Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

The last one was about 780,000 years ago, sometime around the start of the Middle Pleistocene. The earliest known Neanderthals are about 300,000 years old.

So no, none of our vaguely recent ancestors have lived through one. Plenty of Mammals have though!



Mammals are also your ancestors. And, the reversal takes 1,000-10,000 years so /20 and you get 50 to 500 generations per reversal.

More importantly, the magnetic field can only stop charged particles which don't travel vary far though the atmosphere anyway as in a few feet and they hit something.*

PS: Someone mentioned OMG particles, however they ignore the magnetic field anyway.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: