Earth Magnetic Field Shift And Geomagnetic Changes Reshaping Life And Technology On Our Planet

By R. Soliman Pub.: Mar 16 2026

https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/61474/20260316/earth-magnetic-field-shift-geomagnetic-changes-reshaping-life-technology-our-planet.htm

Explore the earth magnetic field shift, what drives geomagnetic changes, and how wandering poles, anomalies, and field weakening impact navigation, satellites, and modern technology. 

Pixabay, Terranaut

Earth's magnetic field may be invisible, but its slow, steady changes shape everything from navigation systems to satellite safety. The ongoing earth magnetic field shift is not a sudden disaster scenario but part of a complex and long-running pattern of geomagnetic changes driven by processes deep inside the planet.

What Is Earth's Magnetic Field?

Earth's magnetic field behaves roughly like a giant, slightly tilted bar magnet centered near the planet's core. Instead of a solid magnet, though, the field is produced by the motion of molten, electrically conductive iron in the outer core.

As this metal moves, it generates electric currents that create and sustain the global magnetic field. This process is known as the geodynamo.

The field extends outward into space to form the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere deflects much of the charged particle radiation streaming from the Sun, helping protect the atmosphere and surface life from intense solar and cosmic radiation.

Is Earth's Magnetic Field Really Shifting?

The earth magnetic field shift is clearly measurable. One key sign is that the magnetic north pole does not stay fixed in one place but drifts across the Arctic over time.

Modern satellites, ships, and ground observatories track this motion with high precision. Over the last century or so, the speed of this drift has changed, at times becoming noticeably faster.

Field strength is also evolving. Measurements reveal that in some regions, particularly over the South Atlantic, the field has weakened. On a global scale, scientists see a modest but real decline in average strength.

When compared with the long record preserved in rocks, however, today's geomagnetic changes still fall within what is considered normal behavior for Earth.

What Drives the Earth Magnetic Field Shift?

The deeper cause of the earth's magnetic field shift lies in the outer core. There, molten iron and nickel circulate in complex, changing patterns.

These flows are powered by heat escaping from the core, the planet's rotation, and subtle variations in composition. Because the fluid is conductive, its motion generates and reshapes the magnetic field.

As the flow patterns gradually reorganize, the field they produce also changes. Scientists call this slow, long-term evolution of direction and strength "secular variation."

The system is inherently chaotic. That makes detailed long-term predictions of geomagnetic changes much more difficult than forecasts of, for example, planetary orbits.

Why Do Earth's Magnetic Poles Sometimes Flip?

Beyond simple wandering, Earth's magnetic poles have flipped polarity many times. A geomagnetic reversal happens when the field weakens, becomes more disordered, and then re-establishes itself with opposite polarity.

Evidence for these reversals comes from volcanic rocks and seafloor crust. As lava cools or sediments solidify, tiny magnetic minerals lock in the direction of the local field at that time.

These flips are irregular. On average, reversals occur every few hundred thousand years, but the spacing varies widely.

Some time intervals show frequent reversals. Others contain long "superchrons," lasting tens of millions of years, with no reversals at all.

Is the Current Shift a Sign of an Imminent Flip?

Because the field is weakening in some areas and the poles are drifting faster than before, there is frequent speculation about an impending reversal. However, there is no solid evidence that the current earth magnetic field shift guarantees a near-term flip.

In the paleomagnetic record, many episodes of reduced field strength and complex structure never developed into full reversals. They were simply part of the ongoing spectrum of geomagnetic changes.

One feature that draws special attention is the South Atlantic Anomaly. This region, stretching over South America and the South Atlantic Ocean, has an unusually weak magnetic field.

In this zone, more charged particles from space can penetrate closer to Earth. That raises radiation levels for satellites passing through, increasing the risk of electronic damage and data glitches.

While the anomaly likely reflects deeper reorganization in the core, its presence alone does not mean a global polarity reversal is imminent.

How Do Geomagnetic Changes Affect Life and Technology?

For everyday life at the surface, the earth magnetic field shift is subtle. Many animals, including migratory birds and sea turtles, rely on the magnetic field for orientation and navigation.

Available evidence suggests that they can adapt to gradual changes in the field. Their navigation systems appear flexible enough to cope with slowly drifting cues, although the limits of this adaptability are still being studied.

Technology is more directly affected. Magnetic compasses, aviation routes, and maritime navigation all depend on accurate knowledge of magnetic north.

Because the field evolves, global magnetic models are regularly updated. Pilots, ship captains, and even smartphone apps rely on these updates to keep headings accurate.

Satellites and spacecraft are especially sensitive to geomagnetic changes. Weaker or more irregular fields, combined with solar activity, can increase radiation exposure.

This can damage electronics, shorten mission lifetimes, and distort measurements. On the ground, strong geomagnetic storms can induce currents in power lines, stressing transformers and grid infrastructure.

How Do Scientists Study Earth's Magnetic Field Shift?

To understand the earth's magnetic field shift, scientists merge modern observations with records preserved in rocks. Today's field is monitored by ground-based observatories, instruments on ships and aircraft, and satellite missions that map the field around the globe.

These measurements feed into international magnetic field models, which are updated every few years. These models are essential for navigation, surveying, and research.

Paleomagnetism provides the long-term perspective. When lava cools or sedimentary layers form, magnetic minerals align with the existing field and preserve its direction and relative strength.

By sampling rocks of different ages from many locations, researchers reconstruct the history of geomagnetic changes, including reversals, excursions, and long-term trends. This record helps test theories about core dynamics and improve models of how the field may evolve.

Earth Magnetic Field Shift and the Future of Geomagnetic Changes

Earth's magnetic field is inherently dynamic, and the ongoing earth magnetic field shift is a natural expression of the restless outer core rather than an automatic sign of impending catastrophe.

