...

TOPEKA, Kan. - Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), R-Kan., began a long-shot bid for president on Saturday, hoping his reputation as a favorite son of the religious right can help him outdistance better known rivals. "My family and I are taking the first steps on the yellow brick road to the White House," Brownback said, returning to his home state to declare his intention to seek his party's nomination in 2008. The two-term senator said he will fight to renew the nation's cultural values and pledged to focus on rebuilding families. "Search the record of history. To walk...

Mugabe moves to seize British diamond field By Peta Thornycroft in Marange Last Updated: 2:10am GMT 08/12/2006 A British-listed mining company, the first to invest in bankrupt Zimbabwe since the political crisis began, was ordered off its valuable diamond claim yesterday. Dirk Benade: watched diggers While President Robert Mugabe has seized thousands of white-owned farms since 2000 he has, up until now, left mining property alone. The claim, an extraordinary chunk of ancient tribal land in south eastern Zimbabwe, may be one of the richest diamond fields found in recent years. And the Zimbabwe government wants it. African Consolidated Resources...

Senior Israel Defense Forces officers expressed dissatisfaction yesterday with the announcement by Chief of Staff Dan Halutz that he had recently instructed the Field Security Directorate at the General Staff to keep track of their telephone conversations. According to a report in Haaretz yesterday, Halutz instructed the Field Security Directorate to provide him with the telephone logs of the generals, their department heads and their secretaries, in order to crosscheck whether they have had contacts with journalists. [ . . . ] According to the disgruntled officers , the chief of staff's action "stinks of McCarthyism" . . .

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (June 28, 2006) -- When many people think of a field hospital, often scenes from the popular sitcom “M.A.S.H.” come to mind. For the sailors of Bravo Surgical Co., 2nd Medical Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, a field hospital is serious business. “We are setting up an mock (Surgical/Shock Trauma Platoon) you would see set up as a quick reaction force,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Michael D. Whaley, the lead petty officer for Bravo Surgical Co. “This SSTP can provide everything from surgical to basic care and ancillary services such as X-ray and...

Batboys usually don't get much glory. But Nate Reese has experienced, albeit briefly, the adulation that comes with completing a great play that gets shown again and again on television, sometimes in slow motion. On Wednesday night, the crowd at the Metrodome leapt to their feet with a roar when Reese leveled a fan who had scampered in from left field, done a head-first slide into home plate and was getting up to resume a rabbit run from security guards. "Play of the game," Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Joe Nathan said. In the aftermath of the tackle, Reese sat in...

INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa. (Army News Service, May 18, 2006) - Soldiers can serve on the battlefield with confidence knowing the world’s best medics are there to help if they become injured. The best of the best of these Soldiers wear a badge that identifies them as the cream of the Army's medical crop - the Expert Field Medical Badge. Only 18 of 250 candidates earned the badge at the Army’s largest EFMB testing session, which took place May 12 at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa. The low number might seem alarming, but it is a testament to the badge's demanding criteria....

U.S. Marines assigned to the 4th Provisional Security Company, stationed with Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa in Djibouti, work together to clean and rebuild a soccer field outside Camp Lemonier. Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa photo U.S. Marines Help Rebuild Djiboutian Soccer Field The project, which involved removing trash, smoothing and marking the field and adding nets to goal posts, was time well spent, according to the Marines. By U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Omar Villarreal Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, May 18, 2006 — Fifty U.S. Marines with the 4th Provisional...

3/28/2006 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. (AFPN) -- "I wanna be on something that shoots," said retired U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. R. Lee Ermey. That's exactly what the host of the History Channel's "'Mail Call" got when he and his crew spent two days at Hurlburt Field filming for an upcoming show. Best known for movie roles such as the hard-as-nails basic training drill instructor in "Full Metal Jacket," "Gunny" Ermey attracted a crowd wherever he and the film crew went. The Airmen of the 16th Special Operations Squadron got a kick out of having a bona fide movie star...

  U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Aurelia Garza Senior Airman Patricia Maghanoy Sisters Share Career Field, Squadron, Flight By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Williams 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C., March 9, 2006 — Twins obviously have a lot in common, but for Senior Airmen Patricia Maghanoy and Aurelia Garza, twins, the similarities don't end there. These 20th Component Maintenance Squadron aerospace propulsion journeymen also share the same career field, squadron and flight. Born Jan. 30, 1984, in Yakima, Wash., the twins began their Air Force career together Jan. 18, 2002. "They didn't know (we were...

