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Scientists have known since the early nineteenth century that the Earth’s magnetic north pole wanders slowly over time, a phenomenon that cartographers have kept track of to ensure the accuracy of navigational charts and any other fields that might be affected by this magnetic meandering. Over the centuries, this drift has been slow, but in recent years the movement of magnetic north has accelerated for reasons that aren’t completely understood, and this rapid movement has prompted researchers to update the map of the planet’s magnetic field a year ahead of schedule.
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From the closeness of the Moon to far beyond the orbit of Pluto, space probes have been making both headlines and history, with China successfully making humanity’s first soft landing of a space probe (and rover!) on the far side of the Moon, and the New Horizons probe beaming new images back to Earth from its encounter with Ultima Thule at the edge of the Solar System.
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Meteorologists with the National Weather Service are predicting that the northern polar vortex is likely to split once again later this month, into not just two, but three separate vortices that are expected to bring unseasonably cold and stormy weather to parts of Europe and North America.

The polar vortex is a low-pressure area of air that resides over both of Earth’s poles, with the vortex at each pole spinning in a counter-clockwise direction, and bordered around their edges by the jet stream. Occasionally, the Northern Hemisphere’s vortex splits into a number of separate gyres that drift south, bringing colder Arctic air along with them.
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A research team that is searching for new ways of defeating antibiotic-resistant bacteria have discovered that a sample of soil from a region in Northern Ireland traditionally known for its healing properties contains a previously unknown strain of bacteria that is effective at combating the so-called "superbugs" that threaten the lives of millions of people every year. If successful, this new treatment comes from a source that would previously have been dismissed as being merely "folk medicine".
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