The geomagnetic changes observed today, wandering poles, regional anomalies, and gradual strength variations, do pose challenges for satellites, power systems, and navigation, but they develop slowly enough for monitoring, modeling, and engineering solutions to keep pace.

As observing networks expand and core simulations improve, scientists will gain a clearer picture of how the magnetic field is likely to change, helping society better prepare for the next stages in Earth's evolving magnetic environment.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can people feel Earth's magnetic field shift physically?

No. The earth's magnetic field shift happens very slowly and is far too weak to be felt directly by humans, so there are no physical sensations associated with it.

2. Does Earth's magnetic field shift affect GPS accuracy?

GPS mainly relies on satellite signals and precise timing, not the magnetic field. Geomagnetic changes affect compass-based navigation more than GPS, though both are often used together.

3. Could a pole flip instantly wipe out all electronics?

No. A geomagnetic reversal is thought to unfold over thousands of years. The main concern is increased space-weather impacts on satellites and grids, not an instant global electronics failure.

4. Do smartphones automatically adjust to geomagnetic changes?

Yes, to a degree. Smartphones use sensors plus regularly updated magnetic models from software and online services, so they can recalibrate as the earth magnetic field shift continues over time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ggs7nUjxA

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GPS Glitched Across The US by as Much as 33 Feet. Scientists Have Never Seen This Before.

01 Sept. 2026, By M. Starr

https://www.sciencealert.com/gps-glitched-across-the-us-by-as-much-as-33-feet-scientists-have-never-seen-this-before

Modern agriculture increasingly relies on precision GPS navigation, which can be vulnerable to solar storms. 

(Alex Potemkin/E+/Getty Images)

In November 2025, Earth was buffeted by several massive eruptions of solar material that slammed into the magnetosphere.

For many, the result was wonder. Much of the world watched in awe as a solar superstorm lit up Earth's skies with dazzling auroras to rare low latitudes.

The sword, however, was double-edged. The same storm also wrought havoc on the technology we rely on here on the ground.

And now, scientists led by space physicist Endawoke Yizengaw of The Aerospace Corporation in the US have discovered that the disruption was stranger – and more widespread – than anyone realized.

In a new analysis of data collected during the storm, the researchers found widespread, coast-to-coast disturbances in the atmosphere across the continental US – a phenomenon that has never been seen before on this scale.

That may not seem like much, but the effects of this would have been profound – throwing GPS off by more than 10 meters (33 feet) in some places. That's significant enough to disrupt precision agriculture and autonomous vehicles, the researchers say.

Composite image of six X-class flares that erupted in November 2025, three of which accompanied the coronal mass ejections that triggered the solar superstorm. 

(NASA/SDO/Scott Wiessinger)

"The results underscore the importance of accurate understanding of various space weather phenomena to enhance our predictive capabilities through coordinated observations and physics‐based modeling and ultimately reducing disruptions to RF applications during space weather events," they write in a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters.

The impact of solar outbursts on human technology is already well known. Solar flares, which unleash powerful bursts of X-rays and ultraviolet radiation, can slam into Earth's upper atmosphere, temporarily disrupting high-frequency radio communications.

Solar storms are a bigger problem. A coronal mass ejection belches out a cloud of high-speed charged electrons and protons across the Solar System; when it slams into Earth's magnetosphere, it can generate electrical currents that disrupt power grids, change the shape of our atmosphere, and interact with atmospheric particles to generate the auroral glow.

The effect Yizengaw and his colleagues investigated is produced in a similar way. During a geomagnetic storm, energetic particles can rain down into the ionosphere, a region GPS signals have to travel through.

This mixing and roiling can create density fluctuations in the upper atmosphere. Think of an antique window pane, where the glass is unevenly distributed. Light traveling through that glass can distort and magnify the image it carries, so you see a skewed representation of the world outside.

Similarly, radio signals traveling through the lumpy ionosphere can become distorted and diffracted, causing their strength to fluctuate rapidly by the time they reach a ground receiver. This effect is known as amplitude scintillation.

Ionospheric scintillation isn't unusual, particularly towards the poles and around the equator. The mid-latitudes, however, are generally considered relatively calm and safe when it comes to this particular space-weather hazard.

The November 2025 superstorm said PSYCH.

As the storm intensified, the auroral oval expanded towards the equator, bringing the atmospheric chicanery usually associated with higher latitudes along for the ride.

A NASA mosaic of the auroral oval over 24 hours on 12 November 2025.

 (NASA)



Yizengaw and his colleagues pieced together what happened using observations from multiple instruments across North America, including aurora cameras and a network of ground-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers.

They saw a huge band of enhanced electron density stretching east to west across the ionosphere. Along its edge, the electron density changed sharply, creating conditions perfect for the formation of smaller-scale irregularities.

And those irregularities were everywhere.

Strong amplitude scintillation appeared across a vast swathe of the continental US, from roughly 80 to 120 degrees west longitude.

Other measurements showed the disturbance extended even farther, producing a strip of enhanced electron density that reached almost from the West Coast to the East Coast.

The November 2025 superstorm disrupted Earth's ionosphere across North America. 

(Yizengaw et al., Geophys. Res. Lett., 2026)

The timing lined up, too. The researchers saw that, as the aurora brightened, electron density and irregularities intensified. At the same time, satellite signals began to scintillate, and GPS accuracy deteriorated.

Amplitude scintillation has been detected at mid-latitudes before, but only in limited observations, mostly at individual locations. Strong amplitude scintillation spanning such a wide range of longitudes has never been seen before, the researchers say.