SATHER AIR BASE, Iraq, Feb. 9, 2006 — The thought of a field hospital conjures up images of medics rolling battle-wounded troops on gurneys into a dimly lit operating room. "We are the only surgical-based clinic at Victory Base Complex. We’ll do emergency surgery here, but then move (the patient) to a higher-level facility (in or out of theater)." U.S. Air Force Col. Christian Benjamin The 447th Expeditionary Medical Squadron at Sather Air Base, at Baghdad International Airport, also faced the desert dust and worked in cramped quarters. They moved inside recently to a new 15,000-square foot modular medical clinic,...

U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (01-03-2006) -- If you are tired of trying to make Meal-Ready-to-Eat menus more palatable, then your search may be over. The field rations have progressed a long way from the C-rats of the past, and they continue to change even to this day. Four of the current 24 MREs have been removed and are being replaced by new and improved menus, according to the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, located in Natick, Mass. Usually the ASSC only replaces two MREs a year, but this year they wanted to give the...

12/27/2005 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- In a sea of tents and trailers on Balad Air Base in northern Iraq, shrapnel is being surgically removed from a limb, medics are racing to stop someone from bleeding to death and another life is being saved from wounds inflicted on the battlefield. It is that sea of tents which houses the Air Force theater hospital, where servicemembers and civilians get the most advanced medical care possible in a combat zone. Run by the 332nd Expeditionary Medical Group, the hospital offers trauma and specialized medical care for people throughout Iraq and...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Scientists fretted Friday that a spectacular cloning fraud that hid in plain sight has set back legitimate stem cell work around the world. Cloning experts and stem cell scientists said research in the potentially revolutionary field of regenerative medicine will continue unabated. But they said public confidence in their work had been weakened by a sham branded by experts as the most visible case of scientific fraud they could recall. Scientists also struggled to explain how they didn't earlier catch the charismatic South Korean veterinarian's claim in a Science paper published in May that he cloned...

U.S. Army Capt. Ryan Howell, the commander of G Troop, 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment, holds a soccer ball over his head while playing with the children of Tall Afar, Iraq, Nov. 5, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. James Wilt More Photos Coalition Forces, Iraqis Open Soccer Field The soccer field was opened in Sarai, a Sunni area; a similar project is in place to create a soccer field in a Shiite populated neighborhood. By U.S. Army Pfc. James Wilt 82nd Airborne Division TALL AFAR, Iraq, Nov. 8, 2005 — Coalition forces, in cooperation with local residents, constructed and...

A local Iraqi boy tries out his soccer footwork on a newly-cleared field in western Baghdad, Nov. 3, 2005. U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Task Force Baghdad and a local contractor clearing the field of trash and rubble. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Ryan Avila Troops Convert Trash Lot to Soccer Field for Local Kids Neighborhood residents pointed out the cluttered site; a contractorwas contacted and local Iraqi children benefit from the effort. By 4th Brigade Combat Team BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 8, 2005 — U.S. Army soldiers assigned to Task Force Baghdad recently teamed up with a contractor in...

ELLINGTON FIELD, Texas -- More than 100 tons of relief supplies have left this airfield for hurricane-affected Gulf Coast areas via CH-47 Chinook helicopters since Sept. 24. The airfield, which is the central hub for Texas relief operations, is home to the 147th Fighter Wing and its fleet of F-16 Fighting Falcon jets. Wing leaders asked the 136th Airlift Wing at Fort Worth, Texas, to support operations. The Fort Worth wing’s tanker airlift control element has been controlling the airflow to and from the airfield since it opened the day Hurricane Rita passed. And the 136th Aerial Port Squadron has...

EARTH'S natural radioactivity has been measured for the first time. The measurement will help geologists find out to what extent nuclear decay is responsible for the immense quantity of heat generated by Earth. Our planet's heat output drives the convection currents that churn liquid iron in the outer core, giving rise to Earth's magnetic field. Just where this heat comes from is a big question. Measurements of the temperature gradients across rocks in mines and boreholes have led geologists to estimate that the planet is internally generating between 30 and 44 terawatts of heat. Some of this heat comes from...

