MAGNETIC POLE DEFECTS TO RUSSIA AFTER TRUMP SPEECH

The north magnetic pole is heading from Canada into Siberia (Vincent Demers/Getty)

NATURE BRIEFING  Magnetic north flees Canada Earth’s magnetic field is acting up — and geologists don’t know why. The magnetic north pole wanders in unpredictable ways, influenced by complex flows and jets in the planet’s liquid iron core. In the mid-1990s, it picked up speed, from around 15 kilometres per year to around 55 kilometres per year. In 2018, the pole crossed the International Date Line into the Eastern Hemisphere, and it’s currently moving over the top of the world. The rapid changes have prompted an earlier-than-planned revision to the World Magnetic Model, which underlies all modern navigation. (But we’ll have to wait a little longer for the new model: its release has been delayed due to the ongoing US government shutdown).