In some regions, the resulting horizontal positioning errors exceeded 10 meters. Even an error of just one or two meters can spell serious trouble for technologies that depend on precision positioning, including autonomous vehicles and agricultural machinery.

Indeed, the solar storm of May 2024 is estimated to have cost the US agricultural industry $500 million due to disruptions in precision navigation.

The November 2025 superstorm is unlikely to have cost anywhere near the same amount, which really highlights the sheer dumb luck of the draw. The 2024 storm happened during the farming season; the 2025 one did not.

Together, however, the two events indicate how vulnerable certain industries can be to the vagaries of the Sun at the peak of its 11-year activity cycle.

But if scientists can better understand and predict how extreme solar activity affects the ionosphere, we may be better prepared to mitigate the disruption when the next big storm arrives.

"If the November superstorm onset had occurred during farming season in the American sector, it could have led to significant losses for the American farming and transportation industries," they write in their paper.

"Hence, understanding the storm time high‐ and mid‐latitude irregularities – and characterizing their impact on radio-frequency applications – requires knowledge of physical processes that control and describe the dynamics of auroral features, such as energy flux, expansion velocity, and precipitation scale sizes present in the auroral arc, all of which contribute to generating density irregularities that can cause scintillation."

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Thousands of Giant Whales Are Suddenly Flooding Into an Arctic “Feeding Frenzy”

By Frontiers, Aug. 31, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/thousands-of-giant-whales-are-suddenly-flooding-into-an-arctic-feeding-frenzy/

Humpback whale in the water. Humpbacks are baleen whales that feed by filtering small fish and plankton from seawater using keratin plates rather than teeth. 

Credit:Shutterstock

Thousands of enormous whales are turning the waters off East Greenland into an immense feeding ground that barely existed a generation ago.

Fin whales, humpback whales, and common minke whales now gather along a coastline where all three were once rarely seen. Researchers say warmer water, retreating sea ice, and a major relocation of their prey have allowed the whales to expand deep into the Greenland Sea, including waters north of the Arctic Circle.

The spectacle is one of the more dramatic examples of how climate change can reorganize an ecosystem. Although warming is devastating many Arctic species, it can also open new habitats for animals that previously avoided ice-covered waters.

Satellite tagging a fin whale.

 Credit: Fernando Ugarte



Whales Push Deeper Into the Arctic

“Here we show that rising ocean temperatures and declining sea ice cover have facilitated the widespread occurrence of baleen whales along the East Greenland coast, as far north as 70°N,” said Professor Mads Peter Heide-Jørgensen of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. “This has led to regular mixed ‘feeding frenzies’ of fin whales, humpback whales, and common minke whales, species which historically were only rarely observed in coastal East Greenland.”

Heide-Jørgensen and colleagues from Greenland, Denmark, and Iceland documented the transformation in Frontiers in Marine Science. Their findings suggest the arrival of so many large predators could eventually alter relationships across the regional food web.

Fin whale in Greenland Sea.

 Credit: Fernando Ugarte



The shift is unfolding in one of the planet’s fastest-warming areas. Except for a puzzling pocket of cooler water south of Greenland known as the “cold blob,” much of the Arctic and North Atlantic is heating rapidly. Sea surface temperatures east of Greenland have risen by about 2°C (3.6°F) since the 1990s.

After the mid-2000s, the summer ice edge also retreated sharply northward. Pack ice that once occupied much of the East Greenland coast became far less extensive, opening waters that baleen whales generally avoided in the past.

Three Decades of Whale Evidence

To determine how dramatically the region had changed, the researchers combined several kinds of evidence spanning nearly four decades. They conducted the first systematic aerial surveys of baleen whales within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of the East Greenland coast in August 2015 and again in 2024.

The team added airborne observations from summer 2022, reports from Inuit hunters collected between 2023 and 2025, and ship records from North Atlantic Sighting Surveys dating to 1987. Movement data from 15 satellite tagged baleen whales tracked at intervals between 2019 and 2025 provided another view of how the animals used the region.

Fin whale in Greenland Sea. 

Credit: Fernando Ugarte



Researchers then built a mathematical model to identify patterns across the combined records. Historical measurements of sea surface temperature, salinity, and pack ice concentration helped them investigate which environmental changes best explained the whales’ growing presence.

Together, the data produced an unusually detailed record of how baleen whale abundance in the Greenland Sea has changed over approximately three decades.

Sightings Rise From Zero to Hundreds

Every major source of evidence pointed in the same direction. Between 1987 and 2024, baleen whales became far more common along the East Greenland coast north of 60°N and west of 29°W.

Ship surveys recorded no humpback whales before 2006. Seven were seen in 2007, followed by 26 by 2015 and more than 150 by 2024. Minke whale encounters remained uncommon until 1995, but vessels regularly recorded between 10 and 20 each year after 2001. Fin whale sightings also climbed sharply over the survey period.

Humpback whale in Greenland Sea. Credit: Fernando Ugarte



By August 2025, one ship crew encountered extraordinary groups containing as many as 50 baleen whales at once near 69°N, north of the Arctic Circle. Aerial surveys in 2015 and 2024 found all three species spread almost continuously between 60°N and 70°N.

The researchers estimate that at least 4,000 humpback whales, 6,000 fin whales, and 6,000 minke whales entered the Greenland Sea during summer 2024.

Capelin Fuel: An Arctic Feeding Boom

“There is little doubt that the three baleen whale species summering in East Greenland coastal waters do so primarily to feed,” the authors observed.

The main attraction appears to be capelin, a small, cold-adapted fish that forms a crucial link between plankton and large marine predators. Capelin are important prey not only for whales but also for seabirds, seals, and larger fish, meaning a change in their distribution can influence much of the surrounding ecosystem.