TEHRAN - Director for France’s oil giant Total in Iran Pierre Fabiani said that Total would continue its cooperation with Iran despite pressures from the United States, Iranian Students News Agency reported here on Monday. He also said that Total is a professional company and does not meddle in the problems existing between the two countries – Iran and the U.S. - adding, “For us, it is a problem between Iran and the United States, at the first place we are a French company and at the second, Total is a European company and at the third, it is an...

Field between Tecate, Ensenada yields tools By Sandra Dibble UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 16, 2005 TIJUANA – For the first time in Baja California, archaeologists have found significant evidence of hunters who settled the region between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, known as INAH, announced the recent recovery of more than 150 stone knives, spearheads, cutting utensils and other carved items from an open field between Tecate and Ensenada. The items are being linked to the San Dieguito people acknowledged as the earliest settlers of the region. San Dieguito sites have been amply...

The field of potential candidates for Democratic National Committee chairman shrank by two yesterday when former White House deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes and former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk announced they had decided not to enter the competition. Kirk, the 2002 Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, gave a boost to former House member and fellow Texan Martin Frost by endorsing his candidacy, while Ickes, a veteran party strategist, said he would defer supporting another candidate. The decisions did only a little to clarify a contest that party leaders say remains wide open, with several Democrats energetically competing to...

A private college is raising eyebrows with a recruiting postcard that shows a man surrounded by women and says students have the opportunity to "play the field." Doane College sent the cartoon postcard last week to about 13,500 prospective students in California. One frame shows student playing football for the Doane Tigers, with a caption that reads: ''Finally, a place where he could work toward the career of his choice. And also play the field.'' The next frame shows him talking to a group of attractive women and is captioned: ''And play the field some more.'' Some faculty members say...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

Union support for John Kerry is no surprise, but it's not usually visible from 20,000 feet in the air. Mark McClain, who leads the Northwest Airlines pilot group at the Air Line Pilots Association, has plowed the word "Kerry" into his soybean field near the airport in Des Moines, Iowa.

"The creation of the United States of America is the central event of the past four hundred years." Thus does Walter A. McDougall of the University of Pennsylvania begin the first volume of his acclaimed new American history, Freedom Just Around the Corner (HarperCollins).Not surprisingly, this central event has evoked a wide range of opinions. Tens of millions of immigrants have voted with their feet to slough off prior allegiances and join the boisterous experiment that makes "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" its official goal.The result has been an astounding success. "We dominate every field of human endeavor...

Ringed planet's poles are on either side of its equator Pasadena -- The spacecraft called Cassini, now little more than a million miles from Saturn, is already establishing that the mysterious ringed planet's magnetic field is bizarrely unlike Earth's -- and more surprises are sure to come. Cassini's interplanetary course is to carry it Wednesday night into the first of 76 orbits around Saturn to begin its four-year mission, and scientists are awaiting that first close-in encounter with some anxiety.

“In 1990 they found that the Earth goes through abrupt temperature changes from deep ice samples in Greenland of about 10,000 years ago the Earth’s temperature dropped 19 degrees” (research found by weather channel) taking 5-10 years (weather channel) but from analytical data, I intend to show this could take for the most part one year (Robert T Bailey) and more shocking a large part of the temperature change will happen this year! The End of the World as we known it is coming; an ice Age will change the face of the Earth. We have a crisis here. In...

Support swells for $15 billion bond Poll results on Prop. 57 indicate bipartisan campaign is effective Governor gets positive marks in latest survey SACRAMENTO – In a dramatic turnaround, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $15 billion fiscal-recovery bond measure on next Tuesday's ballot is supported by half the likely voters, up from one-third who backed Proposition 57 last month, according to a new poll. The results of the latest statewide Field Poll suggest the bipartisan campaign by the Republican governor and Democratic state Controller Steve Westly is working. Schwarzenegger and Westly are promoting the bond measure and a companion balanced budget amendment,...

<p>The new Field Poll out this morning has Gov. Schwarzenegger’s bond measure, Proposition 57, leading 50-36, just a month after Field and others found it trailing badly. The poll shows that the double-barreled, bipartisan campaign is working. Republicans say they are more likely, by a 39-3 margin, to support the measure once they know Schwarzenegger is backing it. And Democrats says they are more likely, by a 27-3 margin, to vote for the bond once they hear that Democratic leaders are supporting it. Also: people who intend to vote yes are, not surprisingly, more likely to think that tax increases and deeper cuts will result if the bond measure fails.</p>

