Earth's inner core has slowed down and could have impact on days' length, new study finds

A new study published on Monday, 23 January, suggests that the earth’s inner core may have stopped its rotation recently, and started to spin in the opposite direction instead.

Yi Yang and Xiaodong Song, researchers at the Nature Geoscience journal, told AFP that the core’s rotation “came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction”.

The findings could help researchers further understand how processes deep inside the planet affect its surface, including the length of a day.

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