Fin whale in Greenland Sea. Credit: Fernando Ugarte



Since the mid-2000s, capelin have shifted their feeding grounds away from the comparatively warmer waters north of Iceland and into the Greenland Sea. The whales appear to have tracked that movement, following a major food source into areas that became more accessible as the ice retreated.

The region has never supported a commercial capelin fishery, so the expanding whale populations are not currently competing with people for the same catch.

A Marine Ecosystem in Transition

The whales’ arrival may be a feeding success story for now, but it also signals a deeper Arctic transformation. Animals adapted to open water are moving into habitats historically dominated by species closely tied to sea ice.

“East Greenland is undergoing a major ecological regime shift. Ice-associated species such as narwhals are increasingly sharing their habitat with, or being displaced by, temperate baleen whales that generally avoid ice-covered waters,” Heide-Jørgensen concluded. “This marked change in species composition demonstrates how climate-driven changes are reorganizing the East Greenland marine ecosystem, potentially with long-lasting consequences.”

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Magnetic Bacterium Extends Lifespan by 43% in Surprising Anti-Aging Study

By W. Zhao & Y. Liu, Hefei Inst. of Physical Sci., Chinese Academy of Sci., Aug. 30, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/magnetic-bacterium-extends-lifespan-by-43-in-surprising-anti-aging-study/

A magnetic bacterium produced a striking longevity effect in worms. Researchers traced the benefit to reduced iron accumulation and lipid damage linked to ferroptosis.

 Credit: Shutterstock



A magnetotactic bacterium extended lifespan in worms by 43.39% and appeared to do so by suppressing ferroptosis.

A bacterium best known for producing microscopic magnetic structures may have an unexpected effect on aging. In experiments with Caenorhabditis elegans, the magnetotactic bacterium Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 extended average lifespan by 43.39% while helping preserve neurological function and intestinal integrity in older worms.

Researchers led by Prof. An Xu at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences traced the effect to suppression of ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of cell death driven by damaging lipid oxidation. The findings, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, point to an unusual connection between a microbe’s magnetic machinery and biological processes involved in aging.

Magnetotactic bacteria produce intracellular structures called magnetosomes, which contain magnetic minerals and help the microbes orient themselves along magnetic fields.

Their unusual properties and biocompatibility have already attracted interest for drug delivery, imaging, and cancer-related applications, but their potential influence on aging has received little attention. The new study suggests that these magnetic microbes could offer another way to investigate, and potentially influence, the cellular damage that accumulates with age.

A magnetic bacterium extended worm lifespan

Using C. elegans as an aging model, the researchers tested how the MTB strain AMB-1 affected lifespan and age-related functions. Worms treated with AMB-1 lived an average of 43.39% longer, while aged animals also showed improved neurological function and better preservation of intestinal integrity.

AMB-1 significantly extended the healthy lifespan of C. elegans by inhibiting ferroptosis. 

Credit: Yun Liu

Ferroptosis inhibition explained the longevity effect

The ability of AMB-1 to produce magnetosomes proved important to the lifespan effect. Wild-type AMB-1 produced stronger benefits than reversibly non-magnetotactic RNM-AMB-1, while the non-magnetotactic strain NM-AMB-1 did not extend lifespan.

The researchers then identified changes connected to ferroptosis. AMB-1 lowered iron accumulation and lipid peroxidation in the worms, suppressing aging-related ferroptosis. Genetic experiments further implicated ferroptosis-related pathways involving ftn-1, bli-3, and ads-1 in the lifespan effects associated with AMB-1.

According to the researchers, the results establish a new microbial strategy for intervening in aging and provide foundational evidence for extending the potential applications of magnetotactic bacteria into geriatric medicine.

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Researchers Warn AI Could Be Changing Us in an Unexpected Way

31 Aug. 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/interacting-with-ai-might-make-you-act-more-robot-like-researchers-warn

(Yuichiro Chino/Moment/Getty Images)

We know that AI is transforming modern life in myriad ways – influencing everything from scientific research to student education.

But it's less clear how we're all affected as consumers, with the growing use of these advanced tools in customer service settings, such as retail and healthcare.

A new theoretical paper published in AI & Society argues that spending a lot of time interacting with customer-support AIs could lead us to adopt patterns these robotic agents can more easily process, including mimicking how they communicate.

Ironically, the study authors suggest that as these AI bots are getting more human-like and more difficult to distinguish from real people – at least in a typing-out-messages way – we might be reflecting back other characteristics of the machines we're chatting with, and becoming less like ourselves.

The researchers use the term "robotoid humanness" to describe a proposed way that repeatedly interacting with AI could change our sense of self. 

(Ozturkcan et al., AI Soc., 2026)



The international team of researchers behind the study theorizes that we make ourselves more 'AI-compatible' through repeated interactions with the technology, limiting our quirks, idiosyncrasies, and unpredictability.

"Social robots for customer service settings are designed to mimic gestures, speech, and emotional cues to elicit cognitive and emotional responses from customers," says Inci Toral-Manson, a marketing researcher at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

"Our research explores how dealing with these anthropomorphized robots can create a bidirectional influence, where robots become more like people, and people become more like robots, which we call 'robotoid humanness'."

The study is entirely theoretical, so there were no tests done on people over time to measure the effects of interactions with AI. However, the team's framework draws on previous studies into human and robot interactions.

At the core of the argument here is that AI has reached a stage where it can do a passable job of providing customer support and holding a natural conversation. Not only that, it can personalize itself to individual users (by remembering what's been said, for example).

That blurs the line between bot and person, and can make the exchange feel more social, or the AIs seem more 'alive' than ever.

Millions of us are interacting with apps like ChatGPT every day.

 (Solen Feyissa/Unsplash)



"The consumer acts, the robot responds, and with repeated exposure, in time the consumer internalizes the exchange," says Selcen Ozturkcan, a management engineer at Linnaeus University in Sweden.

"Machine learning and AI can amplify this process, adjusting robot behavior based on user input, enabling more personalized and human-like mimicry from the robot."

The researchers go on to posit that our sense of 'self', and the profile we construct of ourselves as individuals, is influenced by this.

Whereas the feedback from real people that we get to inform our sense of self is often unexpected and uncontrolled from our perspective, with AI robots it's affirming, based on statistics, and algorithm-driven. Their hypothesis is that over time, we may begin to reflect some of the patterns the algorithm rewards.

"For people, the innate instinct to mirror can lead to people returning the robot's communicative behaviors, making them more robot-like," says Ozturkcan.

To put it another way, the AI is designed to respond best to a version of ourselves that has the (human) edges smoothed off. The study proposes that, with repeated encounters, we may implicitly drift toward that identity to get the best responses and advance the conversations.

Clearly, all of this needs to be tested experimentally, but these researchers aren't the first to suggest that AI interactions risk changing our thinking and how we express ourselves as flesh-and-blood people.

The human brain remains distinct from AI in a multitude of ways, and the team behind the study is concerned that AI-mediated services could narrow the range of very human ways people understand and present themselves.

For now, this could prompt us to notice when a helpful tool starts shaping the terms of the conversation.

"Robots and AI are now commonplace in customer service," says Jean-Paul de Cros Peronard, a business development scientist at Aarhus University in Denmark.

"So it is important that we understand how people interact with them for businesses to use the technology at their disposal to best effect, whilst remaining ethical."

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Your Body Has a 'Second Heart', And It's Crucial You Keep It Pumping

30 Aug. 2026, By E. Öz

https://www.sciencealert.com/your-body-has-a-second-heart-and-its-crucial-you-keep-it-pumping

Veins and arteries in the leg. 

(szjphoto/Moment/Getty Images)

Every step, ankle flex, or rise onto your toes activates a remarkable pump below your knees.

Your calf muscles squeeze the veins in your lower legs, helping propel blood upward toward your heart. This mechanism is so important to circulation that the calves are sometimes described as the body's "second heart".

The name is metaphorical. Your calves cannot replace the organ beating in your chest. But they assist with one of the circulatory system's most difficult tasks: returning blood from the legs against gravity.

The heart pumps oxygen-rich blood around the body through arteries. After reaching the legs, that blood must travel back through veins, where the pressure is much lower. Unlike the heart, veins cannot produce a powerful pumping force.

That's where the calf muscle pump comes in.

When you walk, run, or lift your heels, the muscles in the back of your lower legs contract. These contractions compress nearby veins and push the blood inside them upward.

Activating this pump is simple. 

(Sorrasak Jar Tinyo/Getty Images)



Small, one-way valves in the veins stop the blood from falling back toward the feet between contractions. Each movement helps it travel another step closer to the heart.

When the pump works properly, it helps prevent blood from pooling in the legs. When it does not, people may experience swollen ankles, aching legs, or heaviness. Poor pump function can also contribute to long-term vein problems.

Evidence suggests that an impaired calf pump may reveal something about a person's wider health.

In a 2020 study, researchers examined the medical records of 2,728 adults who underwent vascular testing at the Mayo Clinic's vascular lab in Minnesota.

People with impaired calf pump function were more likely to die during the following years. After 10 years, the mortality rate was about 6 percent among those with normal pump function, compared with roughly 18 percent among those with impaired function.

That doesn't mean weak calf muscles directly caused those deaths. An impaired pump could be a sign of physical inactivity, muscle loss, joint problems, diseases affecting the nerves or muscles, or generally poorer health.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaK6TThRMdE

A larger study from the same Mayo Clinic, published in 2024, supported the connection.

This time, researchers examined nearly 6,000 patients. They found that the less blood the calf pump expelled during movement, the higher the risk of death. Those with the poorest pump function had more than twice the mortality risk of people whose calves moved blood effectively.

This study was also observational. It does not prove that exercising the calves will extend someone's life, and scientists don't yet fully understand the association.

Activating this pump is simple.

Walking is the easiest method. Each step contracts the calf muscles and helps move blood upward. Running, climbing stairs, and repeatedly rising onto your toes activate the same mechanism.

People who work at a desk should avoid remaining in one position for hours. The American Heart Association recommends standing up and walking around at least once an hour.

When getting up is not possible, moving the ankles up and down or lifting the heels while keeping the toes on the floor can engage the calf muscles.

Standing still for long periods is not necessarily better. Without movement, the muscles do not squeeze the veins effectively. Taking a few steps, marching in place, or raising and lowering the heels can keep the pump active.

Regular exercise can also help preserve calf strength with age. The World Health Organization recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity, such as brisk walking, each week, along with muscle-strengthening activity on two or more days.

Persistent swelling or sudden pain, redness, or warmth in one leg shouldn't simply be blamed on sitting still. These can be symptoms of a blood clot and require medical assessment.

Calf movement may offer benefits beyond circulation, too.

In a small 2022 study, researchers tested a seated movement that activates the soleus, a deep calf muscle capable of working for long periods without tiring.

Activating the soleus muscle with "soleus push-up" exercises (heel raises) may have benefits beyond blood flow. (Hamilton et al., iScience, 2022)

During the "soleus push-up", a person keeps the front of each foot on the floor while repeatedly lifting and lowering the heels.

Researchers found that sustained contractions increased the muscle's energy use and helped the body process glucose and fats after eating.

A subsequent pilot study involving just 10 people with prediabetes found that performing the movement throughout a two-hour glucose tolerance test reduced the rise in blood sugar by roughly one-third compared with sitting still.