<p>As Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrates his 100th day in office, a new survey shows Californians trust their new governor, even when they dislike his handling of specific issues.</p> <p>In a Field Poll released Monday, registered voters said by a margin of 61 percent to 28 percent that they believe the Republican governor makes his decisions based on "what he really believes is right" rather than "what is politically popular."</p>

Celebs Join March Against Mexico Killings By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ Associated Press Writer CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) -- Actresses Jane Fonda and Sally Field marched through this gritty Mexican border city urging authorities to investigate the brutal slayings of hundreds of young women and girls. Mexican authorities say 258 women have been killed over the past decade in Ciudad Juarez, a city of some 1.3 million people. Many of the victims were sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in the desert near Juarez, across the Rio Grande river from El Paso, Texas. "I'm here because 300 young, vibrant women are not,"...

Sun Sheds Skin And Flips Greenbelt - Nov 20, 2003 Research with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft has revealed the process that may implement the reversal in the direction of the Sun's magnetic field that is known to occur every 11 years. This newly recognized factor in the Sun's magnetic flipping is the cumulative effect of more than a thousand huge eruptions called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The CMEs blast billions of tons of electrified gas into space, carrying away the Sun's old magnetic field and allowing a new one with a flipped orientation to form. Reversal...

900-year-old ship, found in rice field, draws experts to India V.M. THOMAS Associated Press Posted on Thu, Oct. 23, 2003 COCHIN, India - A sailing vessel that experts believe sank off the coast of southern India 900 years ago has been found buried in a rice field and is attracting the attention of international marine, archaeology and conservation experts. The ship is made of local Indian wood but the craftsmanship is not, leading experts to suggest it was made by ancient Chinese, Japanese, Egyptians or Arabs. The government of southern Kerala state finished excavating the 22-meter long, 5-meter wide (72-foot...

Just four days before Tuesday's recall election, Californians by an increasingly wide margin want to replace Democratic Gov. Gray Davis with Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Field Poll released today says. A survey conducted from Monday through Wednesday showed 57 percent of voters supporting the recall of Davis, while 39 percent are opposed. In the race to replace Davis, Schwarzenegger leads Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante 36 percent to 26 percent, according to the poll, which is the third this week to show the actor gaining momentum and Davis losing ground. The poll shows that support for the recall and for...

<p>LOS ANGELES — The latest statewide poll in California's recall election shows Gov. Gray Davis (search) trailing by 18 points and Arnold Schwarzenegger (search) leading Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante (search) by 10 points, Democratic and Republican strategists told Fox News.</p>

<p>The purpose of the closed-door meeting at the Capitol, to be presided over by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, was to give senators a chance to talk openly about the upcoming recall campaign and whether they should continue their unilateral support of the unpopular governor.</p>

WASHINGTON, July 11 — The Transportation Security Administration spent $6.9 million to outfit the federal air marshal corps with voice-capable wireless handheld computers for in-flight use and then subsequently banned any voice usage because of potential interference with cockpit functions, according to interviews with several air marshals. THE HANDHELD DEVICES, made by Palm Inc. and commonly known as “personal digital assistants” (PDAs), have become a running joke, in part because they are unwieldy to use, according to interviews more than a dozen air marshals and administrators within the air marshal program due to the unwieldy nature of their use. Although...

<p>A proposal to rename Henderson Field on Guadalcanal after Japan's national flower — the chrysanthemum — has angered Marines, who say the "revisionist history" dishonors Americans who fought and died for the pivotal airfield.</p> <p>Guadalcanal, part of the Solomon Islands, was the site of the Allies' first Pacific offensive during World War II. After taking the island from the Japanese in 1942, the 1st Marine Division completed construction of what is now an international airport for the Solomon Islands.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 February 23 A Twisted Solar Eruptive Prominence Credit: SOHO Consortium, EIT, ESA, NASA Explanation: A huge eruptive prominence is seen moving out from our Sun in this condensed half-hour time-lapse sequence. Ten Earths could easily fit in the "claw" of this seemingly solar monster. This large prominence, though, is significant not only for its size, but its shape. The twisted figure eight shape indicates that a complex...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 November 25 The Earth's Magnetic Field Credit & Copyright: Gary A. Glatzmaier (UCSC) Explanation: Why does the Earth have a magnetic field? The electrical conductivity of the molten plasma of the Earth's core should be able to damp the current magnetic field in only thousands of years. Yet our five billion year old Earth clearly causes magnets to point to (defined) north. The mystery is still being...