homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Doomsday part 3: The magnetic poles are shifting!

Something really bad is going to happen, and the Earth’s rotation will shift, rotating the other way, which will cause a magnetic pole reversal, which is going to rain all sorts of havoc on terrestrial life. As the poles shift, there will be a massive continental drift, with landmasses plunging in towards each other, bringing […]

Mihai Andrei
December 20, 2012 @ 6:59 pm

share Share

mayan-doomsday-special-zmescience

Something really bad is going to happen, and the Earth’s rotation will shift, rotating the other way, which will cause a magnetic pole reversal, which is going to rain all sorts of havoc on terrestrial life.

As the poles shift, there will be a massive continental drift, with landmasses plunging in towards each other, bringing earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and making all life on the planet all but extinct.

Oh, and even without the earthquakes and volcanoes, the magnetic shift itself will bring an end to the world as we know it.

Reality check!!!

As a geologist, it hurts my brain to write things like this, and to see that people actually believe something like this could happen… it’s painful to see how ignorant we are about the very planet we live on.

A shift in Earth’s rotation is impossible; unless, that is, a solar system sized galactic panda comes and starts manually spinning our planet the other way. It’s about as likely as that; and even if this did happen, it has absolutely nothing to do with magnetic pole reversal. People advertising this false doomsday use a bait and switch tactic, making senseless correlations.

Geomagnetic reversal, the phenomenon during which the North and South pole switch position is a well known and documented phenomena that has happened for hundreds of times in the Earth’s history, on average at about 400.000 years. The process itself takes a few millenia, and there’s no reason to believe it will happen again any time soon (next few millenia). Furthermore, even if it did happen, there’s absolutely no reason to believe that such a shift would harm life forms.

Read about other popular Mayan doomsday “prophecies” from our debunking series:

share Share

Evolution just keeps creating the same deep-ocean mutation

Creatures at the bottom of the ocean evolve the same mutation — and carry the scars of human pollution

Scientists Found a 380-Million-Year-Old Trick in Velvet Worm Slime That Could Lead To Recyclable Bioplastic

Velvet worm slime could offer a solution to our plastic waste problem.

Beetles Conquered Earth by Evolving a Tiny Chemical Factory

There are around 66,000 species of rove beetles and one researcher proposes it's because of one special gland.

These researchers counted the trees in China using lasers

The answer is 142 billion. Plus or minus a few, of course.

New Diagnostic Breakthrough Identifies Bacteria With Almost 100% Precision in Hours, Not Days

A new method identifies deadly pathogens with nearly perfect accuracy in just three hours.

This Tamagotchi Vape Dies If You Don’t Keep Puffing

Yes. You read that correctly. The Stupid Hackathon is an event like no other.

Wild Chimps Build Flexible Tools with Impressive Engineering Skills

Chimpanzees select and engineer tools with surprising mechanical precision to extract termites.

Archaeologists in Egypt discovered a 3,600-Year-Old pharaoh. But we have no idea who he is

An ancient royal tomb deep beneath the Egyptian desert reveals more questions than answers.

Researchers create a new type of "time crystal" inside a diamond

“It’s an entirely new phase of matter.”

Strong Arguments Matter More Than Grammar in English Essays as a Second Language

Grammar takes a backseat to argumentation, a new study from Japan suggests.