But participants performed the movement for extended periods, not just a few repetitions, and both studies were small.

A handful of heel raises under a desk cannot replace walking, whole-body exercise, or necessary medical treatment. Nevertheless, the findings provide one more reason not to remain motionless for hours.

Your calves may not literally contain another heart. But every time they contract, they give the real one a valuable helping hand.

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These Patients Couldn't Beat Lyme Disease, So Scientists Tried Giving Them Psilocybin

30 Aug. 2026, ByC. Cassella

https://www.sciencealert.com/these-patients-couldnt-beat-lyme-disease-so-scientists-tried-giving-them-psilocybin

(Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

Of all the diseases spread through the bite of an insect or arachnid in the United States, Lyme disease is the most common.

Each year, nearly half a million people are diagnosed with and treated for the condition, which is caused by bacteria transmitted by an infected tick.

But not everyone gets better after antibiotics.

A substantial number continue to suffer from fatigue, brain fog, and body aches for months or even years after treatment.

Perhaps there's another drug that could help.

A small pilot study of 20 people has now shown that two doses of psilocybin, administered under clinical supervision, were associated with significant improvements in post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD).

The experiments were led by Albert Garcia-Romeu at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and the results are published in Scientific Reports.

Two weeks after the second and final dose of psilocybin, participants reported a 52 percent reduction in their overall symptom burden compared with baseline.

Six months after the final dose, symptoms remained roughly 40 to 50 percent below baseline.

At every follow-up appointment, depressive symptoms remained 50 to 60 percent lower, sleep disturbance scores remained 40 to 50 percent lower, and fatigue severity remained 25 to 30 percent lower than baseline.

Total pain scores dropped approximately 40 to 50 percent over the course of the clinical trial.

"Across all outcomes," the authors write, "within-participant standardized effect sizes were large and remained stable when excluding multivariate outliers."

Garcia-Romeu and colleagues note that these results are "sufficiently positive", however, they are just preliminary and need to be followed up with randomized, controlled, and blinded trials.

At this point, scientists cannot establish that psilocybin actually caused improvements in PTLD symptoms.

PTLD is sometimes known as 'Chronic Lyme Disease', but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discourage the use of this term, as it implies that the bacterial infection is ongoing, which is not established.

Changes in Lyme symptom burden and quality of life from baseline through six months of follow up. 

(Garcia-Romeu et al., Scientific Reports, 2026)

"We propose further rigorous investigation of psilocybin and other classic psychedelics as potential avenues for novel, effective treatments for this debilitating condition," the authors conclude, "as well as other infection-associated chronic conditions such as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), and fibromyalgia, that may benefit from similar approaches."

So far, research of this kind is scarce and scattered.

In 2025, a pilot trial in the US tested psilocybin-assisted therapy on five people with fibromyalgia. Compared to baseline, participants reported improvements in pain symptoms, mood, social cognition, sleep, and global functioning.

Another recent case study, meanwhile, shared the story of a woman whose long COVID allegedly improved after taking hallucinogens in consultation with a therapist. The details are muddy, but the idea gained widespread attention.

PTLD has many similar symptoms to post-viral illnesses, like long COVID, whose symptoms of infection can linger for unknown reasons.

Accepted treatments are lacking, which is why some patients and researchers are turning to hallucinogens.

Consider, for instance, the 2023 case report of an immunocompetent man who contracted Lyme disease and another tick-borne disease, babesiosis.

Even after several rounds of antibiotics, this patient continued to have partial remissions and relapses, each bout lasting about two years.

Over the decades, he suffered from fatigue, neck pain, myalgias, night sweats, anxiety, panic attacks, depression, cognitive dysfunction, and insomnia.

At 70 years old, the patient suffered another relapse. He tried anxiety and depression medication, but they didn't work.

"After suffering for three months," the patient's case report reads, "he began microdosing psilocybin (desiccated whole mushrooms) 100 mg orally three times a week, increasing the dose to 125 mg after two weeks. Within two days, there was a noticeable improvement in mood. Within two weeks he was feeling consistently well again."

At the time that the case report was published, the patient was still in remission and continuing to microdose psilocybin.

But this is just one case study outside of a clinical setting. The recent pilot trial at Johns Hopkins seeks to move beyond that.

Changes in self-reported measurements before and after two doses of psilocybin.

 (Garcia-Romeu et al., Scientific Reports, 2026)

Today, there is no approved diagnostic test for PTLD, but the authors of the pilot trial say they used stringent criteria to select their participants for psilocybin-assisted therapy.

Volunteers had to have a detailed history demonstrating prior Lyme disease, they had to be presenting with current symptoms, and other conditions that cause similar symptoms had to be ruled out.

After weeks of preparation, the participants received an initial dose of 15 mg of psilocybin, followed by a 25 mg dose two weeks later. Two participants remained on the lower dose throughout.

During each session, volunteers had their vitals carefully supervised, and they reported any new or worsening physical or mental health events observed during or after each dose.

There were no serious adverse health effects reported, although headaches, nausea, and hypertension were common and temporary.

A dozen of the 20 original study participants also agreed to have their sleep tracked using wearable monitors during and after the 8-week trial.

Those findings revealed a long-term reduction in total sleep time following psilocybin administration.

Further work is needed to see if those changes also impacted sleep quality or daytime sleepiness, but among those with PTLD, excessive sleep is often an issue.

At this point, however, nothing can be said conclusively about psilocybin and its effects on PTLD. This trial included no placebo, and patients knew they were taking psilocybin.

Garcia-Romeu and colleagues say that in forthcoming research, biomarkers of health measured before and after the psilocybin treatment, as well as firsthand accounts from trial participants, will be examined.

The study of hallucinogenics for mental health, pain, and inflammatory disorders is just beginning, and it will take time to carry out more rigorous, randomized studies.

"The results of the current trial are preliminary and should be considered with caution," the trial researchers note.

"Yet findings underscore the compelling possibility that psilocybin-assisted treatment may significantly mitigate key symptoms of PTLD across several physical and neuropsychiatric domains, that participant quality of life may improve substantially… and that these benefits can persist well beyond the time course of acute drug effects for some patients."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Discover a Cannabis Receptor That Could Stop Breast Cancer Spreading

30 Aug. 2026, By I. Farkas

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-discover-a-cannabis-receptor-that-could-stop-breast-cancer-spreading

A THC-treated tumor organoid. (Martínez-Illescas et al., Communications Biology, 2026)




Cancer cells are proving trickier than we thought, so scientists are getting even trickier to shift the survival odds in our favor.

Recent medical research has highlighted a significant issue: cancer cells display plasticity.

Some cancer cells can spontaneously revert from a differentiated state to become 'immature' and stem-cell-like again, switching their identity to yield more diverse, aggressive, and proliferative tumors.

As a result, they thwart traditional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, which aim to stop cellular division and kill cancerous (and other) cells outright.

Unfortunately, these therapies may also create evolutionary pressure that favors more resistant and aggressive cancers that can more effectively spread throughout the body.

So in a new experiment, medical researchers used the cannabis compound, THC, to push cancer cells to 'lock in' and make tumors less ferocious.

A graphical abstract of the experiment.

  (Martínez-Illescas et al., Communications Biology, 2026)

In a study published in Communications Biology, researchers explored the effects of an ultra-low-dose, 4-day cannabinoid treatment on organoids – lab-built 3D mammary tumor models created from breast cancer cells sourced from humans as well as in mouse models.

This test targeted the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which can regulate developmental pathways paralleled in both cancer evolution and embryonic development, the researchers note.

The ECS features two main cannabinoid receptors, CB1R and CB2R, which the researchers modulated with two types of ligands – molecules that either boost or block their activity to induce a biological response.

After the researchers administered a low-dose, 4-day pulse of THC (an agonist), the organoids exhibited reduced cell invasiveness, self-renewal capabilities, and tumor initiation.

The THC-treated organoid on the right exhibits a reduction in migratory cellular projections compared to the control variant on the left. 

(Martínez-Illescas et al., Communications Biology, 2026)



Interestingly, this result seems to be mediated predominantly by CB2R, which is associated with inflammatory responses, rather than CB1R, which is associated with cannabis' psychoactive effects.

The researchers played a bio-molecular 'good cop bad cop' routine. They treated CB1R and CB2R with separate inverse agonists, called SR1 and SR2, respectively, which reduce the receptors' baseline activity.

Despite the switcheroo, the organoids still seemed to be less, well, cancerous. Amazingly, the CB2R inverse agonist SR2 reproduced the cancer-mollifying effects of THC, while the CB1R inverse agonist SR1 did not.

But here's the strange part – organoids made from mice genetically engineered to lack CB2R showed similar changes.

Granular to cystic represents a coordinated, multicellular, system-level change, rather than altered activity in, say, a few cells or cell types.

(Martínez-Illescas et al., Communications Biology, 2026)

Altogether, this may suggest that the baseline activity of CB2R is what's important for the differentiation of cancer cells, and manipulating it may influence cancer cells' plasticity.

Equally important for practical purposes, the researchers found evidence that these tumor-inhibiting effects appear to be stable in vivo.

The effects persisted for up to 100 days when the researchers transplanted the THC-treated organoids into living cancer-prone mice, which developed tumors later and showed slower tumor growth and less aggressive lesions than mice receiving control organoids.

In a separate experiment, THC-treated cells also produced fewer clusters of cancer cells in the lungs four weeks after injection.

Furthermore, organoids that were modulated also showed resilience when the researchers actively tried to increase their tumor-forming activity.

This opens up numerous therapeutic avenues. Controlling the process could influence "differentiated cells [to] occupy space and resources that would otherwise be used for tumor expansion", the researchers explain.

CB2R modulation also seems to increase estrogen receptor activity, making breast cancer cells more responsive to endocrine therapy via the commonly used drug tamoxifen.

In addition to showing the value of investigating complementary kinds of treatments, the research suggests that subtle CB2R modulation holds promise for reprogramming tumor cell behavior, with genome-wide effects that persist long after cannabinoid withdrawal.

"This view is consistent with the concept that tumor cell populations occupy continuous and dynamic state landscapes, where relatively small perturbations can trigger large-scale and self-reinforcing transitions in collective behavior," the researchers conclude.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Your Gut Microbiome May Be Contagious, Scientists Discover

By U. of Vienna, Aug. 29, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/your-gut-microbiome-may-be-contagious-scientists-discover/

Some highly adapted gut bacteria may spread rapidly between people and even across continents. The finding suggests that microbial transmission could be an overlooked force shaping the human microbiome.

 Credit: Shutterstock

In addition to diet and medication, person-to-person transmission can also play an important role in shaping the microbiome.

The human gut contains a vast community of trillions of microorganisms (the microbiome) that helps shape digestion, immune function, and metabolism.

A team led by the University of Vienna used a method called ‘reverse ecology’ to show that many familiar gut bacterial species are actually made up of several evolutionarily separate groups, each adapted to different conditions inside the gut. Some of these bacterial populations are linked with older age, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, colorectal cancer, and type 2 diabetes. The results, now published in Nature, could eventually help improve biomarker discovery and, over the long term, support more precise treatments.

Most microbiome research groups bacteria by whole species or by broad genetic similarity. These categories are useful, but they may miss the distinct populations that have evolved to live under specific conditions in the human body. Because of that, it can be difficult to tell which bacteria are connected to disease, which are simply present by chance, and which may help protect health. The central question is whether scientists can identify more precise biological units that arose through adaptation and occupy separate ecological niches in the gut.

About the study

The research team analyzed thousands of bacterial isolates from the human gut, along with extensive metagenomic data, meaning the complete genetic information of microbial communities in a sample, from people across different countries, ages, and health groups.

Using a newly developed bioinformatic method within the framework of ‘reverse ecology,’ an approach that infers ecological adaptations from genomic data, the researchers looked for genetic signs of successful adaptation.

More than one species

One important clue came from signs of so-called genome-wide selective sweeps. These events occur when one individual gains a useful mutation and then outcompetes closely related individuals.

The process reduces diversity, but it also produces populations whose members are highly similar in both ancestry and function, making them stand apart clearly in the dataset. The analysis revealed that many known gut bacterial species split into several such lineages. These populations seem to differ in the conditions where they are most successful.

“If you don’t just count species but take evolutionary adaptation into account, you can identify the biologically relevant units in the microbiome much more accurately,” says lead author Xiaoqian Annie Yu, Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS), University of Vienna. “Even within the same bacterial species, some populations occur more frequently than others in certain diseases. When all are considered together, this often remains hidden.”

Global spread within a few decades

The researchers also found evidence that highly competitive bacterial populations can spread quickly across continents, in some cases within only a few decades. Until now, this kind of pattern had mainly been seen in pathogens.

“Our findings show that gut bacteria are also more dynamic than previously thought. Well-adapted strains can spread internationally and occupy new ecological niches,” says study leader Martin F. Polz from the University of Vienna.

The finding suggests that the microbiome is shaped not only by diet, medication, or lifestyle, but also by transmission between people.

New perspectives for medicine and diagnostics

The study creates new opportunities for microbiome research. Rather than connecting entire bacterial species with disease, scientists may eventually be able to focus on the specific populations that matter most. This could improve biomarker searches and, over the long term, help make therapies more precise, for example, by encouraging beneficial bacterial strains or reducing problematic ones.

Next, the team plans to study which genes distinguish the identified populations from one another and what biological functions those genes may control.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Longer Breastfeeding Linked to Fewer ADHD Symptoms in Children

By The U. of Bergen, Aug. 27, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/longer-breastfeeding-linked-to-fewer-adhd-symptoms-in-children/

A study of more than 37,000 families links breastfeeding duration with later differences in ADHD symptoms. 

Credit: Stock

A baby’s first meals may shape attention for years, with longer exclusive breastfeeding linked to fewer ADHD symptoms through age eight.

Researchers at the University of Bergen examined data from 37,600 families in the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). The association appeared in both boys and girls and was strongest when the children were ages three and five, although it remained detectable at age eight.

Breast milk contains long-chain fatty acids, amino acids, antibodies, beneficial bacteria, and other substances involved in brain growth and immune development. Scientists have long investigated whether these components, breastfeeding itself, or related family and health factors could shape a child’s later development.

“It is well established that psychiatric symptoms and disorders can be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors,” says Berit Skretting Solberg, a psychiatrist and researcher at the University of Bergen’s Department of Biomedicine and a senior consultant at Betanien Hospital.

Tracking Breastfeeding and ADHD Symptoms

Six months after giving birth, mothers answered questions about exclusive breastfeeding, partial breastfeeding, and when they introduced other liquids or solid foods. The researchers used those responses to estimate how long each child had received only breast milk.

“We found that the longer a child was exclusively breastfed (up to six months), the lower the level of ADHD symptoms at ages three, five, and eight years,” says Solberg.

Breastfeeding of any kind was associated with lower symptom levels, but the pattern became stronger as its duration and intensity increased. The clearest association occurred among children who were exclusively breastfed for longer, up to the six-month limit examined in the study.

Genetics Complicates the Connection

Breastfeeding and ADHD may be connected in several directions, making the results difficult to interpret. ADHD is strongly influenced by genetics, and traits shared between parents and children can affect both feeding experiences and later behavior.

Mothers with ADHD symptoms tend to breastfeed less and are also more likely to have children who develop ADHD symptoms. Babies who already display early traits associated with ADHD may also be more difficult to breastfeed.

“This may partly explain the relationship between lower breastfeeding and increased ADHD symptoms in children,” says Solberg.

To separate these overlapping influences as much as possible, the team adjusted its analysis for known genetic susceptibility to ADHD and sociodemographic factors. The researchers also compared siblings from the same families who had experienced different breastfeeding patterns, helping to account for some shared genetic and household influences.

A Moderate Association Remained

“Even after these adjustments, there was a clear but moderate protective effect of the duration of exclusive breastfeeding on later ADHD symptoms,” Solberg explains.

MoBa does not perfectly represent Norway’s wider population. Its participants tend to have higher education levels and are more likely to breastfeed, often for longer, than the population overall. Solberg said the association might be larger in communities where breastfeeding is less common, although further research would be needed to test that possibility.

One Possible Influence Among Many

“As with other observational studies, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about causality,” says Solberg, emphasizing the need for further research.

ADHD is a complex neurodevelopmental condition rather than the result of any single experience or parental decision. Genetics remain the leading influence, while numerous biological and environmental factors may affect how symptoms emerge. Breastfeeding can also be limited or impossible for medical, practical, or personal reasons, and this study does not imply that feeding choices determine whether a child develops ADHD.

“In our society, heredity is likely the strongest risk factor for ADHD. However, since ADHD, like other neurodevelopmental disorders, is influenced by multiple factors, our study suggests that the extent of breastfeeding may also help protect against the development of ADHD symptoms in young children.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/